Wayne Shorter Quartet -- a show worth seeing

I'd second that Roy Haynes album. Nice recording and tunes in a trio format with a Latin tinge.

Saw this band last winter at USC. A phenomenal show - great interplay among an accomplished bunch, and at that time, Patitucci's general tendancy towards showy excess was not evident, as everyone genuninely communed in an excellent evening of music. I don't get why this thread is devolving into a discussion of Patitucci - not taking anything away from him, but Brian Blade and Danilo Perez are also both powerhouses in their own right, and in particular, I came away from that show with tremendous respect for Perez's sensitivity and breadth of vocabulary in providing the harmonic and rhythmic glue that really held this band together. I had not previously appreciated how good this guy is. But as the band came forward to take a collective bow at the end of the show, Mr. Patitucci demonstrated a degree of self-awareness not evident from his sweaty but exhilerated colleagues, as he primped his hair and grabbed his sports jacket before stepping up. For all of his achievements, he just didn't seem to be as fully absorbed by the gestalt of the moment as his colleagues. And of course, there is Wayne, who plays one hell of a lot of horn for a guy his age, and whose conceptual vision is the reason for this group in the first instance. Bottom line - see these folks if you have the chance.

Joebone....I simply answered Swingman's question regarding John Patitucci. If you noticed I recommened several releases that Brian Blade appears on as well as mentioning Danilo Perez on the Roy Haynes album.
If you wan to study the playing of Wayne Shorter go pick up the Mile Davis Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965. Inspirational to say the least.....Miles best band with Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock.

Well, maybe I caught Shorter on an off-night last spring, but I'd have renamed the group, "The Danilo Perez Trio, with cameo appearances by Wayne Shorter." The trio was fantastic, however.

Thanks, Jla, sounds like I have some catching up to do. I appreciate the recommendations.

Joebone -- I wasn't implying that Patitucci carried the show, he was simply the member of the band that I was the least familiar with and I was curious to learn more about him. On this particular night, Blade was the most captivating to watch -- speed, control, emotion, and exuberance all wrapped up together.

Then again, there's a fair amount of stylistic tension from what I can see. Blade and Patitucci tended to play in a more "hot," attention-getting style, while Shorter and Perez were more on the cool side. I personally enjoyed the contrast, because I could spend some left-brain time trying to appreciate Shorter's compositions and the complexities of Perez's playing and then just switch over to letting the right brain enjoy the fun of trying to keep up with what Blade and Patitucci were doing. I don't mean to imply that they're not deserving of analytical listening also -- they are, and vice versa for appreciating Perez and Shorter. That's just how I found myself listening this particular night. I like complex things and I liked how they pulled all of this together and made something from it.

And I will admit that I'm still new enough to jazz that the quirks and egos of the performers have not yet started to grate on me. That may change, but hopefully not too much. Right now it's still fun and still drawing me in deeper.