Shorter’s Quartet Includes Jazz Luminaries Pianist Danilo Peréz, Bassist John Patitucci and Drummer Brian Blade
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2006, AT 8 PM
Acura Sponsors Concert; KKJZ is Media Sponsor
Fusion pioneer and seven-time Grammy award-winner Wayne Shorter, a tenor and soprano saxophonist without peer, steps into the acoustic realm in a special collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Saturday, January 28, 2006, at 8 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Shorter and his quartet – featuring renowned jazz artists Danilo Peréz, piano, John Patitucci, drums, and Brian Blade, bass – present orchestral arrangements of some of Shorter’s own classics. The program is conducted by Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Alexander Mickelthwate.
Described by the New York Times as “one of the most significant composers and individual saxophonists in jazz,” Shorter is a brilliant instrumentalist at the vanguard of the generation of tenor saxophone modernists who emerged after John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. During his evolution from a driving hard bopper to a master of modal jazz, he co-founded the seminal group Weather Report, which created a new hybrid of jazz-rock music known as fusion or progressive music. Jazz great Herbie Hancock called Shorter “the master writer.” In his autobiography, the late Miles Davis said, “Wayne is a real composer… he knew that freedom in music was the ability to know the rules in order to bend them to your satisfaction and taste.” Among Shorter’s sophisticated compositions now considered tried-and-true classics are “Speak No Evil,” “Infant Eyes,” “Witch Hunt,” “Penelope,” “Adams Apple” and “Footprints.” His current band, featuring Peréz, Patitucci and Blade, was formed in 2000 and is the first acoustic group under Shorter’s leadership. The
quartet’s latest release, Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005), is an exhilarating live document that captures the risk-taking chemistry of the celebrated group on tour. It continues the remarkable deconstructivist aesthetic that Shorter established with the quartet on Footprints Live! (2001) – Shorter’s first all-acoustic album since his early 1960’s Blue Note years.
Upcoming concerts in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Jazz Series at Disney Hall include a rare West Coast appearance by the Maria Schneider Orchestra on February 8, 2006, and a special appearance by acclaimed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis on October 30, 2006.
American jazz composer and saxophonist WAYNE SHORTER has recorded dozens of albums as a leader, and dozens more with others and garnered seven Grammy Awards. He received his first Grammy with his group Weather Report in 1979 for Best Jazz Fusion Performance on their album 8:30. He received his second Grammy in the category of Best Instrumental Composition in 1987, for “Call Sheet Blues” from the motion picture sound track ‘Round Midnight. The third came in 1994 in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Group for A Tribute to Miles. In 1996 he was awarded the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for High Life, and he won the 1997 Grammy for Best Composition for Aung San Suu Kyi, and finally, in 2000, came the Grammy for Best Instrumental Solo for In Walked Wayne. In 2002, Footprints Live! was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group. Shorter followed in 2003 with the ambitious Alegria, an expanded vision for large ensemble, which earned him another Grammy Award. Born August 25, 1933 in Newark, NJ, Shorter attended Art's High School and later graduated from New York University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958, after which he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. His five years as one of Blakey's Messengers clearly established him as a newcomer to watch due to winning the number on New Star Saxophonist DownBeat poll for 1962. He came in second place for "Best Composer" while Duke Ellington came in first. In 1964 Miles Davis invited Shorter to go on the road with his band, which included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter. He stayed with Davis for six years, recording a dozen albums with him, creating a sound with a bandleader that changed the face of music during that tumultuous decade. In 1970 he formed Weather Report with Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous. Through his solo career and his work with Weather Report, he helped to redefine the new hybrid of music, which came to be known as fusion. Shorter has also recorded saxophone performances in the motion picture soundtracks Glengary Glen Ross (1983), The Fugitive (1993), and Losing Isaiah (1995). He received the National Endowment for the Arts' "American Jazz Master Award" in 1998, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Berkeley College of Music in 1999. He was commissioned and wrote an acclaimed piece for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Millennium Concert. Author Michelle Mercer chronicles the saxophonist’s life in Footprints: The Life And Music of Wayne Shorter (A Tarcher/Penguin hardcover).
Alexander Mickelthwate joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Assistant Conductor at the start of the 2004/2005 season. Most recently, he served as Assistant Conductor at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where, in addition to his ASO duties, he served as co-artistic director and conductor of the Atlanta-based contemporary music ensemble Bent Frequency, which he co-founded in May 2003. In the summer of 2002, he was Conductor in Residence and Director of Conducting Studies for the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and he is a member of the conducting faculty at Kennesaw State University in Georgia and artist in residence at Georgia State University. Though still in the early stages of his career, Mickelthwate has already conducted the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, New Jersey, and Oregon, as well as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Eos Orchestra, and Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and worked as cover conductor for the Boston Symphony.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable places anywhere to experience music — Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association’s involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational programs, community concerts and children's programming, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2006 at 8:00 PM
WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
WAYNE SHORTER, saxphones
DANILO PERÉZ, piano
JOHN PATITUCCI, bass
BRIAN BLADE, drums
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, conductor
Generously sponsored by Acura; media support provided by KKJZ
Tickets ($87-$28) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office two hours prior to the performance. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person; cash only. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For all information, please call 323.850.2000.
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Adam Crane, 213.972.3422; Photos: 213.972.3034