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Denny Zeitlin: Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions
ByZeitlin's celebration of Shorter's songbook is no new thing. He covered the saxophonist/composer's "Footprints" on Labyrinth (Sunnyside Records, 2011); "E.S.P." on his "Slick Rock (MaxJazz, 2004); and "Deluge" on the marvelous Precipice (Sunnyside Records, 2010). With Early Wayne, the pianist, Zeitlin goes all in, delvingin the solo piano modeinto the songbook of Shorter's perhaps most fruitful composing period, the 1960s, with a couple of tunes from the 70s stirred into the mix.
In terms of jazz standards, Shorter's early tunes are as familiar as anybody'sdistinctive and cliche-less, unfailingly modern-sounding, even fifty years after they were written. And often covered. Zeitlin's immersion there is something like an embrace of a jazz prayer book, where the readings of those prayers are anything but rote exercises. They feel dynamic and joyful, like rapturous and freewheeling interpretations time-tested truths.
The opener, "Speak No Evil," from Shorter's 1966 Blue Note album of the same name, finds Zeitlin burrowing into the music, exploring unforeseen permutations before shifting into the theme, with elasticity and a sparkling zest. He begins "Nefertiti" with the theme, making the music sound venerable. Then he takes it out on a tangent into a glistening probe of the melody's thesisdark and probing one moment, sprightly and radiant the next.
That's the template for the CDa set of dynamic Zeitlin treatments of Shorter's time-tested classics, infusing classic on-edge beauty with virtuoso pianism and idiosyncratic imagination.
Track Listing
Speak No Evil; Nefertiti; Ju Ju; Teru; Toy Tune; Infant Eyes; Paraphernalia; Ana Maria; E.S.P.; Miyako.
Personnel
Denny Zeitlin
pianoDenny Zeitlin: piano.
Album information
Title: Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Sunnyside Records
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Denny Zeitlin
CD/LP/Track Review
Dan McClenaghan
Sunnyside Records
Wayne Shorter
Jeremy Steig
Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions