Lawrence B. Johnson
On a long ride with Wayne Shorter
To play jazz music, its practitioners like to say, is to tell a story. If that's so, then saxophonist Wayne Shorter's "Joy Ryder" is a history, a personal journey recalled and examined and transmogrified into a magical epic in sound.
Shorter and his quartet have recorded "Joy Ryder," in a version that runs about 11 minutes. That wouldn't even give you the table of contents of the story this foursome unfolded Sunday night before several thousand rapt listeners at the Carhartt Stage. This telling rolled on for well over an hour.
In its atonal language, episodic structure, complex rhythms and overarching melodic lines, this virtually unbounded discourse was vividly reminiscent of tenor sax giant John Coltrane. And it must be said right here that whatever Shorter's vast audience may have expected to hear, they drank in the magnum opus they got with evident engagement and glee.
As if to mark off chapters, Shorter intermittently switch from tenor sax to soprano, thus shifting mood and color from darkly introspective musings on the former instrument to keen-edged wailing on the latter; and each change brought a wave of applause.
The audience was with him â€" indeed, with the whole experience, which extended well beyond the saxophonist to the bumptious rhythms and sometimes unbridled cacophony of his sidemen: pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade.
Jazz as a story? This was jazz as an adventure, a wild, unpredictable, heady and delicious ride.
