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October 24, 2002

Jazz great Wayne Shorter brings quartet to Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Renowned jazz composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter will perform with the Wayne Shorter Quartet at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, in Loeb Playhouse.

Admission is $24 for general public, $17 for Purdue students and children K-12. Tickets can be purchased at Purdue box offices or charged by phone at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets also are available at all Ticketmaster outlets. The Wayne Shorter Quartet is presented by Purdue Convocations.

Shorter's tenure with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the early 1960s established him as a new star and a formidable composer. He was second only to Duke Ellington as best composer in a 1962 Downbeat poll.

In 1964 he was invited to tour with Miles Davis and stayed with the famous trumpeter for six years, recording more than a dozen albums with him between 1965 and 1968. The quintet was composed of Davis on trumpet, Shorter on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums.

During his time with Davis, Shorter composed well over half the tunes they recorded, including such standards as "Footprints," "The Sorcerer," "Water Babies," "Nefertiti," "InfantEyes" and "Pinocchio."

After leaving Davis and co-founding Weather Report with keyboardist Joe Zawinul, Shorter demonstrated his versatility and musical curiosity by recording an award-winning album called "Native Dancer" with an array of Brazilian and American musicians. He also appeared on pop recordings by Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan. Weather Report, founded in 1970, became the most popular and commercially successful fusion group of the '70s and early '80s.

Shorter announced more than a year ago that he was forming an acoustic quartet to tour extensively for a couple of years. The quartet was rounded out by Brian Blade, Danilo Perez and John Patitucci.

Bass player Patitucci has been in demand as a jazz sideman for the past 20 years. He most recently toured and recorded with Herbie Hancock in celebration of the contributions made by Davis and John Coltrane.

Drummer Brian Blade also was part of that group. Shorter says he finds Blade's work "fresh, exciting and infused with the New Orleans music and experience he grew up with."

Panamanian pianist Perez, Shorter says, "brings immense energy, rhythmic complexity and innovation, youthful enthusiasm and a unique Panamanian perspective."

Patitucci, who has worked on and off with Shorter for more than a decade, says: "He always thinks compositionally. We play the tune in straight rhythm that is African-oriented, sometimes in swinging time, and also very slowly, with almost a Brazilian feel. With all those options to choose from, Wayne keeps his rhythms swirling and pliable, and anything but predictable."

Shorter says, "I like music to celebrate all the stuff we go through in life. Not just being in love or losing at love, or that winning kind of music like 'Rocky'. I like music with struggle in it."

CONTACT: Larry Sommers, Purdue Convocations, (765) 494-5045, lsommers@purdue.edu.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A publication-quality photograph of Wayne Shorter is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/shorter.jpeg.

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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