''Alegría'' is a studio album by saxophonist

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

, released on

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

in 2003. It is the second album to feature the 'Footprints Quartet' of Shorter, pianist

Danilo Pérez Danilo Pérez (born December 29, 1966) is a Panamanian pianist, composer, educator, and a social activist. His music is a blend of Panamanian roots with elements of Latin American folk music, jazz, European impressionism, African, and other mu ...

, bassist

John Patitucci John Patitucci (born December 22, 1959) is an American jazz bassist and composer. Biography John James Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began playing the electric bass at age 10, performing and composing at age 12, and at age 15, s ...

and drummer

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, and session musician. Early life Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, Blade was exposed to gospel and praise music while attending Zion Baptist Church at which his ...

. The piece "Orbits" is a complete and quasi-orchestral re-imagining of the song of the same name, originally recorded by the Second Miles Davis Quintet and released on the album ''

Miles Smiles ''Miles Smiles'' is an album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on February 16, 1967 by Columbia Records. It was recorded by Davis and his second quintet at Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City on October 24 and October 25, ...

'' in 1967. "Capricorn 2" revisits another Shorter composition first recorded by Davis in 1967 (though not released until 1976 on the primarily Shorter-composed '' Water Babies''), while "Angola" dates from Shorter's own 1965 album, '' The Soothsayer''.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Richard S. Ginell stated that "this disc seemed to confirm a long-awaited creative Indian summer for Wayne Shorter."Ginell, R
AllMusic Review
accessed September 17, 2011 Similarly, contemporaneous reviews by Ben Ratliff of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

CMJ New Music Report CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

s Tad Hendrickson happily noted Shorter's return to form.Hendrickson, Tad
"Jazz"
''

''. March 24, 2003. Retrieved February 23, 2015.Ratliff, Ben
"Jazz"
''

''. March 23, 2003. Retrieved February 23, 2015. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic Don Heckman commended both the album's "startling diversity" and the "imaginative, high-flying freedom hat characterizesShorter's playing," adding that ''Alegria'' offered "convincing testimony to Shorter's undiminished creativity."Heckman, Don
"Jazz"
''

''. April 20, 2003. Retrieved February 23, 2015. In February 2004, Shorter's efforts resulted in two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s: Best Jazz Instrumental Album and

Best Instrumental Composition The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (including its previous names) has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of an original piece of music (not an adaptation), first released during the eligibility year. I ...

(for "Sacajawea")."Billboard Goes to the Grammys - 46th Annual Grammys: Complete List of Winners"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. February 21, 2004. Retrieved

Track listing

''All compositions by Wayne Shorter except where noted.'' # "Sacajawea" – 7:40 # "Serenata" (

Leroy Anderson Leroy Anderson ( ; June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, Light music, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams descri ...

, Arr. Shorter) – 6:09 # "Vendiendo Alegría" (Malka Himel, Joso Špralja, Arr. Shorter) – 7:03 # "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5" (

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally bec ...

, Arr. Robert Sadin) – 6:00 # "Angola" – 5:28 # "Interlude" – 1:49 # " She Moves Through the Fair" (Traditional, Arr. Shorter) – 4:39 # "Orbits" – 6:09 # " 12th Century Carol" (Anonymous, Arr. Shorter) – 6:04 # "Capricorn 2" – 5:59

Personnel

Footprints Quartet * Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9), tenor saxophone (1, 4-8, 10), arrangements (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9) *

– acoustic piano (1, 3, 7, 9, 10) *

– bass (1, 2, 4, 5, 7-10) *

– drums (1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10) Note: The 'Footprints Quartet' appear intact on tracks 1, 7 & 10. Others * Robert Sadin – conductor (2, 3, 8, 9), arrangements (4) *

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, touring and recording while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's quar ...

– acoustic piano (2, 5, 8) *

Terri Lyne Carrington Terri Lyne Carrington (born August 4, 1965) is an American jazz drummer, composer, producer, and educator. She has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets (band), ...

– drums (3, 5, 9) *

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian–American jazz drummer and percussionist. He has also worked as an educator at University of California, Los Angeles, and Berklee College of ...

– percussion (3, 4, 5, 9) * Frank Morelli –

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

(2, 8) * Allen Blustine –

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

(2, 3, 8),

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

(2, 3, 8) * Chris Potter – bass clarinet (5), tenor saxophone (5) * Paul Lustig Dunkel –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(2, 3, 8) * Stephen Taylor –

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

(2, 8),

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

(2, 8) * John Clark – French horn (3, 9),

alto horn The Tenor horn (British English; Alto horn in American English, Althorn in Germany; occasionally referred to as E horn) is a brass instrument in the saxhorn family and is usually pitched in E. It has a bore that is mostly conical, like the flu ...

(9) * Stewart Rose –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

(3, 9) * Bruce Eidem – trombone (3, 9) *

Jim Pugh Jim Pugh (born February 5, 1964) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He grew up in Palos Verdes, California and at age 10 began taking tennis lessons from John Hillebrand. He played tennis at UCLA. He became a doub ...

– trombone (3, 5) * Papo Vázquez – trombone (3) *

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

– trombone (5) * Michael Boschen – trombone (9) * Chris Gekker – trumpet (3, 9) *

Lew Soloff Lewis Michael Soloff (February 20, 1944 – March 8, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor. He was a founding member of the band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Biography From his birth place of New York City, United States, he studie ...

– trumpet (3, 9) * Jeremy Pelt – trumpet (5) *

Marcus Rojas Marcus Rojas (born February 23, 1963) is an American tubist from New York City. Early life Rojas was born in New York City on February 23, 1963, and grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. His early influences included Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colón, and ...

–

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

(9) *

Charles Curtis Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 under President Herbert Hoover. He was the Senate Majority Leader from 1924 to 1929. An enrolled member of the Kaw Natio ...

– cello (2, 8), cello solo (4) * David Garrett, Barry Gold, Gloria Lum, Daniel Rothmuller, Brent Samuel and Cecilia Tsan – cello ensemble (4)

Production

* Robert Sadin – producer, mixing * Richard Seidel – executive producer * Clark Germain – special production assistance, recording, additional mix engineer * David Darlington – special production assistance, mixing * Todd Whitelock – additional mix engineer * Dick Kondas – mix assistant * Steve Mazur – mix assistant * Mike Peters – mix assistant * Shane Koss – audio technical consultant * PK Pandey – audio technical consultant * Mark Wilder – mastering * Seth Foster – mastering assistant * Marsha Black – production coordinator * Camille Tominaro – production coordinator * Theodora Kuslan – release coordinator * Kelly Pratt – release coordinator * Hollis King – art direction * Sachico Asano – design * Kate Garner – photography Studios * Recorded at Cello Studios (Hollywood, California);

Avatar Studios Avatar Studios is an American production company and a division of Nickelodeon Animation Studio formed in February 2021 to oversee the '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' franchise. Franchise co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzk ...

, Clinton Recording Studios, Sear Sound and Burning Kite Studio (New York City, New York). * Mixed at Sear Sound, Sorcerer Sound and

Sony Music Studios Sony Music Studios was an American music recording and mastering facility in New York City. The five-story building was a music and broadcasting complex located at 460 W. 54th Street, at 10th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhat ...

(New York City, New York). * Mastered at Sony Music Studios.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alegria (Wayne Shorter album) 2003 albums Verve Records albums Wayne Shorter albums Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album Albums recorded at Power Station