Alegría (Wayne Shorter album)


Alegría is an album by saxophonist Wayne Shorter released on Verve Records in 2003. It is the second album to feature the 'Footprints Quartet' of Shorter, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade.
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 in 1967. "Capricorn 2" revisits another Shorter composition first recorded by Davis in 1967, while "Angola" dates from Shorter's own 1965 album, The Soothsayer.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 4 stars, stating that "this disc seemed to confirm a long-awaited creative Indian summer for Wayne Shorter." Similarly, contemporaneous reviews by Ben Ratliff of The New York Times and CMJ New Music Report's Tad Hendrickson happily noted Shorter's return to form. Los Angeles Times critic Don Heckman commended both the album's "startling diversity" and the "imaginative, high-flying freedom Shorter's playing," adding that Alegria offered "convincing testimony to Shorter's undiminished creativity."
In February 2004, Shorter's efforts resulted in two Grammy Awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Instrumental Composition.

Track listing

All compositions by Wayne Shorter except where noted.
  1. "Sacajawea" – 7:40
  2. "Serenata" – 6:09
  3. "Vendiendo Alegría" – 7:03
  4. "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5" – 6:00
  5. "Angola" – 5:28
  6. "Interlude" – 1:49
  7. "She Moves Through the Fair" – 4:39
  8. "Orbits" – 6:09
  9. "12th Century Carol" – 6:04
  10. "Capricorn 2" – 5:59

    Personnel

Note
The 'Footprints Quartet' appear intact on tracks 1, 7, 10.