Wayne Shorter sets the seal on Vivid with a four-man masterclass

HE doesn’t play as many notes as he used to, but those Wayne Shoter does play still go straight to the heart.

The Wayne Shorter Quartet performing at Sydney Opera House for the Vivid festival. Picture: Daniel Boud

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HE doesn’t play as many notes as he used to, but those he does play still go straight to the heart.

Making a welcome return after six years, Wayne Shorter and his spectacular quartet set the seal on this year’s Vivid festival with a magnificent 90 minutes of transcendent jazz in the Sydney Opera House concert hall.

With the same line-up that dazzled audiences in 2010 — Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums — the 82-year-old switched between tenor and soprano sax throughout a set which was largely unfamiliar to his fans, but which nevertheless showed that as a composer and performer he is a true giant.

Wayne Shorter and bassist John Patitucci. Picture: Daniel Boud

His body of work as a solo artist, as a part of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet and fusion pioneers Weather Report, has shifted the goalposts of jazz for five decades.

Shorter writes the parts for all the band members. The pieces are suites more than a “number” in the conventional sense.

Short adopts a collaborative approach rather than the traditional round of solos and choruses. This is music of creative audacity, melodic intensity and with a symphonic sweep.

Excellent sound and lighting complemented the music. A dozen spotlights backlit the musicians with a wall-to-ceiling drape behind that. Colour schemes changed to suit the mood.

Presiding over it all with Zen-like calm was Shorter, issuing minimal gestures, the occasional nod. He never said a word, but then he doesn’t need to. The only non-musical articulation came from Blades whose joyful yells and “oh my gods” punctuated the sound world much like Keith Jarrett’s whoops.

MINIMALIST

The opening 20-minute number started serenely with some translucent piano from Perez before Patitucci’s bass lent some subtle emphasis and Shorter’s breathy tenor sax – tentative at first — painted some minimalist lines.

Blades, meanwhile, drifted in and out with beautifully subtle and often unexpected flourishes.

It all gradually swelled and built as Patitucci switched from fingering to bowing, lending a broad ground bass while Blades joined in with ecstatic rolls and rimshots.

In the second number Shorter switched halfway through to soprano, duetting with Perez’s spacious piano. Patitucci’s probing bass lines, Perez’s hypnotic rising chords and Blades’ riffs grew more agitated before Shorter’s moist tenor calmed things down.

Shorter’s tenor breathed and flexed like a powerful beast, half slumbering but half alert

Shorter was happy to let his wonderful trio occupy the foreground for several minutes at a time — no big noting here.

Forty minutes in and the third song was set in motion by a little signature fanfare from Shorter’s soprano sax, as if to say this is your starting point now take it from here.

It all built into a joyous hymnlike climax and, as it died, Shorter’s tenor breathed and flexed like a powerful beast, half slumbering but half alert, before he switched to the soprano for the finale, sending out stabbing stratospheric cries over Blades increasingly insistent drumming.

Shorter acknowledged the applause with a laid-back thumbing gesture to Perez, the catalyst for much of what was happening, while Patitucci beamed and winked at his band mates and Blades rarely stopped smiling.

This was a masterclass in complex, multi-layered music. The constantly shifting rhythms, tempos and dynamics, and the textures applied by Shorter like a great painter with dabs from his musical palette, all made for an unforgettable evening.

Let’s hope we’ll get to see and hear this great giant of jazz again before too long.

DETAILS:

●CONCERT: Wayne Shorter Quartet

●WHERE: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

●WHEN: Monday, June 13