Jazz It Up

Watching Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter a couple of weeks back, I couldn't help the goosebumps. I mean, its HANCOCK and SHORTER for chrissakes! For a while I was just grinning, after which I strated paying attention to the music. Hancock started with a rendering of "Dolphin Song". Though I've heard that song only once, it seemed great...and then it began to sag. Herbie ol boy was evidently not trying very hard. I mean, for someone of his stature, to miff lines with a bunch of greehnorns of the Thelonious Institute of Jazz was not on. And all the instrumentalists kept playing in unison, resulting in a remarkably colourless sound. It was nice jazz, but not great jazz. A version of "Criss Cross" followed and I started wondering if perhaps Hancock doesn't care for the old material anymore...I mean, he plays with turntable players these days. But try as I might, I couldn't dislike it. I mean, here was the man who made "My Point Of View", perhaps my favourite jazz album!
But Wayne Shorter was yet to come and there was hope. Seeing the old man with his soprano sax was electrifying, and when he led the band through "Footprints", I was in wonderland again. Again, he wasn't doing much outside of playing around with scales, but the feel of the man! Fabulous. I haven't heard "1+1", his Grammy-winning duet album with Hancock, but the one they DID do was good, and perhaps that rescued the show. I mean, I'll always remember the occasion, if not the musical nous.
To round it off, a few days later I heard Kenny G on VH1. Ah, now at least I didn't have to see that midget-brain perform! Why? Why? Why do Americans like stupid white men?