This 2014 live recording of the saxophonist’s late-career quartet showcases one of the great modern jazz bands and the enthralling genius of their leader.
Wayne Shorter brought ethereally timeless beauty to the sometimes impatient soundtrack of jazz. In the months before his death at 89 in March 2023, the saxophonist/composer was curating his archives for a milestone he knew he was unlikely to witness: the 60th anniversary of his first connection with the iconic Blue Note label.
Taking place this year, the event is being marked by classic vinyl reissues from his 1964 and 1970 recordings, but also previously unreleased episodes from the creative renaissance he discovered after the formation of his last quartet in 2000, when he was 67. That group, with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, was regarded as one of the great modern jazz bands in its borderline-psychic contrapuntal improvising, rhythmic agility, energy and generic range.
When Shorter heard Celebration Volume 1, recorded in Stockholm in 2014, he knew at once that it should be the centrepiece of his legacy collection – a eureka moment his wife Carolina eloquently describes in the liner notes. It’s easy to hear why. Perez and Patitucci toy with each other’s propositions on Zero Gravity to the 15th Dimension, before Shorter’s smoky tenor enters the bassist’s dark bowed chords.
The 1919 hit Smilin’ Through swells into a Coltranesque reverie of rumbling drums and twisting slivers of tenor lyricism; Shorter’s tenor on his own Orbits hoots and ripples its way out of ensemble hooks and drum punctuation into free-swing, then a squalling soprano-sax-and-drums crescendo.
The Irish folk song She Moves Through the Fair becomes a quiet odyssey of subtle bass reflections, Blade’s bustling brushwork, Perez’s mercurially darting melodies, and haunting high-tenor phrasing. At times, Celebration Volume 1 can seem more like a Buddhist meditation than a jazz album – yet it’s full of the enthralling purposefulness that was this foursome’s calling card.
Celebration, Volume 1 is the first in a series of archival releases that the legendary saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter curated before he passed away in 2023. This thrilling 2014 live recording captured Shorter’s acclaimed quartet with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in Sweden. The intrepid set includes some of the band’s favorite vehicles of exploration including “Zero Gravity,” “Smilin’ Through,” “Orbits,” “Lotus,” and “She Moves Through The Fair.”
“In the fall of 2022, Rob Griffin started sending a lot of unreleased music for Wayne to sort thru,” writes Carolina Shorter in the album’s liner notes. “He started listening around the clock. I’d be doing something around the house, talking on the phone, doing work and he’d yell ‘Carolina! You’ve got to come and hear this shit! Check out what these guys are doing!’ Wayne made detailed notes – some of them are reprinted on this album jacket.”
“When he heard the Stockholm concert, he said ‘this is the album!,’” she continues. “Then he started listening to more things and, over time, realized that it was going to have to be more than one record. He originally wanted to call the collection Unidentified Flying Objects – thinking of the notes everyone played as being UFOs! In January 2023, when he was hospitalized for the last time, he continued picking tracks and laying out the albums.
His ‘Never Give Up’ spirit, which underlines his entire mission, was stronger than ever and he was excited to release more music. It was only in the last 10 days of his life that he realized he was not going to be around to see it to fruition. He started feeling the urgency of celebrating life and decided to change the name of the collection to Celebration. I said ‘Yes Wayne! Let’s celebrate!!! That’s what it should be called. A celebration!’”
Tracklist:
1. Zero Gravity to the 15th Dimension
2. Smilin’ Through
3. Zero Gravity to the 11th Dimension
4. Zero Gravity to the 12th Dimension
5. Zero Gravity – Unbound
6. Orbit
7. Edge of the World (End Title)
8. Zero Gravity to the 90th Dimension
9. Lotus
10. She Moves Through The Fair
