One of jazz’s true giants has left the earth. Thankfully Mr. Shorter lived a long and very productive life leaving behind many, many hours of brilliant music.
Let us all celebrate the life and music of Wayne Shorter by playing some of his wonderful music.
Sad news. He was a giant. So innovative over such an incredibly long time! He started in the 1950s!! I saw him live several times with this band and it was one of the best concerts I have been to.
A private labor of love, shared among friends years ago. There are many other Wayne Shorter compositions which deserve a similar treatment. https://i.imgur.com/3IqG5cL.png
Following the Wayne Shorter’s Footprints
“The silence between sounds.”
In the moment just after I finished listening to Wayne Shorter’s ‘Footprints’ for the first time, I thought that beautiful is the silence between the sounds. The performance was pure magic with repeating (looping?) melody, simple though digging, carving into depth of the moment. Shorter stretches the main theme several times, into different directions. It is a journey (that seems to be) destined to go nowhere. In every moment, it makes you feel that you have not departed far from the beginning but it is clear that you are not exactly where you started. Just like a travel by a train heading to a known place and no chance to go somewhere else, alone in a compartment with your loneness… you are blue for leaving something behind but knowing that you will find familiar faces at the end of your journey, maybe the faces you left in your past.
Without doubt, ‘Footprints’ is one of the best original compositions in music history.
This 4 CD compilation, clocking more than 320 minutes, includes 39 different readings of the composition. It may seem weird to spend such a long time with listening to same tune. But wheels of a train never sound the same in any moment. If you are brave enough to give a chance to this challenge –or opportunity?- I am sure that you will feel refreshed from the weight of this confusing, abusing but amusing, dazzling life with a simple melody dare enough to talk about life in a complex way.
No need to write about performances, each speaks for itself and no need to write about the performers, each one of them is true legend of this poor art form, –after silence- that comes nearest to expressing the the inexpressible.
It is certainly true that the beauty is “the silence between sounds.”
… and the beauty is in the journey not in the destination.
igor, sardo & selim
Wayne Shorter - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 101 - 2008 - Jazz - Adam’s Apple
Regina Carter & Kenny Barron - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 102 - 2008 - Jazz - Freefall
Joe McPhee - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 103 - 2008 - Jazz - Po Music
Marc Copland - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 104 - 2008 - Jazz - Stompin with Savoy
Toots Thielemans - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 105 - 2008 - Jazz - Footprints
The Nuttree Quartet - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 106 - 2008 - Jazz - Standards
Joey Calderazzo - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 107 - 2008 - Jazz - Our Standards
Chico Freeman and Arthur Blythe - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 108 - 2008 - Jazz - Luminous
Andy Summers - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 109 - 2008 - Jazz - The Last Dance of Mr.X
Miles Davis - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 201 - 2008 - Jazz - Miles Smiles
Geoff Keezer - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 202 - 2008 - Jazz - Zero One
Frank Morgan - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 203 - 2008 - Jazz - The Colossal Saxophone Sessions
Dee Dee Bridgewater - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Long Time Ago (Footprints) - 204 - 2008 - Jazz - Red Earth
Wayne Shorter - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 205 - 2008 - Jazz - Footprints Live
Dresch Dudás Mihály Quartett - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Lábnyomok ( Footprints) - 206 - 2008 - Jazz - Folyondar
Terence Blanchard - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 207 - 2008 - Jazz - Bounce
Karrin Allyson - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 208 - 2008 - Jazz - Footprints
Jon Faddis - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 209 - 2008 - Jazz - Remembrances
Eddie Henderson - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 210 - 2008 - Jazz - So What
GRP All-Star Big Band - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 211 - 2008 - Jazz - GRP All-Star Big Band
Lars Moller - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 301 - 2008 - Jazz - Kaleidoscope
Mal Waldron - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Foot Prints - 302 - 2008 - Jazz - My Dear Family
Doctor 3 - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 303 - 2008 - Jazz - Californication
Enrico Pieranunzi - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 304 - 2008 - Jazz - Live in Paris
Roberto Gatto - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 305 - 2008 - Jazz - Jazz Italiano Live 2006
Hampton Hawes - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 306 - 2008 - Jazz - Live at Montmartre
Kenny Barron - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 307 - 2008 - Jazz - Images
Pat Martino - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 308 - 2008 - Jazz - Footprints
Michiel Borstlap - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 309 - 2008 - Jazz - LiveLine
Ahmad Jamal - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 310 - 2008 - Jazz - Digital Woks
Wayne Shorter - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 401 - 2008 - Jazz - Live at the Barbican 10th November 2006
Ahmad Jamal - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 402 - 2008 - Jazz - 1985 Live At The Montreal Jazz Festival
Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 403 - 2008 - Jazz - Cosmic Funk
Anders Bergcrantz - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 404 - 2008 - Jazz - C
Hilton Ruiz - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 405 - 2008 - Jazz - Live at Birdland
Tim Hagans (2005) - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 406 - 2008 - Jazz - Beautiful Lily
The Quartet (Hancock, Shorter, Carter, DeJohnette) - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 407 - 2008 - Jazz - Tokyo, October 15, 2007
Conrad Herwig - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints - 408 - 2008 - Jazz - The Latin Side Of Wayne Shorter
DJ Mehdi - Following Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” - Footprints (dub) - 409 - 2008 - Jazz - Blue Note Revisited
Everything he did for Blue Note is the stuff of genius, in my opinion. That he was able to talk Miles Davis out of the constraints of his mid-60s set-list strait-jacket speaks volumes about his diplomacy and influence. He was a titan in the truest sense of the word.
Pitchfork has a representative playlist for those who haven’t been close followers of Mr. Shorter’s. Spelled out in Soundiiz format:
|title|artist|album|isrc|
|---|---|---|---|
|Free for All|Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers|Free For All|usbn21201024|
|Infant Eyes|Wayne Shorter|Speak No Evil|usbn21200611|
|Nefertiti|Miles Davis|Nefertiti|ussm12300215|
|Dindi|Wayne Shorter|Super Nova|usbn28700256|
|Palladíum|Weather Report|Heavy Weather|ussm17700265|
|The Three Marias [The Wayne Shorter Quartet With Orpheus Chamber Orchestra]|Wayne Shorter|Emanon|usug11800906|
Only 6 tracks. Shorter merits 25 tracks, as a very bare minimum. And even 25 tracks would barely scratch the surface of all the incredible music that Wayne Shorter produced during his long and very productive career.