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"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
DEEP DIVE – Wayne Shorter
03/31/2023
Intro:
It is 20 hours past midnight after another platinum spring day here in Gwangju, and we’re ready to do something a bit different this evening to kick off the weekend. Tonight we’re going to take our very first Friday Deep Dive, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while since our weekend shows got cut, and with this month seeing the passing of one of if not THE all time greatest jazz musicians in Wayne Shorter, there is no time like the present to pay our respects as the cherry blossoms peak. Unfortunately Shorter passed away on March 2, but not before he left an indelible mark via one of the longest and most storied careers in music, mainly jazz via the saxophone, both alto and tenor. Shorter rose to prominence in the 1950’s and 60’s as a member and composer for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and later as a member of Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet. He was also a co-founder of the Weather Report, and of course, a very well-known solo artist whose compositions are now jazz standards known the world over. Very simply, Shorter was one of the most talented and prolific small band jazz composers of all time, and one of music’s most innovative and ever-lasting artists. So, we’re going to try and encapsulate 70+ years in music tonight in the first hour, and then go through most of Shorter’s 2018 Grammy-winning album Emanon for the entirety of our 2nd, and we’ll talk more about the incredible background of that piece after 9 bells strike, but do keep in mind that a bigger fan of comic books you would be hard pressed to meet while we go through all of Wayne Shorter’s monumental music tonight, just something to keep in the back of your head. This is The Drop on your Wayne Shorter Deep Dive Friday night.
Part 1
Wayne Shorter – Footprints
Miles Davis – Nothing Like You
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Mosaic
Weather Report – River People (Live)
Miles Davis – Spanish Key
Facts
Wayne Shorter – Footprints
- An original composition from Shorter, often known as a Miles Davis tune as his version was released on Miles Smiles prior to Shorter’s Adam’s Apple LP, released in 1966.
- Interestingly, this version was recorded earlier than the Miles Davis version, but that was released ealier in the end, thus the confusion.
Miles Davis Quintet – Nothing Like You
- The final tune to Sorcerer, released in 1967 and the third of the Second Great Quintet’s albums together.
- This tune was recorded several years earlier than the rest of the record, but as always in this era, Wayne Shorter is like Miles Davis’s right hand.
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Mosaic
- Something cookin’ from one of the greatest drummers of all time right here, the title track to an album released in 1962 via Blue Note.
- What a band, the Jazz Messengers, with Wayne Shorter of course on the tenor sax, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet…it is wild.
Weather Report – River People (Live)
- A tune performed live and released on the band’s 1978 record Mr Gone.
- This was the experimental jazz fusion group co-founded by Wayne Shorter along with Joe Zawinul, who were both part of the Bitches Brew band with Miles Davis…and that brings us to:
Miles Davis – Spanish Key
Part 2
Wayne Shorter – Fee-fi-fo-fum
Wayne Shorter – Mahjong
Wayne Shorter with James Spaulding, Herbie Hacock, Curtis Fuller & Ron Carter – Miyako
Wayne Shorter – 502 Blues
Miles Davis – Sanctuary
Facts
Wayne Shorter – Fee-fi-fo-fum
- Back to 1966 with this one, off Shorter’s Speak No Evil LP.
- This is Shorter’s 6th career album and the woman featured on the cover is Teruko Nakagami, who was Shorter’s first wife whom he’d met in 1961.
Wayne Shorter – Mahjong
- Back a year ealier with this tune, off Shorter’s 5th LP called JuJu.
- Since Shorter had used John Coltrane’s backing band on this, many were critical and stated that he was living in Coltrane’s shadow, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Wayne Shorter with James Spaulding, Herbie Hacock, Curtis Fuller & Ron Carter – Miyako
- An interesting record from 1969 here called Schizophrenia, which is kind of exactly what’s going on as the band straddles the border between post-bop and free jazz.
- Shorter would later cross into the latter unknown, but here is still wrestling as was the entirety of the jazz world.
Wayne Shorter – 502 Blues (Drinkin’ & Drivin’)
- Back to Adam’s Apple from 1966 to close that block, this being an appropriately subtitled tune for Friday night. Stay safe out there, people.
- This tune actually is not an original, although it is the best known, as it was originally composed by Jimmy Rowles in 1958.
Miles Davis – Sanctuary
- For my money, the greatest album of all time, and this would be an original composition by Wayne Shorter on the record, released in March 1970. This song and what became the title track were both written by Shorter himself, who also was part of the one of the wildest & most percussive ensembles in jazz history, .
Part 3 & 4: Emanon
Intro:
This is one of Wayne Shorter’s last albums, released in 2018 after a 5 year absence, and is an incredible concept record. The name emanon is noname backwards, which was an original composition by Dizzy Gillespie and Milton Shaw. Now, I mentioned that Shorter was a huge fan of comic books, and this album definitely showed that, as it was only released in physical form until it was added to streaming services the next year, the album came with a graphic novel created by Shorter together with writer Monica Sly and artist Randy DuBurke, whose career includes work for DC Comics. The book is a futuristic fantasy supported by Shorter’s philosophy of art. It tells the story of a “rogue philosopher” named Emanon who travels among worlds, spreading a message of truth and empowerment and fighting against the powers of evil. In his biography Shorter, a practicing Buddhist, explained "At this point I’m looking to express eternity in composition.” And what better way could we focus the man’s energy tonight than play this expansive, lovely, and beautiful piece of the cosmos? Rest in power once again to Wayne Shorter, this is Emanon from 2018 on your Friday night Deep Dive.
Wayne Shorter Quintet – Pegasus
Wayne Shorter Quintet – Prometheus Unbound
Wayne Shorter Quintet – Lotus
Wayne Shorter Quintet – The Three Marias
Wayne Shorter Quintet – Lost & Orbits Medley
Wayne Shorter Quintet – She Moves Through The Fair
Wayne Shorter Quintet – Adventures Aboard the Golden Mean