Celebrity Series of Boston Presents the Wayne Shorter 80th Birthday Celebration, 11/24

By: Oct. 25, 2013
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(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston will present the Wayne Shorter 80th Birthday Celebration, on Sunday, November 24, 2013, at 5pm at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. Sponsored by PTC.

Tickets start at $30, and are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., or at the Symphony Hall box office, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston.

Wayne Shorter was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey in 1933, where he played tenor saxophone in a teenage band called The Jazz Informers. He attended college at New York University where he was introduced to the Manhattan jazz scene. Upon graduating in 1956, he worked briefly with Johnny Eaton and his Princetonians, earning the nickname "The Newark Flash" for his speed and facility on the tenor saxophone. Shorter made his recording debut in 1959 as a leader for the Vee Jay label, and in 1964 cut the first of a string of important recordings for the Blue Note label. That year, Miles Davis invited Wayne to go on the road where he joined Herbie Hancock (piano), Tony Williams (drums) and Ron Carter (bass). This tour turned into a 6 year run with Davis, in which he recorded a number of albums. With Miles Davis, he helped craft a sound that changed the face of music. Shorter also recorded several albums for Blue Note Records, which heavily featured his own compositions.

Wayne Shorter has a record of achievement in his historic career as a musician. He has received substantial recognition from his peers, including 6 Grammy Awards and 13 other Grammy nominations to date. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from New York University, the New England Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music. In 1997, the National Endowment for the Arts presented Shorter with the prestigious Jazz Master Award. Today, Shorter continues to dazzle audiences with his Quartet and his Symphony project, creating some of the most powerful music of his career. This event marks Wayne Shorter's debut appearance with the Celebrity Series of Boston.

"Sound Prints" - Joe Lovano/Dave Douglas Quintet: Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano and two-time Grammy nominated trumpeter Dave Douglas are current masters on their respective instruments in the modern jazz genre. In 2008, when Lovano and Douglas were co-leaders of the renowned SFJAZZ Collective, the group paid tribute to Wayne Shorter showcasing arrangements of Shorter originals alongside newly composed pieces influenced by Shorter's compositional voice. The experience was a catalyst that led the two instrumentalists to conceive the Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Quintet, Sound Prints; an ensemble including pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda Oh, and drummer Joey Baron. Performing new repertoire as well as brand new Shorter compositions in direct collaboration with Shorter, the quintet is a unique convergence of their voices.

ACS - Allen, Carrington, Spalding gathers three of the most important female instrumentalists in modern jazz; Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington and Esperanza Spalding. Formed out of their work together on Carrington's Grammy Award winning album "The Mosaic Project," the small ensemble stretches boundaries and revels in the art form. Geri Allen is an internationally recognized composer and pianist, and has taught at the New England Conservatory. American drummer Terri Lyne Carrington has been at the top of the music industry for almost 25 years, collaborating with luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Al Jarreau. Bassist Esperanza Spalding captured the world's attention upon earning the title of Best New Artist at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Program to be announced from the stage and will include two intermissions.

About Celebrity Series of Boston

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Over the course of its 75-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world's greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.

The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers-from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more-to Boston's major concert halls for 75 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience-on stages, in schools, at home- everywhere. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online at www.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy and Joshua Boger; Eleanor and Frank Pao; Donna and Mike Egan; Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; The Little Family Foundation; Tufts Health Plan; Foley & Lardner LLP; The John S. and Cynthia Reed Foundation; First Republic Bank; The Peabody Foundation; Charlesbank Capital Partners; PTC, The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp; Massachusetts Cultural Council; New England Foundation for the Arts.



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