Wayne Shorter Quartet - Without a Net (2013)

Without A Net marks the legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter return to Blue Note Records for his first album as a leader for the iconic label in 43 years. The album which features his long-running Quartet with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade is a 9-track musical thrill ride that consists of live recordings from the Quartet s European tour in late 2011, the one exception being the 23-minute tone poem Pegasus which features the quartet with The Imani Winds recorded at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The album features six new Shorter compositions, as well as new versions of his tunes Orbits (from Miles Davis Miles Smiles album) and Plaza Real (from the Weather Report album Procession). The quartet also reinvents the title song from the 1933 musical film Flying Down To Rio, which film buffs (such as Shorter) know as the first on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Tracklist:

01 Orbits
02 Starry Night
03 S.S. Golden Mean
04 Plaza Real
05 Myrrh
06 Pegasus
07 Flying Down To Rio
08 Zero Gravity to the 10th Power
09 (The Notes) Unidentified Flying Objects

Personnel:

Wayne Shorter: soprano and tenor saxophones, whistling (7, 8);
Danilo Pérez: piano;
John Patitucci: bass;
Brian Blade: drums;
Valerie Coleman: flute (6);
Toyin Spellman-Diaz: oboe (6);
Mariam Adam: clarinet (6);
Jeff Scott: French horn (6);
Monica Ellis: bassoon (6).