I have to confess that I'm woefully behind the times on much of the newer jazz. Back when I was playing it live, from '96-'02, I was hip to what the likes of Christian McBride, Benny Green, Junko Onishi, Brad Mehldau, and, of course, Branford, Wynton and Delfayo were doing, but the only Shorter I have with him as leader is stuff like JuJu, Night Dreamer, and Speak No Evil. So, I'm only 50 years behind the times, whaddya want?
There is SO much out there to keep on top of. The WSQ has been more prolific in terms of touring than recording, I believe they have about 4 albums out over the past 10-12 years. The latest, Without A Net, would be the best starting point, but Footprints Live! would not be a bad place to start either. Anyone who likes both jazz and Grateful Dead-style collective improvisation I think would really enjoy this stuff, and it's fairly different from his earlier stuff as a leader. (I am not familiar with Night Dreamer, but I have the other two you mentioned, along with Adam's Apple).
Here's the Wikipedia write-up on the WSQ. All four players are fantastic, and Brian Blade in particular is fantastic. In addition to his own recordings as a leader, Blade also has done a lot of session work, including Dylan's Time Out of Mind. n 2000, Shorter formed the first permanent acoustic group under his name, a quartet with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, playing his own compositions, many of them reworkings of tunes going back to the 1960s. Three albums of live recordings have been released, Footprints Live! (2002), Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005) and Without A Net (2013). The quartet has received great acclaim from fans and critics, especially for the strength of Shorter's tenor saxophone playing. The biography Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter by journalist Michelle Mercer examines the working life of the musicians as well as Shorter's thoughts and Buddhist beliefs.[8] Beyond the Sound Barrier received the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album. Shorter's 2003 album Alegría (his first studio album for 10 years, since High Life) received the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album; it features the quartet with a host of other musicians, including pianist Brad Mehldau, drummer Carrington and former Weather Report percussionist Alex Acuña. Shorter's compositions, some new, some reworked from his Davis period, feature the complex Latin rhythms that he specialised in during his Weather Report days.
Shorter, Perez, Pattitucci, and Blade. Um yeah, that sounds like a strong band. By the way, if you haven't checked out Danilo's PanaMonk, you should. He tears up Monk something fierce and the version of Evidence/Four in One is sick - he plays both heads at the same time and either, on it's own, is a real workout.
Those mentions of Blakey and jazz guitar got me reaching for this Blue Note classic...SACD mastered by our host...
I forgot my iPod at home today so I'm streaming a shuffled playlist of every album I ever bought from Anazon via their player app. This means I've gone from Zappa to Dylan to Stevie Wonder to REM to Kyuss to Franz Ferdinand-a CD I bought for my brother several years ago. I'm pretty sure "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" is a Ray Davies rip off. No Jerry or Dead today, so far.
Listening at this moment to Eric Clapton Pilgrim Audio Fidelity. Goin Down Slow then Fall Like Rain. Sounds Great.
Parcel arrived today from CDJapan. I got a few of these Blu-Spec Byrds releases...currently listening to Fifth Dimension in mono...
I listened to a very fun rock n roll album in the car earlier: Pinups Also, I grooved to some rockabilly/western swing music by BR5-49 that I found on CD at a thrift store. ...and yet I still had time for a "Help/Slip/Franklin's" (DP 17, 9/25/91)
I too am listening to some jazz on this rainy Sunday... Also, mentioned in the other thread, still digging the Jefferson Airplane set from Monterey Pop. Four tracks from Surrealistic Pillow, excellent performances and good SQ. "Somebody to Love" (Darby Slick) – 3:16 "The Other Side of This Life" (Fred Neil) – 6:53 "White Rabbit" (Grace Slick) – 2:41 "High Flying Bird" (Billy Edd Wheeler) – 4:02 "Today" (Marty Balin, Paul Kantner) – 3:07 "She Has Funny Cars" (Jorma Kaukonen, Balin) – 3:20 "Young Girl Sunday Blues" (Balin) – 3:26 "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" (Kantner) – 11:13
Ha! Right now I'm listening to "Mayreh" by Art Blakey Quintet off of Night At Birdland, Vol. 1. I started firing up my jazz lately because of all the talk in this thread. And it is such a Sunday thing I did it w/o thinking "jazz Sunday" but that's totally what it is. I'm also trying to punch out a law journal article that's been gestating for eight months now because it's a totally extracurricular, unpaid for thing, but I can't keep off this stupid freakin' board. Hopeless!
Giving a first listen to Jorma Kaukonen's new album, Ain't In No Hurry. I haven't heard any of his other albums from the past couple decades of so, but this is really good so far. Larry Campbell produces and plays, and Jack Casady is on some tracks, too. Really enjoying this one
Back to jazz tonight, with Lee Morgan Search for the New Land. Then Little Nemo is going to hit Slumberland and hope that rarebit cheese he ate doesn't lead to too much weirdness.
Freddie Hubbard Red Clay, been on a big jazz kick lately as I guess I've documented here. My wife and I played most of the Police albums Friday night as well, first time in a while that I have listened to any all the way through, other than Regatta, which gets more play because it's the only one we have on vinyl. One thing we concluded: the 2003 remasters, while bringing out some detail, sound completely different and not in a good way.
I've been on a Police kick lately too. I'm introducing my kids to them. Message In A Bottle is the consensus favorite so far. I've got the Message In A Box set. Sounds good to me. I did rerip it in lossless which made a big improvement over my old 160? MP3. The snare had no pop and the cymbals didn't really shimmer. Without those sounds from the drums, the whole thing felt flat.
I have Zenyatta in the same mastering as that box, and it is better overall than the 2003 version, although neither are what they should be. The drums on the vinyl Regatta sound better, but the box-era masters are closer to the way the albums should sound than the later ones. From what people say on other threads here, the original US CD issues are the best ones available for a reasonable price, but I don't currently have any of them. Planning to keep an eye out for them though, and should not be expensive.
If you're a Haynes and a Floyd fan, you gotta check out Dark Side of the Mule. I had no interest in this initially, because it's Gov't Mule doing Floyd covers. But, it's good! I've got it on now. I wasn't even aware of this album until I saw it for sale at a Mule concert in Oakland recently.
