This is Wayne Shorter on jazz:

“If you’re playing something that’s supposed to sound like it’s supposed to be . . . and you’re perfecting this mandatory expression with mandates all around it, it’s nothing more than a statue,” says Shorter. “Like polishing a statue.”

It’s further pinpoints a similar point Wayne made earlier about jazz moving forward. The quote is from a Boston.com article about Wayne’s 75th Birthday Celebration.

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Grace has a few definitions. Among them is this one I’ve been thinking about: the giving of free and unmerited favor and love … that sure is nice to receive, and a pretty great thing to be able to give. When we extend grace to another, it can only help to make our collective road ahead easier in these complicated times -for truly wc arc all in this together, dependent on one another. Remember to try to “see” the ones beside you, and think of those far away in distant places.

Nelson revisited Grace in one of his latest albums. “Some Next Grace,” from his pop-jazz sax release Red, is a follow-up of sorts. I asked Nelson about grace. He replied:

I think we are in short supply right now…..”Some Next Grace” is a type of follow up and continuation on the theme of Grace. I think that we should try to reflect upon the profound idea and truth that we are often the recipients of Grace that we are hardly aware of, sometimes even totally unaware of. “Some Next Grace”, maybe seemingly almost mundane that actually changed our life early one morning or at 4:12 in the afternoon on a Thursday when by a second we didn’t step in front of a car or make a fateful move or decision for some unknown reason that changed everything, or never knew how close we came to a terrible accident or avoided getting terribly sick — never even having a clue. I hope I will be able to just feel more and proceed with more easy gratitude for each day, for the things I know and the things at work that I don’t. : – )

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Greenhouse was the first recording featuring new saxophonist Bob Mintzer. The music continued the trajectory away from pop-jazz that had most evident in their previous recording The Spin. Mintzer is still with the quartet as is founding member Russell Ferrante and, several years away from the band, William Kennedy.

Healing the Wounds was a complete surprise when it came in to the radio station where I was volunteering. No advance notice or hype. You could pull that off in 1991. Produced by Marcus Miller, Healing the Wounds featured band founders Joe Sample and Wilton Felder in great form. I still love the opening track “Pessimisticism.”

Also of note on this chart:

• Iguana by Ray Obiedo cracked the top 10.
• Arturo Sandoval’s first recording after defecting from Cuba, Flight to Freedom, was climbing fast.
• Still a favorite of mine, Claus Ogerman featuring Michael Brecker, was in its ninth week on the chart.
• Steve Laury, former guitarist of Fattburger, released his first solo recording, Stepping Out, which was on the rise.

Antigua Blue, the debut recording by Kilauea, was in at the beginning of what would be a 19-week stay on the chart. Here’s what I remember the talk was at the time. Dean Whitney, who had discovered Russ Freeman, had some Freeman songs. In an attempt to capitalize on the increasing popularity of Freeman’s Rippingtons, Whitney built a band to record the songs for his Brainchild label. All of the tracks on Antigua Blue are Freeman compositions. The disc even featured Ripps Brandon Fields, Steve Reid, Steve Bailey, and Tony Morales. What I’d heard was that Freeman was not at all pleased with this. The title Rippoffingtons was used. Antigua Blue was sorely missing Freeman’s production skills. Fortunately, Kilauea leader Daniel Ho found his voice, the band tightened up, and some good songs were on their next recordings.

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