Wayne Shorter

IMN representation: Worldwide

Visit website

The legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter made his triumphant return to Blue Note Records after 43 years with the February 5, 2013 release of Without A Net, his searing new album with his long-running Quartet featuring pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade. Shorter has revealed the album cover artwork for Without A Net, which features drawings by Shorter himself.

Shorter—who will be entering his 80th year in 2013—first recorded for Blue Note in 1959 as the precocious 26-year-old tenor saxophonist (and prolific composer) in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which brought him to the attention of label founder Alfred Lion who eventually signed him to his own recording deal. Shorter went on to make a spectacular run of classic albums for Blue Note between 1964-1970 including Night Dreamer, Juju, Speak No Evil, Adam’s Apple, Schizophrenia, and Super Nova during a period of time that also paralleled Shorter’s years with Miles Davis, first as a member of the trumpeter’s trailblazing quintet, and later as a part of Davis’ early fusion masterpieces.

Without A Net is a 9-track musical thrill ride that consists of live recordings from the Wayne Shorter Quartet’s European tour in late 2011, the one exception being the 23-minute tone poem “Pegasus” which features the quartet with The Imani Winds recorded at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The album features six new Shorter compositions, as well as new versions of his tunes “Orbits” (from Miles Davis’ Miles Smiles album) and “Plaza Real” (from the Weather Report album Procession). The quartet also reinvents the title song from the 1933 musical film Flying Down To Rio, which film buffs (such as Shorter) know as the first on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Jump to page:
Joy Ryder 11:20 Wayne Shorter
Footprints 7:55 Wayne Shorter
[+] open in new window

Watch what's on

*Over Shadow Hill Way
Jazz Conversations- Wayne Shorter & Joe Lovano, Pt
Jazz Conversations- Wayne Shorter & Joe Lovano, Pt
Prometheus Unbound
[+] open in new window

REVIEWS

The saxophonist turns 80 this year, but his music is as fresh as ever.
USA Today

A band of spellbinding intuition, with an absolute commitment to the spirit of discovery, it has had an incalculable influence on the practice of jazz in the 21st century
The New York Times

It’s the latest in a series of urgent reminders that Shorter’s present-tense evolution is as impressive as his past triumphs.
Time Out New York

Wayne Shorter is one of the greatest living jazz musicians.
NPR Music

Wayne Shorter’s triumphant return after 43 years to Blue Note… intensely satisfying music played at the highest level.
DownBeat

Wayne Shorter still plays as though he has something to prove… If you want to hear a true master at work in a live setting, Without A Net just keeps delivering thrills.
RELIX

Without a Net is not just a new high watermark for Shorter and his stellar quartet, it’s a truly masterful masterpiece to add to a discography already brimming with classic recordings that will further cement Shorter’s inscription—and, as it evolves, his quartet’s as well—in the rarefied upper echelon of jazz history.
AllAboutJazz