jazz blog

ART OF THE IMPROVISERS: Brian Blade (above, left), Wayne Shorter, Danilo Pérez, and John Patitucci

The National Concert Hall series strand this concert falls within is called “Perspectives” and fittingly such a rare Dublin appearance by the most revered jazz quartet on the planet for a decade now offers an array of possibilities. First and foremost it’s striking how differently the Shorter of today with this band plays set against the classic Blue Note years, a comparison reinforced by Don Was bringing Shorter back to the label that this year celebrates its 75th anniversary, and particularly by the release of Without a Net to massive acclaim last year. 

2013 also saw a lot of re-examination of Shorter’s career from a variety of standpoints either via new repertory projects such as David Weiss’ excellent Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter playing tunes such as ‘Nellie Bly’ a tune Wayne wrote for the Jazz Messengers that appeared early in the Newark man’s career, and the classic ‘Fall’ Miles Davis with the second great quintet recorded on Manhattan’s East 30th Street in 1967 for what became Nefertiti.

The past year has also seen a reissue of Vee-Jay period Wayne in a Proper Box that charted the relatively orthodox and lesser known first flowering of Shorter’s hugely influential playing and compositional style. But ultimately Without a Net an album about the here and now trumped everything, Wayne, pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade plus additional wind instruments on the major new composition ‘Pegasus’ opening up new vistas on Shorter’s first album in some eight years. Expect an intense evening of state-of-the art improvising. SG