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d i s s i d e n t
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a r t i s t : Wayne Shorter
t i t l e : Alegria
d a t e : 2003
l a b e l : Verve
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Mar/2003
t r a c k s : 10
b i t r a t e : 192kbps
s i z e : 78,4 MB
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With 2002's Footprints Live, nearly two decades of false alarms
about a Wayne Shorter "comeback" finally gave way to the real
thing ù at least to many critics who welcomed his return to
highly cerebral acoustic post-bop. Yet the follow-up, Alegria ù
apparently Shorter's first all-acoustic studio album as a
leader since 1967 ù is where Shorter really starts to get
creative again. The rhythm section from Footprints Live ù
pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian
Blade ù is intact on three tracks. On others, Brad Mehldau ù
with his very different conception of sound ù is the pianist,
Terri Lyne Carrington subs on drums, Alex Acuna adds
percussion, and new, unusual timbres are supplied by a
wind/brass ensemble. As on Footprints Live, Shorter revisits
some old tunes from his relative youth, but not nearly in the
same way. In "Orbits," which was given a racetrack post-bop run
by the Miles Davis Quintet, Shorter slows it way, way down,
virtually decontructing the tune, backed by a quizzical chart
for winds and brass. Likewise, "Angola" and "Capricorn II" are
altered nearly beyond recognition. Indeed, at this point in the
21st century, it was fascinating to see both Shorter and his
former Davis bandmate, Herbie Hancock, radically reinterpreting
their past, working separately yet often using the same bassist
and drummer (Patitucci and Blade) and recording for the same
label. Yet, the core message of this album is that Shorter was
ready to move on to different things, drawing material from
almost anything that caught his attention while soloing in top
form on tenor and soprano saxes. With a wild soprano wail,
Shorter leads off the CD with his new, absorbing boogaloo
"Sacajawea," one that soon morphs into searching, nearly free
jazz, with a magisterial solo from the composer. At last,
someone in jazz chose to deal with both tunes from Leroy
Anderson's Spanish-flavored light classical masterpiece
"Serenata" rather than just the lush second subject ù and
Shorter decorates them with a complex featherweight
orchestration. Though Acuna's bongos pop away in the
foreground, Shorter does maintain the melancholy feeling of the
familiar aria from Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5,"
with cellist Charles Curtis eloquently stating the tune, until
he destabilizes things in the middle of the track. As he
approached his 70th birthday, this disc seemed to confirm a
long-awaited creative Indian summer for Wayne Shorter. ù
Richard S. Ginell
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01-Sacajawea [07:40]
02-Serenata [06:09]
03-Vendiendo Alegria [07:03]
04-Bachianas Brasileiras No [06:00]
05-Angola [05:28]
06-Interlude [01:49]
07-She Moves Through The Fair [04:39]
08-Orbis [06:09]
09-12th Century Carol [06:04]
10-Capricorn II [05:59]
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57:00 min
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