Concert: Royal Concert Hall Orchestra with the Wayne Shorter Quartet @Amsterdam
General Info
Artist: Wayne Shorter Quartet
Location: Amsterdam Concert Hall, Amsterdam
When: 21 June 2007
Who?
Tricky stuff, for me the Name counted as a reason to go see this performance. Read more about Wayne Shorter here. This guy is one of the original Jazz Legends and when Hieronymus Fox told me about this wacky combo of classical music and a jazz quartet, I just had to go and experience it all for myself.
The Show
Hmm.. Unusual setup for me: two segments, the first part was just the orchestra playing three pieces and after the break they were joined by the quartet. The first part was a brand new sound experience for me: listening to an orchestra doing a live performance was incredible. The different sounds and volumes from all the different instruments had my ears working overtime. Just simply not used to listen to music in that way. Liked the pieces, especially the Duke Ellington Suite. Funny thing: my audio-memory couldn’t explain why the brass section’s sound came from way too much in the back; I was expecting it to be louder and more up front, just my musical freshmanship, I guess.
The second part was where mister Shorter and his quartet finally came on the stage. And well.. It was interesting, but it seemed like Shorter wasn’t really into it. These things happen, there may be a good reason, but as part of the audience, I got the impression that he really wasn’t participating. John Patitucci’s big smile on bass was the most entertaining part of the performance.
Conclusion
I was lucky enough to go to the show without any expectations and I guess that made the whole thing more interesting. It was great to hear an full classical orchestra play jazz-based music and arrangements. It was also great to see the combination of the quartet and the orchestra, I listened to it with my eyes closed to take in the awesome collection of different sounds coming from all directions. For the record: I’m totally aware that I was in the presence of great musicians, and while the show wasn’t that great, I was very much enjoying atmosphere of craftmanship and quality that surrounded me.
Rating: 
