Any day is a good day to listen to Wayne Shorter. "Aung San Suu Kyi," from the 2003 Montreal Jazz Festival, captures Shorter's celebrated quartet of Danilo Pérez, Brian Blade and John Patitucci in scintillating form. From its birth in 2000 until Shorter's retirement from the stage in 2018, this line-up took improvised small ensemble playing to rarefied heights. A concert would often begin with an uninterrupted hour of four-way improvised dialogue. By turn susurrus, flowing and volatile, it was like watching a majestic volcano steadily smoking and gently spewing streams of molten lava... before suddenly exploding with frightening force. Undoubtedly one of the great modern jazz ensembles.
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