Wayne Shorter Quartet

....it is a spiritually moving experience. Wayne and his quartet seem to just ride waves of moods. Peace, tension, conflict, ecstasy, mournful, sublime.

"The Wayne Shorter Quartet with Special Guest Herbie Hancock" concert was magnificent, inspiring and a real thrill! Not sure why the singer was chosen to be an opening act as she was not in anyway relatable. There was absolutely no connection to the headliner. This was unfortunate and seemed like a waste of time. The performance by Wayne Shorter with Herbie Hancock was unforgettable. They were fresh every second, interacting in the most creative ways; both authentic masters at spontaneity in the most uplifting ways. The Wayne Shorter Quartet was thrilling, we never really knew which direction they were turning to, but they took the audience to new innovations. I have to say the audience was enthusiastic and supportive. The entire NJPAC was filled with excitement and joy. This was my first visit to NJPAC and even though my seat were in the third tier, I enjoyed the performance. At first it was so high up, I thought I might get sick. In fact in the beginning I did get a bit dizzy and was feeling uncomfortable being so high up. Once the performance started I was so captivated by Wayne and Herbie, I didn't notice the extreme height. The seats are also comfortable. The sound system was ok for being so high up.

Every act was extremely good; Wayne Shorter quartet was spectacular!

Gretchen Parlato and Herbie Hancock were very good. Wayne looked and acted a little old, he is at 84. Low wind and energy. He is still one of my favorite of all time.

Maybe I just don't have the capacity to appreciate his brand of "progressive" jazz, but I found myself thirsting for some more familiarity and approachability in the music. I also sensed a lack of enthusiasm in the rest of the audience, which leads me to believe that I was not alone in my sentiments. No doubt Wayne Shorter is a musical giant. But it almost seemed like he was attempting to push the discordant envelope just for the sake of pushing the discordant envelope. Musical discordance is fine, so long as it occasionally is juxtaposed with a little concordance. There's no better feeling that stepping from a face-biting, blustery snowstorm into a warm cabin. The cold actually highlights the value of the warmth. But please don't leave me out in the cold too long.

Wonderful, diverse, and surprising! So much great music to see and hear. All Jaco's compositions played by percussion, horns, basses, piano and the vocalist singing Joanie Mitchell,

Wayne Shorter was in good form, although his own band played only two pieces. That music was more subdued and introspective as compared to higher energy material from previous years. This is natural, and indeed shows that Shorter stays true to himself and his inner muse. Jaco's tribute band under the direction of Vince Mendoza was amazing. It included several of the musicians who previously played with Weather Report. They covered some of Jaco's compositions, music he played in various groups and also music he was influenced by. The band sounded very tight, as it should have, given the caliber of the musical talent in it. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter both played on several pieces with the band and both were in top form.

It was epic the best jazz musicians on the planet and some of the best compositions from one of the best bass players on the planet .........memorable!

Excellent!!! The sound for the Quartet was much better than the sound for Jaco's World. They should always get the appropriate FOH (Front of the House) mixing engineer for each type of performance. Since this was a ELECTRIC JAZZ FUSION with electric bass/guitar/keyboards along with acoustic piano, percussion, drums and horns that takes a special ear to balance. Especially when no one is particular is a side man reduced to just playing a harmony part from start to end of concert. The engineer needs to know who is soloing next and have them up in the mix at the start. They need to know that the electric bass guitar in this setting, Jaco (a famous bassist) World features the bass in several ways: featured accompaniment - meaning it's on top of the mix not under... and as a soloist and/or melody player and so the player with some minor assistance from the FOH should be in charge of turning themselves up and down for the rhythm playing and the melodic/solo playing. I found that part a major dissappointment, as well as lack of top of the mix sound for some of the horn/sax solos. The mix for most of the JACO World was everyone compressed into the same volume so it was hard for featured players to 'step out' in the mix and be featured. If the FOH mixer was mixing using headphones for his reference, shame on him as the audience did not have headphones, they had ears. The actual musicians played amazing, despite the engineering not being on the same level. I assume they had a cool on stage monitor mix as they didn't look perplexed like me about the sound they heard on stage (usually a separte person mixes the sound for the performers on stage, so my comments above bear no relaton to the stage mix, as I don't know how that sounded. And most patrons will never know or care about that. That's for the players to comment on. I wish the management would hear this complaint and tend to it in the future. Several great musician friends in the crowd echo'd my above thoughts on facebook immediately following the concert. Wayne Shorter's group have much better sound since it was only 4 people to mix and they all played acoustic instruments which I'm guessing is more of a forte for the FOH mixer that night.

