American Wayne Shorter started making solo records from the late fifties. On his first albums (for the Veejay label) initially still as a John Coltrane protégé. From 1964, on his records for Blue Note, he began to develop his own style of playing and composing. Services that Miles Davis gratefully used in the same period. After wanderings, with the jazz rock band Weather Report, among others, he
… returned not only to pure jazz but also (for the first time since 1970) to Blue Note, with Without A Net as his first feat. This mainly contains live recordings of his unsurpassed quartet. A band that bursts with self-confidence and energy, in complex pieces in which abstraction goes hand in hand with beautiful melodies and powerful play with fragility. Shorter will turn eighty this year, but still sounds at its best. Halfway through the CD is the twenty-minute composition for orchestra and band Pagesus. A fine work, but not nearly as interesting as the performances of Shorter's quartet, which fortunately adorn most of this strong jazz album. (MR)more
