Recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival, this album is a collaboration between trumpeter Dave Douglas and tenor titan Joe Lovano. Along with Lawrence Fields/p, Linda Oh/b and Joey Baron/dr, they deliver a tribute to Wayne Shorter with songs either inspired by the jazz giant (“Soundprints” is a nod to “Footprints”) or by Shorter himself for this event. The music has a mix of free form excitement and hard driving energy, with a mix of sophisticated themes and hard hitting solos.
The title track is a free form exchange that creates a lot of sparks for four minutes, with the bend then making a right turn to deliver some ESP-era sounds on the aggressive “Sprints.” Baron gets his motor running and heads out on the highway here and on his solo during “Power Ranger” while Fields provides some wonderful Hancockian finger moves. Oh and Baron develop a funky groove on the soulful “Destination Unknown” and the ending climax lives up to the title, as Douglas and Lovano lock horns like elk in Yellowstone. Lyrical delights by Oh and Fields again ride to the crest on “To Sail Beyond the Sunset” just before the two leaders open wide on “Weatherman” before declaring the kingdom conquered on “ Power Ranger.” Exciting, extroverted and enthusiastic musical delights for fans of post bop.
Blue Note Records