Concert was amazing the players were top notch. So good to hear his music played by some great artists.

Seeing and hearing Wayne Shorter playing Weather Report again with an all star big band and Herbie Hancock? Priceless.

Stunning performances and beautiful sound and vibe at the Hollywood Bowl!

This was a very enjoyable night. Each groups performance was outstanding.

Incredible organization, amazing show, unforgetable place.

There were 3 acts. The opening act was the only act with written pieces from what I remember. The middle and closing act (Wayne) seemed to rely too too much on improvisation. Also, the tempo, flavor, character, etc. of each piece was too similar. It seemed the whole night was one homogeneous piece.

We were very disappointed in the show. Phenomenal musicians but they played one very, very long piece that was not melodic. If you are going to present this type of 'concerto', it should be publicized as such. Otherwise, the audience is expecting a variety of music, with jazz musicians taking turns improvising. We spent a lot of money that I would have rather spent buying music that I enjoy and find challenging.

Having been a fan of Shorter's early stuff (Adam's Apple, Speak No Evil, JuJu) and his contributions to Weather Report, I was looking forward to this show. I am also a fan of John Patitucci and heard great things about Brian Blade. The show opened up OK with a nice bass riff, but the music never really went anywhere. There were only snippets of identifiable songs and the 60+ minute set became tedious to listen to. Wayne Shorter seemed to take the role of someone that wandered onto stage or was sitting in with some other musicians. His contributions to the music was tentative and lacked commitment. At first the only musicians that seemed to gel and have any chemistry was Blade and Patitucci; they played off of each other's vibe. Perez later got eye contact with the bassist and there was some brief chemistry there, other than that it seemed that four musicians came on stage and started playing various riffs irregardless of what others were playing.

Transcending out of body experience provoked by some of the most remarkable music created by four magnificent musicians. I will get tickets to see this combo every time they are within a hundred miles of me. Unforgettable.

It was just flat out the best jazz concert I've ever seen! These musicians were truly having the best conversation and we were allowed to listen and watch!

Honestly, I've been to numerous jazz shows and have seen Wayne at least a dozen times. But the music these guys played at Town Hall seemed like the cosmos were opening up and the universe was forming. Spacy as that sounds, there was this formlessness, with elements coalescing, like molecules forming chains in some primordial bog. Certain musical motifs would occur, either from the sax, the bass, the drum, or the piano, and the others would loosely organize around them. All these guys are so masterful that they can pull something like this off. You would see the beginnings of something, follow it, witness the other musicians play around it, but then it would give way to something else. Still, there was enough momentum and creative tension to keep the engagement with the audience. At some point, there was a climax of consonance on the piano, sax, and bass, leading to Brian reaching this energized cymbal playing, almost a solo. It seemed that the crowd was sophisticated enough to see that the piece, over an hour of continual playing, had reached it's resolution, and then it was gracefully closed. Bravo!

