Beyond the Sound Barrier

by Wayne Shorter, Wayne Shorter Quartet

Overview

Recorded live on three different continents (Europe, America, and Asia) from 2002-2004, Beyond the Sound Barrier finds Wayne Shorter leading the same acoustic-oriented post-bop quartet he led on his 2001 recording, Footprints Live!; the veteran tenor and soprano saxophonist is joined by pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade. But if Beyond the Sound Barrier should be considered a sequel to Footprints Live!, it is far from a carbon copy. While Footprints Live! contained several Shorter pieces that have become jazz standards (including "Atlantis," "Footprints," and "Juju"), Beyond the Sound Barrier places more emphasis on new material. Half of the eight selections are new, and the rest of the CD ranges from Arthur Penn's "Smilin' Through" (the theme from the 1941 movie) to two pieces from Shorter's Joy Ryder album of 1988: "Over Shadow Hill Way" and that album's title track. No one will accuse Beyond the Sound Barrier of being standards-oriented, and the quartet doesn't go out of its way to be accessible; this is definitely one of Shorter's more cerebral releases. But the material is rewarding if one is broad-minded enough to appreciate Shorter and his younger colleagues at their most intellectual, and the audiences' enthusiastic applause -- not just polite applause, but enthusiastic applause -- indicates that they have no problem comprehending all the abstraction and angularity that is taking place. Beyond the Sound Barrier falls short of essential, but it's a solid demonstration of the fact that Shorter -- who was in his late sixties and early seventies when these performances were recorded -- wasn't afraid to be challenging and keep taking chances in the early 2000s. ~ Alex Henderson

Product Details

Release Date:	12/02/2022
Label:	Universal
UPC:	4988031525364
Rank:	59900

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Wayne Shorter Quartet   Primary Artist
Wayne Shorter   Primary Artist,Sax (Tenor),Sax (Soprano)
John Patitucci   Bass
Brian Blade   Drums
Danilo Perez   Piano

Technical Credits

Danilo Perez   Composer
Henry Leutwyler   Photography
Hollis King   Art Direction
Rika Ichiki   Design
Vincent Rousseau   Engineer
Dahlia Ambach Caplin   A&R
Felix Mendelssohn   Composer
Jeff Ciampa   Mastering,Mixing Assistant
John Patitucci   Composer
Wayne Shorter   Composer,Producer
Rob Griffin   Mixing,Engineer,Mastering
Mark Wilder   Mastering
Kelly Pratt   Release Coordinator
Arthur Penn   Composer
Brian Blade   Composer
Maria Triana   Mastering Assistant
Theodora Kuslan   Release Coordinator