In Memoriam, Wayne Shorter

 One of the greatest musicians of the modern era just died.  Wayne Shorter.  Like so many giants in the jazz world, Shorter got his big break playing for Miles Davis.  Miles's second quintet, with Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams may not have had the cultural impact of the first quintet, but Coltrane looms so large that nothing can have that kind of impact.  Yet the second quintet arguably had a bigger impact on jazz overall, if one separates Coltrane's post-Miles work.  Part of it was the fact that Wayne Shorter was such a brilliant composer.  And then he went on to do some of the most important work in fusion, with Weather Report.  And then he just kept going.  For me, though, I keep going back to a string of albums he recorded on his own on the Blue Note label in the mid-60s.  He, and Herbie both.  Blue Note is best known for a very specific style of hard bop, but they put out so much more than that, and anyone who wants a demonstration of Shorter's vision can go to those albums.  My favorite Shorter composition, no contest, is a classic called Footprints.  Everyone records it.  It is a standard.  It is so influential that Derek Trucks built his signature slide guitar riff on a central line from this piece.  

"Footprints," from Adam's Apple.  Seriously, though.  You need to dig into the second quintet, Weather Report, and a lot more.  The second quintet recorded Footprints on Miles Smiles.  That one, too, is an all-time classic, and that version is probably the iconic version.  But this one is Wayne leading.  Man, I love Wayne Shorter.