Remembering Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter was a hero to everyone in the jazz world, a visionary composer and an unequalled improviser who retained a childish sense of wonder and play. There was no one like him. I’m so glad I got to see him play live with his quartet at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2012. Here’s how the piece began:

An hour before pianist Danilo Pérez went onstage with the Wayne Shorter Quartet on April 28 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, I asked him what the group would be playing. He laughed. “We never know, man.” Well, how did it go last night? “It was exciting—and scary.”

My review in DownBeat.