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The quartet that Wayne Shorter assembled in 2001 was one of the greatest ensembles in modern jazz. Their captivating performances and inner chemistry took collective improvisation to a new level. In 2018, the saxophonist developed lung problems and the band played its last performance. Shorter died five years later, a few months before his 90th birthday.
This typically robust quartet performance, recorded at the 2014 Stockholm Jazz Festival, is the first in a series of archival releases curated by Shorter in the year before his death. Now released as Celebration, Volume 1Shorter and his colleagues mix classics of the band – Arthur Penn’s “Smilin’ Through”, a favorite of Shorter and Vera Lynn, appeared on the quartet’s 2005 album. Beyond the sound barrier — with new material. Shorter’s version of Arthur B. Rubinstein’s “Edge of The World (End Title)”, from the soundtrack of the 1983 film War gamesappears on CD for the first time.
The album opens with pianist Danilo Perez confidently leading the rhythm section in “Zero Gravity to the 15th Dimension,” the first of five gripping group improvisations. Folk-like piano builds to a climax, drummer Brian Blade rumbles quietly in the background, and Shorter’s lines harmonize with bassist John Patitucci’s dancing counterpoint. The piece segues seamlessly into shifting moods inspired by “Silin’ Through.”
Later in the set a fresh version of “Orbits”, originally from the Miles Davis album from 1967 Miles smilesbegins with Shorter whistling obliquely over the familiar piano riff. In contrast, his later composition “Lotus” begins with a sustained soprano saxophone floating confidently in wide open spaces. Both pieces twist, turn and are fully engaged. The five improvised “Zero Gravities” are scattered throughout the set, following different but equally challenging paths.
The album ends with “She Moves Through the Fair,” inspired by a traditional Irish ballad that first appeared on the 2018 album Emanon. Four minds acting as one; it’s a breathtaking 20-minute epic full of drama and bliss.
★★★★★
“Celebration, Volume 1” is released by Blue Note
