MUSIC

“The most dynamic ensemble in jazz, focused on communion, empathy and overarching values more so than set compositions.” --Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Shorter's mastery is in knocking down the wall between jazz and classical. His music not only makes references to the Miles Davis Quintet of the mid-1960s, of which Mr. Shorter was a member, but also shows the stylistic influences of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Then, too, he helped create jazz/fusion, founding Weather Report with Joe Zawinul in 1970.” --The New York Times

Boston, MA--Absolutely Live Entertainment, LLC will present the Wayne Shorter Quartet In Concert on Tuesday, February 8 at 8:00 p.m. at Berklee Performance Center [136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115]. Tickets at $66 and $46 are on sale on now at 10:00 AM at the Berklee Performance Center box office, at www.ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling 800-745-3000. For more information, call: 617-747-2261 or visit berkleebpc.com/. Berklee Performance Center is wheelchair accessible.

Saxophone legend and NEA jazz master Wayne Shorter, now 77, celebrates the 10th year of the formation of his highly respected ensemble which features pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade. Considered one of the finest rhythm sections in jazz, these three musicians are known as individual jazz masters as well as the collective voices of the Wayne Shorter Quartet.

Danilo Perez recently released a new CD entitled Providencia, his “. . . most ambitious album since Motherland,” noted the Wall Street Journal in a recent article by Larry Blumenfeld. “The album, which includes a two-part piece scored for a wind quintet, succeeds largely due to Mr. Pérez's sustained sense of musical purpose. His career reflects a larger mission. The Panama Jazz Festival, which he founded in 2003, has brought American musicians to his homeland and raised more than $1 million for student scholarships. His directorship of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, at his alma mater, stresses the social power of music,” Blumenfeld continued.

This fall, drummer Brian Blade collaborated with Daniel Lanois on his Black Dub CD and tour project. Jon Pareles of The New York Times describes Blade: “He’s an improviser, continuously remaking grooves from New Orleans, Memphis, reggae and the blues, and reacting instantaneously to guitar or vocal phrases.” In between Wayne Shorter Quartet gigs and concerts and recording with Lanois, Blade has also been performing with his own Fellowship Band featuring keyboardist Jon Cowherd, alto saxophonist and bass clarinetist Myron Walden, tenor saxophonist Melvin Butler and bassist Chris Thomas.

Acoustic and electric bassist John Patitucci is not only known for his work with Shorter, but has attracted worldwide acclaim as a member of Chick Corea’s Elektric Band and Akoustic Band—a creative association that has been in place since 1986. A Grammy®-winning bassist, John Patitucci has become one of today’s most influential musicians and composers; he is a band leader in his own right. In 2009, Patitucci, released a project for Concord Jazz, Remembrance, a remarkable outing of 11 straight-ahead-to-funky-to-classical-tinged originals featuring an astounding trio comprising saxophone maestro Joe Lovano and brilliant drummer Brian Blade. The CD was the bassist's 13th as a leader and seventh for Concord, with which he made his debut in 1997 with One More Angel.

Regarded as one of the most significant and prolific performers and composers in jazz and modern music, National Endowment for the Arts’ “American Jazz Master” Wayne Shorter has an outstanding record of professional achievement in his historic career as a musician. He has received substantial recognition from his peers, including 9 Grammy® Awards and 13 Grammy® nominations to date.

In the summer of 2001 Shorter began touring as the leader of a talented young lineup featuring pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, each a celebrated recording artist and bandleader in his own right. The group's uncanny chemistry was well documented on 2002's acclaimed Footprints Live! Shorter followed in 2003 with the ambitious Alegria, an expanded vision for large ensemble, which earned him a Grammy® Award. The quartet then released another live recording, entitled Beyond the Sound Barrier.

Born, August 25, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey, Shorter attended Arts High School and later graduated from New York University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958, after which he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His five-year tenure as one of Blakey’s Messengers clearly established him as a newcomer to watch and earned him the “New Star Saxophonist” award in the 1962 Downbeat Poll. That same year he came in second place for “Best Composer,” one spot behind Duke Ellington.

In 1964 Miles Davis invited Shorter to go on the road with his band, which included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Ron Carter. He stayed with Davis for six years, recording a dozen albums with him, and creating a new sound with a bandleader who changed the face of music during that tumultuous decade.

In 1970, Shorter co-founded the group Weather Report with keyboardist and Miles Davis alum, Joe Zawinul. It remained the premier fusion group through the '70s and into the early '80s before disbanding in 1985 after 16 acclaimed recordings, including 1980's Grammy® Award-winning double-live LP set, 8:30. Shorter formed his own group in 1986 and produced a succession of electric jazz albums for the Columbia label -- 1986's Atlantis, 1987's Phantom Navigator, 1988's Joy Ryder. He re-emerged on the Verve label with 1995's High Life, and then released 1997's 1+1, an intimate duet recording with Herbie Hancock. The two spent 1998 touring as a duet.

Shorter has received credit for saxophone performances in the motion picture soundtracks Glengarry Glen Ross (1983), The Fugitive (1993), and Losing Isaiah (1995). He was commissioned to write a piece for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Millennium Concert, which was highly acclaimed by the critics. Most recently, Shorter was commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society to compose a piece for the Imani Winds Ensemble, further solidifying his place as one of the most important composers of the 20th century and beyond.

Through his musicianship and compositions, Wayne Shorter has radically changed modern music, and influenced generations of countless other musicians and composers. The events in his incredible life's journey have been compiled by author Michelle Mercer in Footprints: The Life And Music of Wayne Shorter (A Tarcher/Penguin).