Wayne Shorter: Interview With Me and My Grad Students,1 (+Bonus)

(Paying Subscribers, at the bottom you will be able to enjoy the creation of a Blindfold Test with Shorter from 1984, from the tape of him talking to the published version.)

Over the years, I often had well-known guests in my graduate jazz seminars at Rutgers-Newark, in person and by telephone. In many cases they were people I already knew, but I had not met Wayne Shorter. However, bassist John Patitucci was kind enough to connect me with Wayne. I phoned him on November 16, 2012 and put him on the speaker in a room of about 14 of my Masters students. One of them, Steve Beck, recorded it for us.

At the beginning, I mention Wayne’s unissued 1956 recordings, made in Manhattan with friends who went to Princeton University. (I have shared those with you—see the Index.) That reminds him of an earlier rehearsal or gig on the Princeton campus, when he saw Albert Einstein walking by. (Einstein died on April 18, 1955.) Next he talks about the biography of him by Michelle Mercer. Starting at 8:25, the grad students ask questions. First is John Petrucelli (an excellent saxophonist, now a Ph.D. and college professor himself). He asks about the origin of Shorter’s quartet with Patitucci. In his typical manner, Wayne’s answer is very wide ranging, and he talks at length about creativity and other topics. He brings up Miles Davis, Rollins, Blakey, and Miles again starting at 14:30.

There’s about 23 more minutes of the interview, in which Wayne answers more questions. I’ll share it with you soon!

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. Paying Subscribers, keep scrolling to enjoy the creation of a 1984 Blindfold Test with Shorter, from the tape of him listening and talking with Leonard Feather to the published version.