Jazz legend Wayne Shorter marks his 80th but is never 'finished'

Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times / August 25, 2013

By Chris Barton
August 24, 2013, 11:00 a.m.

There's something oddly appropriate about seeing Wayne Shorter wearing a Superman symbol.

True, it's only a dog tag-shaped memento from the Christopher Reeve Foundation hanging from his neck, but the heroic detail suits the saxophonist when considering the impact of his career. As a composer and soloist, the 80-year-old artist has shaped jazz both on his own recordings and recordings with Art Blakey, Miles Davis and the landmark jazz-rock fusion group Weather Report.

Seated in front of a window at his hillside Los Angeles home overlooking West Hollywood, Century City and, on a clear day, the Pacific, Shorter smiles when asked about the bright red-and-gold logo. He flips it over to show the front, which identifies the foundation and a slogan that seems just as fitting: "Go forward."

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"I like to turn it around: 'No, this is a two-way street,'" he explains.

It's the kind of oblique yet curiously apt explanation that comes up often while trying to put Shorter's idiosyncratic musical path into words. Because as much as Shorter's impact on the sound of jazz and improvised music lends itself to superhuman comparisons, it's not as if the composer has spent 2013 retired in some hillside fortress of solitude.

In fact, it's quite the opposite. During what's amounted to a yearlong celebration of Shorter's 80th birthday (which culminates Wednesday in an all-star concert at the Hollywood Bowl organized by longtime friend and collaborator Herbie Hancock), Shorter appears determined to look ahead.

In addition to the winter premiere of a sprawling composition, "Gaia," at Disney Hall, written for rising star Esperanza Spalding, and a recent live collaboration with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Shorter also released "Without a Net," a relentlessly searching live album with his current quartet that's his first album for Blue Note in more than 43 years. It also happens to be one of the most acclaimed jazz records of the year.

"No one knows what's going to happen each night," he says of his ever-exploring band, which features drummer Brian Blade, pianist Danilo Perez and bassist John Patitucci (the group will also perform Wednesday). "I always say, we don't really rehearse," Shorter adds. "How do you rehearse the unknown?"

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