Circling Wayne Shorter (S3 | E125)

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I’ve been putting this off. I’ve been looking forward to this. Both can be true. I listened to a few Wayne Shorter radio shows (you should too). And they are so good. One from the BBC. One from a domestic music radio show about jazz. Well and good.

But I wanted to do something a little bit more interesting (IMHO). I wanted to play a little game of “degrees of separation’ in this series of episodes about the jazz saxophonist. Wayne to Esperanza. Wayne to Milton Nascimento to Pedro Anzar and Pat Metheny. Wayne to Rudy Van Gelder. And the end result is a show that I want to listen to over and over again. Let’s hope we all feel that way about this one and the Wayne Shorter shows to come.

Words from the jazz great, David Kikoski.

Wayne is one of the great improvisors of jazz.

Dave Kikoski

Circling Wayne Shorter (S3 | E125)

Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader.

Many Shorter compositions have become jazz standards, and his music has earned worldwide recognition, critical praise, and commendation. Shorter won 12 Grammy Awards. He was acclaimed for his mastery of the soprano saxophone since switching his focus from the tenor in the late 1960s and beginning an extended reign in 1970 as DownBeat‘s annual poll-winner on that instrument, winning the critics’ poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers’ for 18. The New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff described Shorter in 2008 as “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser”. In 2017, he was awarded the Polar Music Prize.

Circling Wayne Shorter | Show Playlist

Track	Artist	Album	Year
Infant Eyes	Wayne Shorter	Speak No Evil	1966
Midnight in Carlotta’s Hair*	Wayne Shorter	High Life	1995
Midnight in Carlotta’s Hair	Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding	Live at Detroit Jazz Festival	2017 (r. 2022)
Footprints	Wayne Shorter	Adams’ Apple (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)	1967
Ana Maria	Wayne Shorter	Native Dancer	1975
Ponte de Areia	Esperanza Spalding	Esperanza	2008
Ponte de Areia	Milton Nascimento, Wayne Shorter	Native Dancer	1975
Tudo O Que Voce Podia Ser	Milton Nascimento	Club de Esquina	2072
The First Circle	Path Metheny, Pedro Anzar	First Circle	1984

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Circling Wayne Shorter (S3 | E125)

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