WAYNE SHORTER – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION

Columbia’s complete collections release series continues with the best of Wayne Shorter’s electric era all in one bundle. Included are 4 original albums plus two bonus discs. Each individual album is packaged in a replica mini-slleve reproducing the album’s original art, and it covers nearly 20 years of his greatest electric solo and co-leader performances of his own songs. It’s the most complete package to date of Wayne Shorter’s Columbia albums. Enigmatic, often inscrutable, Wayne Shorter (b. 1933) doesn’t give much of himself away to the public. Thankfully, he’s given the world more than plenty in terms of beautiful music.  A brilliant tenor and soprano saxophonist, an outstanding composer, and, at present, a bandleader of rare distinction, Shorter is finally basking in the adoration he’s long deserved.

 

The journey started in Newark, New Jersey where Shorter began drawing attention to his musical prowess as a teenager.  His five year stint, starting in 1959, with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers alerted the jazz world to Shorter’s compelling voice on the tenor saxophone and his beguiling compositions.  On joining Miles Davis in 1964, Shorter solidified what came to be called “The Second Great Quintet,” alongside the trumpeter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.  Shorter’s tunes – “Footprints,” "E.S.P.", and "Nefertiti" among them – and his alluringly elliptical playing were decisive elements in the critical success of the Davis band.  Shorter’s own concurrently released albums as a leader have proved to be just as inspiring to subsequent generations of players as his work with Davis.

 

With Davis’s initial fusion foray, In a Silent Way, Shorter turned to the soprano saxophone, instantly cementing a new and highly influential voice on the instrument. After participating on the epochal Bitches Brew, Shorter joined forces with Joe Zawinul, forming Weather Report. Increasing commercial success, particularly after the innovative bassist Jaco Pastorius joined, marked the fusion super group’s notable fifteen-year run. Shorter’s own Native Dancer (1974), effectively introduced North American audiences to singer and composer Milton Nascimento.

 

With the dissolution of Weather Report in 1985, Shorter, the musician, was on his own for the first time. His albums Atlantis, Phantom Navigator and Joy Ryder found him delving deeper into extended composition while continuing to investigate electric fusion. Approaching his eighth decade, Shorter reverted to an acoustic setting once more, forming a highly lauded quartet noted for its risky improvisational ethos. Shorter remains what Hancock dubbed him: “the master.”

• Includes the long unavailable albums -- Atlantis, Phantom Navigator , and Joy Ryder
• Two unique bonus discs featuring Shorter performing all of the compositions he wrote for the premiere jazz/fusion band Weather Report -- 23 tunes , 90 minutes of music 
• Plus his all-time best-selling solo album, Native Dancer, with Brazilian superstar Milton Nascimento 
• Nearly 20 years of his greatest electric solo and co-leader performances of his own songs

 Albums Included:

• New bonus disc -  Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 1
• New bonus disc -  Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 2
• Native Dancer w/ Milton Nascimento (1974)
• Atlantis (1985)
• Phantom Navigator (1986)
• Joy Ryder (1988)