![]() Shorter – who will be performing some of his other music during the concert – says there are ‘plans’ to record ‘Gaia’ at some point, though nothing is yet set in stone. Variety dubbed ‘Gaia’ ‘big-thinking fusion’ and lauded Spalding’s performance as ‘luminous,’ while JazzTimes affirmed that the piece ‘reaches high and gets where it wants to go.’ ‘It’s a phenomenal experience to sit through and listen to – and I get to sing through it, too, which is just incredible.’Ĭritics have largely agreed. ‘He wanted it to be a living organism, like Gaia, and to evolve and change according to what was happening at every live performance of it,’ she says. Spalding says that ‘Gaia’ has lived up to Shorter’s ambitions, with changes both significant and subtle during its three previous performances. ‘In other words, if we succumb to illusionary stuff and we become victims to a limited view of what life is supposed to be like, where are we? How do we progress? It’s not enough to be comfortable. What the libretto is saying is ‘wake up and dream,’ and the challenge is to bring that consciousness to anyone who’s taking for granted the surroundings that we live in and the planet that we live on and the universe that we’re in and the people we encounter. ‘To me, ‘Gaia’ is the planet we live on, and the fact we’re all here is symbolic of the limitless description of what life is about. ‘I think everything has a purpose and everything has multi-uses,’ Shorter says. ‘Gaia’ – which rolls for 25-30 minutes depending on the evening – is conceptually high-minded and conveys a message similar to the philosophy Shorter applies to music in general. ‘The idea was to get people across the board involved and all put things into the pot, so it’s not all just coming from one source,’ Shorter explains. The saxophonist enlisted Spalding and the project has only moved forward since. ![]() Shorter says ‘Gaia,’ named after the Greek goddess of the Earth, was commissioned by Herb Alpert’s organization specifically for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with orchestras in Washington, D.C., and Nashville as well as the DSO ultimately jumping on board. ![]() ‘To me, experiencing Wayne and his quartet with the symphony, it’s an example of what’s possible when you let go of the commonly agreed-upon barriers around what a genre is and what a player is – or isn’t. “What he does … breaks any of those stigmas, those assumptions, those associations that come when you assign a word to it, like ‘jazz’ or ‘pop’ or anything else. ‘The core of his being is uncategorizable. Spalding, 29, notes that while ‘most people are familiar with Wayne’s works in the context of jazz,’ ‘Gaia’ is a piece that establishes him as ‘a total musician.‘Gaia’ is a piece that establishes him as ‘a total musician.’ I feel like I’m still seeing things and finding new things to do and new ways to express myself.’ That’s when I started seeing the world a little bit larger than the street I grew up on. That’s when I’d just look at something and draw it and learn about doing things in my own way. ‘Eight is when I started drawing without tracing paper. He also holds a degree in classical composition from New York University. Army, played with Horace Silver, Maynard Ferguson and Art Blakey before joining Davis in 1964. ‘When I was 8, that’s when things started opening up to me,’ explains Shorter, a Newark, N.J., native who started playing saxophone as a teenager and, after a two-year stint with the U.S. On top of that, Shorter has rolled out ‘Gaia,’ a new orchestral-vocal piece – spotlighting fellow Grammy Award-winner Esperanza Spalding, who also wrote the libretto – that debuted during February with the Los Angles Philharmonic and will be played for a fourth and final time this weekend with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.Ĭlearly the guy has no intention to start acting his age in fact, he even says that 80 ‘is comparable to being 8 years old.’ In February, Shorter released the critically lauded ‘Without a Net,’ his first album for the venerable Blue Note label since 1970 and a formidable platform for his latest quartet, which includes pianist Danilo Perez (this year’s Detroit Jazz Festival Artist in Residence), bassist John Pattitucci and drummer Brian Blade. The saxophone legend – a veteran of Miles Davis’ groundbreaking Second Great Quintet during the ’60s bands and the equally barrier-busting Weather Report – turned 80 in August and has spent this year unveiling projects that are only adding to an already landmark legacy, with more than five decades of performing and recording. Wayne Shorter is not exactly dialing it down for his ninth decade on the planet.
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