Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity: (all episodes)
April 15, 2025 5:19 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Zero Gravity is a cinematic ode to jazz legend, Wayne Shorter, from executive producer, Brad Pitt and directed by Dorsay Alavi. Depicted in 3 "portals", the viewer is transported into prolific periods of Shorter's life and how through adversity, he grew to greatness, shattered the limitations of jazz, and became one of the most influential musicians and composers in American music.
Director: Dorsay Alavi
Producers: Dorsay Alavi, Matthew Flint, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Carlos Santana
Cast (includes): Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sonny Rollins, Miles Brown
S1 E1 - Newark Flash In NYC 1933-1971 (1 h 18 min)
Portal 1 transports us into Shorter’s childhood, filled with comics and movies that serendipitously lead him to music. He writes and plays with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, records stunning solo compositions for Blue Note Records and joins the Miles Davis Quintet. Shorter’s virtuosity and arrangements take Davis in a new direction, inspiring the titles of some Miles Davis Quintet albums.
S1 E2 - Faith Is To Be Fearless 1972-1999 (59 min)
Portal 2 explores Shorter's struggle with trauma and addiction. He discovers Buddhism. He and Joseph Zawinul form the popular jazz rock group Weather Report and become pioneers of the jazz rock movement. Shorter collaborates with Milton Nascimentos, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock, marking this era as the most commercially successful period of his career.
S1 E3 - Zero Gravity 2000 - ∞ (51 min)
In Portal 3, Shorter redefines jazz and encourage artistic exploration to affect social change. He sees "Zero Gravity" as breaking free from the genre's confines and oppressive societal conditioning. In his 80's, he innovates with his quartet and orchestral compositions, creating his most prolific body of work. He proves that the human being behind the instrument remains of the utmost importance.
~~~~~
One of the most prodigious composers and singular, harmonically sophisticated improvisers in jazz history, tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter passed away March 2, 2023 (soon after the completion of this documentary) at the age of 89. He was an NEA Jazz Master, 12-time Grammy Award winner and DownBeat Hall of Famer. Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in 2013 and the following year was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of his “prolific contributions to our culture and history.” Shorter was awarded Sweden’s Polar Music Prize in 2017 and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2018.
A member of the 1950s edition of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’ classic quintet of the 1960s, both of which he wrote for prolifically, Shorter was also co-founder (with keyboardist Joe Zawinul) of the trailblazing fusion band Weather Report during the 1970s and 1980s.
In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, he toured in the V.S.O.P. quintet. This group was a revival of the 1960s Davis quintet, except that Freddie Hubbard filled the trumpet chair. Shorter appeared with the same former Davis bandmates on the Carlos Santana double LP The Swing of Delight (1980), for which he also composed a number of pieces. From 1977 through 2002, he appeared on 10 Joni Mitchell studio albums, gaining him a wider audience. He played an extended solo on the title track of Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja.
A tirelessly creative spirit, he continued composing and reinventing his musical personality through the 1990s and well into the 21st century. He enjoyed an extremely fertile period during his last two decades, touring extensively and recording with his adventurous quartet featuring pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade and creating majestic large-scale works, including his collaboration with the 34-piece Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on his 2018 opus Emanon (a three-CD set with accompanying 48-page graphic novel penned by Shorter with Monica Sly and illustrated by Randy DuBurke) and his opera Iphigenia (with libretto by Esperanza Spalding).
NYT Obituary
NPR Retrospective
Downbeat magazine
Previously | Previously
S1 E1 - Newark Flash In NYC 1933-1971 (1 h 18 min)
Portal 1 transports us into Shorter’s childhood, filled with comics and movies that serendipitously lead him to music. He writes and plays with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, records stunning solo compositions for Blue Note Records and joins the Miles Davis Quintet. Shorter’s virtuosity and arrangements take Davis in a new direction, inspiring the titles of some Miles Davis Quintet albums.
S1 E2 - Faith Is To Be Fearless 1972-1999 (59 min)
Portal 2 explores Shorter's struggle with trauma and addiction. He discovers Buddhism. He and Joseph Zawinul form the popular jazz rock group Weather Report and become pioneers of the jazz rock movement. Shorter collaborates with Milton Nascimentos, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock, marking this era as the most commercially successful period of his career.
S1 E3 - Zero Gravity 2000 - ∞ (51 min)
In Portal 3, Shorter redefines jazz and encourage artistic exploration to affect social change. He sees "Zero Gravity" as breaking free from the genre's confines and oppressive societal conditioning. In his 80's, he innovates with his quartet and orchestral compositions, creating his most prolific body of work. He proves that the human being behind the instrument remains of the utmost importance.
~~~~~
One of the most prodigious composers and singular, harmonically sophisticated improvisers in jazz history, tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter passed away March 2, 2023 (soon after the completion of this documentary) at the age of 89. He was an NEA Jazz Master, 12-time Grammy Award winner and DownBeat Hall of Famer. Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in 2013 and the following year was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of his “prolific contributions to our culture and history.” Shorter was awarded Sweden’s Polar Music Prize in 2017 and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2018.
A member of the 1950s edition of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’ classic quintet of the 1960s, both of which he wrote for prolifically, Shorter was also co-founder (with keyboardist Joe Zawinul) of the trailblazing fusion band Weather Report during the 1970s and 1980s.
In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, he toured in the V.S.O.P. quintet. This group was a revival of the 1960s Davis quintet, except that Freddie Hubbard filled the trumpet chair. Shorter appeared with the same former Davis bandmates on the Carlos Santana double LP The Swing of Delight (1980), for which he also composed a number of pieces. From 1977 through 2002, he appeared on 10 Joni Mitchell studio albums, gaining him a wider audience. He played an extended solo on the title track of Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja.
A tirelessly creative spirit, he continued composing and reinventing his musical personality through the 1990s and well into the 21st century. He enjoyed an extremely fertile period during his last two decades, touring extensively and recording with his adventurous quartet featuring pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade and creating majestic large-scale works, including his collaboration with the 34-piece Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on his 2018 opus Emanon (a three-CD set with accompanying 48-page graphic novel penned by Shorter with Monica Sly and illustrated by Randy DuBurke) and his opera Iphigenia (with libretto by Esperanza Spalding).
NYT Obituary
NPR Retrospective
Downbeat magazine
Previously | Previously
I watch as many musical bios/docs as I can find, this was definitely above average.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:28 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]
posted by billsaysthis at 10:28 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]
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posted by under_petticoat_rule at 6:09 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]