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Two Views Of A Masterpiece

By John Chacona
September 15, 2026
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As a jazz composer is it better to be a hedgehog or a fox, to write music that is so irreducibly singular that there is only one way to perform it or do be so embracingly universal that one's genius spreads like pollinator bees? Arguably Wayne Shorter, fairly unanimously embraced as the greatest jazz composer of the immediate past, has been seen as a hedgehog, the composer of brilliantly idiosyncratic music that has failed to escape the shadow of his authoritative performances. But that might be about to change, as two very different, very lovely versions of his "Dance Cadaverous" demonstrate.

Flutist Alex Hamburger and her pianist husband Jose Luis Martins hew closely to the liquid Debussy-ian ambiguity of Shorter's iconic recording. At a slightly brisker tempo, Melissa Aldana rides the bounce of Linda May Han Oh's frisky bass line with a tone that starts at Joe Henderson and ends up somewhere near Paul Gonsalves. Charming performances both. Why choose?

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John Chacona is a freelance journalist, content writer and producer in Cleveland.

About Melissa Aldana

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