Adventuresome Saxophonists Explore New Trails

The saxophone may well be the quintessential jazz instrument. Unrestricted by the sort of classically oriented stylistic predecessors that exist for the trumpet, the trombone and most other jazz instruments, it can be whatever a player wants it to be.

Even a cursory glance at the major stylists--alto saxophonists from Johnny Hodges to Charlie Parker, tenor players from Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young to Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane--reveals the range of voices in which the instrument is capable of speaking.

The breadth and scope of that range is particularly apparent this week with the arrival of new albums from Wayne Shorter, Joe Lovano, John Surman and Jane Bunnett (with Dewey Redman), five of the most diverse saxophone stylists on the contemporary jazz scene.

Wayne Shorter, “Footprints Live!” (****, Verve Records). Shorter has been touring with an extraordinary group--perhaps the most invigorating creative environment he has experienced since his days with Weather Report and, before that, the Miles Davis Quintet. What makes this ensemble even more exciting is that, with a few exceptions, this represents Shorter’s first major group effort in an acoustic setting in decades.

The material is all familiar, dating to prior recordings (among the highlights: “Masquelero,” “Footprints,” “JuJu” and “Valse Triste”), but rendered here in stunning new settings.

Shorter, whose playing has had an erratic quality in the six years since his wife died in the crash of TWA Flight 800 off New York, has been demonstrably vitalized by the ensemble of pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade.

Once again, there is the sense of a vivid imagination at work, using the horn in the same sort of stop-and-start, ever-exploratory manner that characterizes Shorter’s verbal conversations. Once again, there is the quality of on-the-spot, spontaneous compositional invention every time Shorter’s saxophone dips in and out of the ensemble passages.

“Ensemble passages” are the key words for this marvelous album, which rewards repeated listening with more and more musical insights.

Virtually every moment is filled with inventive interaction; solos surface from time to time but never in isolation, never in the more typical fashion of an individual performing in the spotlight with accompaniment taking place in the shadows.

At a time when new directions are certainly hard to come by in the jazz world, Shorter has offered a defining example of collective jazz making, of an approach to improvisation that offers a rewarding creative pathway into the 21st century.

Joe Lovano, “Viva Caruso” (**1/2, Blue Note). No one has ever really explained why there have been so many fine Italian jazz tenor saxophonists, with Lovano one of the very best. Whatever the answer, he makes a direct link between those other Italian tenors--the singers--with one particularly legendary voice in mind, that of Enrico Caruso.

Despite the tribute, Lovano has elected to include only one of the arias from Caruso’s many operatic appearances--the “Vesti la Giubba” from “I Pagliacci.”

The balance of the Caruso-related pieces consists of songs he recorded--among them, the familiar “O Sole Mio” and “Santa Lucia” and the lesser-known “For You Alone” (one of the few songs that the great tenor recorded in English).

The decision to de-emphasize arias was undoubtedly motivated by the difficulties of finding ways to make them harmonically viable for jazz variations--a much easier task with simple song form.

Lovano performs in a variety of settings, including accompaniments by the Opera Ensemble (largely consisting of woodwinds and the voice of his wife, singer Judi Silvano), the Street Band (a collection of brass and percussion), as well as several smaller groupings.

The results of all this intense thematic planning are distinctly uneven. Lovano’s burly sound and intrepid sense of swing make everything he plays an intriguing experience; he can’t, however, quite manage to carry the whole album on his own.

The problem is that the material and the settings are less pleasing than Lovano’s soloing, varying so widely in style that the album lacks a center--a problem exacerbated by the too busy qualities of the large group accompaniments. As it turns out, despite the Caruso label, the most interesting piece on the album is a Lovano original--”Il Carnivale Di Pulcinella,” which, despite its occasional missteps, adds some much needed emotional spice to the proceedings.

John Surman and Jack DeJohnette, “Live in Tampere and Berlin” (***, ECM Records). English saxophonist Surman and American drummer DeJohnette have created a remarkable contemporary jazz document that incorporates a wide collection of synthesizers and technological gadgets.

Surman has had a long tenure in the jazz avant-garde. Reaching back to the late ‘60s, he has been one of the most prominent voices in the sort of envelope-stretching jazz making that continued to play an important role in the European scene long after American artists had begun to revisit the bebop ‘40s and ‘50s.

DeJohnette has been similarly adventurous, moving easily from his improvisatory excursions to performances with the Keith Jarrett standards trio.

Aside from the final track, “Song for World Forgiveness,” which features its composer, DeJohnette, on piano, the music is improvised. But there is little that sounds random about the performances, which often are held together by spontaneous ostinato passages, and which have the quality of carefully thought out musical assemblages.

And there is plenty of straight-ahead blowing for the mainstream music fan as well, with both Surman and DeJohnette swinging with amazing synchronicity.

Like the Shorter album, this effort is the product of the interaction of gifted musical minds, coming together in a fashion that retains the individual improvisatory qualities of jazz while remaining open to the border stretching qualities of communal music making--a clear example of one plus one equaling considerably more than two.

Jane Bunnett, Dewey Redman, Stanley Cowell and others, “Spirituals and Dedications” (***1/2, Justin Time). Canadian saxophonist Bunnett describes this splendid album in the liner notes as “a cooperative effort with input from all participants.”

That seems to be exactly what has happened in a series of tracks aimed at honoring the spirituals and spiritual music that have played such an important role in jazz.

In addition to traditional songs--”Shadrack,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “I’m Gonna Tell God,” etc. (sung with great intensity by Dean Bowman)--the album includes several similarly oriented originals. Bunnett’s “Don’s Light” is dedicated to the late pianist Don Pullen; “A Laugh for Rory” is a Rahsaan Roland Kirk composition; “Ecclusiastics” is Charles Mingus’ gospel-drenched swinger; and “Powerful Paul Robeson” is a Clifford Jordan tribute to the noted African American actor-singer.

The CD’s lengthiest track is Cowell’s “Illusion Suite,” with the veteran avant-gardist Redman surging through a driving set of choruses and Cowell displaying his too rarely heard capacity to generate musical excitement.

Bunnett, moving as usual from soprano saxophone to flute, affirms her remarkable versatility. As comfortable with the complexities of Afro-Cuban rhythms as she is with jazz, she plays with the sort of singing tone and melodic inventiveness that have characterized all the great saxophonists.

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Don Heckman writes frequently about jazz for The Times.