Former Suga’ in My Bowl guests Pat Metheny and Wayne Shorter both have new CDs out!
Recent Grammy winner Metheny’s is a 2-CD set featuring more music from his Orchestrion Project (and is called just that), which features Metheny leading a band of contraptions that accompany him playing and (in a sense) improvise on their instruments. As a tour, Orchestrion filled an entire stage with its good-sounding (if somewhat Rube Goldberg-ish) robotic bandmembers and the new release features music recorded on the tour. In his 2011 live duo gigs at NYC’s Blue Note with bassist and longtime collaborator Larry Grenadier, a more modest version of the Orchestrion joined the two, with Metheny’s roadie theatrically pulling a cover off of the instrument mid-show.
“The word ‘jazz’ to me only means ‘I dare you.’” — Wayne Shorter
Meanwhile, Wayne Shorter’s making the rounds with his new release, titled Without a Net. Long-time collaborators Danilo Perez, John Pattitucci, and Brian Blade join Shorter on piano, bass, and drums respectively. Shorter stopped by National Public Radio’s Saturday All things Considered show to talk about his latest CD and delved into his expansive vision of what jazz means, his time with Miles Davis, Buddhism, and quite a bit more. The interview’s worth checking out and we liked what we heard from the CD, which is out now.
Nate Chinen also has a write-up in the New York Times, which repeats Shorter’s view on the slippery definition of jazz: “The word ‘jazz’ to me only means ‘I dare you.’”
Did any of you catch Shorter’s recent NYC performance at Carnegie Hall? Do you have or are you planning to pick up the Shorter or Metheny releases? Let us know in the comments!
Behind the Mic 