John Gilbreath photo by Bill Uznay

Letter from the Director

Wayne Shorter!

Earshot Jazz is delighted – thrilled, really…well, actually, ecstatic – to present the stellar Wayne Shorter Quartet at Benaroya Hall on Sunday, October 11, in partnership with 88.5 KPLU, on the opening weekend of this year’s Earshot Jazz Festival.

An absolutely singular musician, Wayne Shorter has been at the apex of jazz evolution for over 50 years. From Art Blakey’s early Jazz Messengers, through the prodigious “second great quintet” of Miles Davis, and on through the creation of Weather Report, High Life, and this newest ensemble, Wayne Shorter as a saxophonist and, especially, composer, has done as much as anyone to shape today’s jazz world.

But certified historical figure as Wayne Shorter may be, he is still active in making history. Though this brilliant quartet, with pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, has been together for over 15 years, each concert has the potential to be like the first – with ideas, virtuosity, and surprise blazing around the stage like electrons.

Always an expansive thinker, Shorter knows that jazz thrives in multiple dimensions. He has always been adept at working those dimensions – forward and back, inside and outside of the art form – while surrounded by artists of similarly unlimited potential, and possessing the apparent Zen-like blank slate for possibilities. Get a ticket and fasten your seatbelt; we are in for a treat!

I think it’ll take future generations to unpack all of the valuable lessons that Wayne Shorter’s time on Earth will offer. And we all have to keep in mind, as we support our local students and experimental artists, that Shorter was once an enthusiastic young saxophonist, trying out new ideas in front of a few people in a small jazz venue.

Earshot Jazz is honored to partner with 88.5 KPLU in presenting an artist of the magnitude of Wayne Shorter within the context of Seattle’s major jazz festival, in Seattle’s finest concert hall, and at ticket ranges affordable to all. In fact, because we want to make this concert accessible to everyone who would like to go, we’re willing to consider any appeal for pay-what-you-can tickets, but only through our office in Fremont, or by e-mail to jazz@earshot.org, subject line Shorter Tix. We aim to please.

We’ll see you out there!!

– John Gilbreath, Executive Director