Wayne Shorter
Footprints Live!
Verve
www.vervemusicgroup.com
A giant on the jazz scene since the '50s, Wayne Shorter has played with luminaries such as Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and Weather Report during the course of his career. Shorter's angular, meditative, and melodic new CD, Footprints Live!, showcases his gorgeous sax work as well as his keen ear for composition. From the moody opener, “Sanctuary,” to the blowout closer, “Ju Ju,” the famed saxophonist's skills are startlingly edgy, at times calling on the spirit of John Coltrane. On the tense “Aung San Suu Kyi,” Shorter works the audience and his band into a near frenzy as the music builds, percolates, and then explodes with color. The next time you hear people blather about jazz being dead, smack 'em in the head with this disc.
▪ Rating (out of 5): 5
Earth, Wind, and Fire
That's the Way of the World: Alive in '75
Columbia/Legacy
www.legacyrecordings.com
Da funk and the spectacle go hand-in-hand. If Parliament/Funkadelic had the market cornered on sheer bootylicious weirdness, then Earth, Wind, and Fire laid claim to the realm of slick, rump-shakin' good times. That's the Way of the World: Alive in '75 serves as a sort of joyous time capsule, revealing for future generations why white pants with huge flares, funky harmonies, and afros never go out of style (well, maybe just funky harmonies and afros). Opening with the smash “Shining Star,” Earth, Wind, and Fire keep the party going with swirling keyboards, chugging funk guitars, and Maurice White's and Phillip Bailey's warm vocals. Throw in some squealing horns (including Ramsey Lewis on the smooth “Sun Goddess”) and audience sing-alongs free of cynicism, and you have a live disc that lives up to the hype.
▪ Rating (out of 5): 4.5
