SFJAZZ Collective Celebrates Wayne Shorter

JAZZset with Dee Dee Bridgewater

October 9, 2008 - More than a century ago, the people of Chicago built Orchestra Hall and inscribed the stone façade with the names Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner. On this JazzSet, we add a name –- Shorter — as the SFJAZZ Collective plays new arrangements of Wayne Shorter's songs, and originals from within the band, in the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Shorter's lines and harmonies, and the rhythms within them, hold the secrets to the code of contemporary jazz, according to SFJAZZ Collective trumpeter Dave Douglas. Shorter's instrumental voice on tenor and soprano saxophones serves as the delivery system. Indeed, at 75, he plays on for all to hear, leading his Wayne Shorter Quartet.

SFJAZZ, a year-round presenting organization based in San Francisco, launched the SFJAZZ Collective in 2004. Every season since then, the Collective has focused its creativity on a different composer. For 2008, pianist Renee Rosnes arranged one of Shorter's most familiar pieces, "Footprints." Rosnes herself is a veteran of Shorter's small group and, with Miguel Zenón, she's a senior member of the Collective. A recent MacArthur Genius Grant winner, Zenón has assembled his own arrangement of "Armageddon," featuring solos by Zenón and vibraphonist Stefon Harris.

"One of the most remarkable things is to get to work with these seven incredibly outstanding colleagues," Douglas says. We all write original music for the group, and learning everyone's piece and seeing how they work is an incredible eye-opener."

Trombonist Robin Eubanks' melody and solo are athletic in his composition "Breakthrough." Bassist Matt Penman's original work comes with a story. When wine ages in the barrel, a little bit evaporates. That bit is known as "The Angels' Share," which doubles as the title of Penman's piece.

Words from the Declaration of Independence open drummer Eric Harland's "The Year 2008" and lead to intense solos by Joe Lovano on tenor, Rosnes and Harris. Harland's marching drums take it out, reminding us that it's an election year.

All this music comes from one night in Chicago in March 2008. "The music was awesome," reviewer Mark Sheldon wrote. "The musicians were tip top. The road was transcendent."

Maybe someday, a stonecutter will inscribe "SFJAZZ Collective" in a hall paying tribute to 21st-century music.

Performers

Dave Douglas: trumpet
Miguel Zenón: alto sax
Joe Lovano: flute and tenor sax
Robin Eubanks: trombone
Stefon Harris: vibes
Renee Rosnes: piano
Matt Penman: bass
Eric Harland: drums