Wayne was in fine form Wednesday February 9th 2011 at Town Hall Right smack down In The Middle Of Midtown Manhattan . Among the hustle and bustle of Times Square Wayne Shorter's Tenor and Soprano Saxophones made beautiful and powerful tones along with his stellar band. To see this living legend with these other fantastic players Danilo Perez,Piano , Brian Blade Drums, John Pattitucci Bass . Was a real treat . Most of the music was quite free kind of like taking flight and not knowing just were You might land but having no fear ,for all the time the head pilot was in total control and would bring You to a very desirable destination . M.L

Although it was interesting to see such great musicians, their choice of selections where disappointing and unexcepted. An "atonal" sort of selection lasting well over an hour, and one 30 min encore that sounded like it was part of the first selection . You could tell that the musicians were enjoying what they were playing and you could tell the audience was somewhat disappointed, as many overheard parting conversations seemed to agree, all longing to have heard some selections they had hoped to hear Wayne play.

Wayne Shorter and his quartet continue to perform inspired improvisational music. Although they had a thick sheaf of music on their music stands, you could see that none of them were sure what was going to happen next until it happened. Truly a riveting performance.

Second time seeing the Wayne Shorter Quartet and this time was absolutely amazing. The band wove a surreal tapestry of sounds and textures that was inimitable. Nothing like seeing exceptional musicians at the top of their game. Hope to see them again.

Wayne is in his seventies now and his age is showing a bit. He'd lean against the piano sometimes as if it were holding him up, and he seemed a little slow in getting into the set initially. His band of pros, all younger, set some tough paces to play through and they'd draw him out frequently. Wayne seemed to really pick up his own energy level as soon as he switched the first time from tenor to soprano. He then played 1 1/2 hours straight through various themes - without a break...a physical feat many younger players would be hard-pressed to match. His band, Pattitucci, Blade and Perez played great - Blade especially kicking it up a level on his drum kit. I think Blade kept some of the hard hitting left over from his Mclaughlin/ Corea reunion tour last year.Songs were only hinted at all night, and if you were trying to pick out melodies - good luck. Very free-style with Shorter pondering when to jump in and with what: he would switch frequently back and forth between tenor and soprano, sometimes after a single run. I've always enjoyed his soprano playing more - and he's still got that sweet , tentative tone. He enjoyed where his band was going through the night and had that elder-statesman appearance - approving nods, smiles, etc. Having seen Wayne in more structured sets through the years (dating back to his first Weather Report concerts with Zawinul and Airto in the seventies) I admit I was squirming in my seat, however, waiting for the show to come to an end...and was anxious that my girlfriend who may not have seen much of this style of playing wouldn't get that we were really fortunate to get to see Wayne Shorter, one of the greatest saxophonists and composers of all time. Oh yeah, I would have liked to hear "Footprints" for the encore...but just like any other true artist performance you can't just expect the greatest hits. Play on Mr. Gone!

I had central orchestra seats and high expectations for such an array of talent as Danilo Perez, John Pattitucci, and Brian Blade supporting the legendary Shorter. We had seen the quartet five years back and were blown away. Based on rave press reviews, perhaps something was lost on me, but I can say that early on, Patitucci was definitely not on the same page as Perez, with some of the most glaring mismatches I've ever seen on professional stage, like a 12 year old playing in the wrong key - and his body language and facial expressions made it obvious that something was wrong. He righted the ship, and there were some beautiful sequences in this non-stop, operatic approach. But Shorter listened more than he played, and I sensed he was just noodling through half of the sequences where he did contribute. Blades was standout on drums and really carried the vibe with ambient and explosive textures, and he and Pat had some slick exchanges. Perez generated some wonderful, delicate, steady and arpeggiated sounds, but crackling a plastic water bottle against the microphone for a gag didn't amuse me as much as the 17 year old sitting nearby. Thematically, it was a grind - light on continuity and heavy on failed experiment. I realize these are some of the greatest musicians in the world, but together on this night, they weren't.

I guess I'm still in an era that expects simples things like a melody in Jazz. Shorter has had a great career, but listening to four instruments each play up and down the scales for two hours was a little too much. No breaks, no introductions, no remarks...

Not enjoyable at all. Music was annoying and lacked any kind of swing or funk.