Stream the New Wayne Shorter Album

Wayne Shorter may be turning 80 this year, but you wouldn't know it by the ferocity with which he rips into the version of his quintessential Miles-era tune "Orbits" that opens his forthcoming album Without A Net, due out February 5th. It's a live album, but don't let that and the opening selection goad you into assuming Shorter is rehashing all the standards. Without A Net includes 6 brand new compositions, culled from performances in 2011. While most musicians of his vintage are content to ride into the sunset on the memories of their prime and faded chops, after the first few tracks on this album you might be left wondering if Shorter's playing (equal parts sophisticated melodicism and raw, Coltrane-esque energy) has only gotten better.

The rhythm section of Danilo Perez (piano), John Patitucci (bass), and Brian Blade (drums, and best name ever) is seriously on point throughout, and provides a brilliant counterpoint to Shorter's tunes. To quote NPR, "If some jazz bands feel like assembly lines — the sum of ride cymbal + walking bass + polite piano cliches — this one is a dis-assembly un-system, approaching Shorter's extensive repertoire as blueprints to spontaneously remodel. It's wrecking ball and bricklayer alike, Monet if he were Picasso, an entire career filtered through deliberate naivete."

Stream the full album via NPR below.