by Richard Lutz.
Good to see The Town Hall in Birmingham filled by the likes of Wayne Shorter.
And really, why not? Stooped, rounded by age, the 79 year old and his saxophone casts a long important shadow over post war jazz.
He began his career more than 5 decades ago in New York and played and wrote for, among others, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey and, in the more commercial world, with singers as varied as Joni Mitchell and Carlos Santana as well being a frontman for electronic jazz-funk band Weather Report.
This was not free form but very orchestrated. Composed. Sometimes tight, sometimes difficult to access with his quartet. Despite his age, and sometimes leaning on the piano behind him for support, Shorter mixed enigma with straight up Coltrane sounds. It left some audience members confused, unsettled. But there was no doubt you were watching an original who had a sound that very few others have.
He performed two nameless compositions- one was close to an hour long and the other round about the half hour mark. Both use his skill with tenor and alto sax backed eloquently d by pianist Danilio Perez. Brian Blake on drums was physically all over the place but musically structured and sound
Shorter, a nine-time Grammy winner, proved he’s beyond genre and like any wide ranging artists, sometimes grabs you and other times leaves you slightly baffled. There were ovations indeed at the end but no encore was offered for a man close to 80 who had to be exhausted from this long continual session.
The evening opened, by the way, with The Jazzlines Trio from Birmingham. Reuben James on piano played Duke Ellington and Hoagy Carmichael with panache and as a young musician in his early twenties has a future in front of him.
Shorter goes on to begin a world tour. Reuben James, I would imagine, goes back to learning his trade.
+ More international jazz in Birmingham later this month when drummer Jack DeJohnette comes to the Town Hall on 20th November. His stripes have been earned with Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett.