Terri Lyne Carrington: Musing Emanon: Wayne Shorter's Orbits

Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington regards Wayne Shorter as a musical father, a guiding light. This program allows her to say “thanks” – and to be inspired by him all over again. Shorter — the saxophonist and composer, a Yoda of jazz – will be a virtual presence, reading from Emanon, the 2018 graphic novel he created with writer Monica Sly and artist Randy DuBurke. Shorter is a film buff, a comic book fanatic, a fanciful philosopher. Accordingly, Emanon is a futuristic fantasy, and Carrington has assembled a band of forward-thinking musicians to spontaneously interact and align themselves with Shorter’s story and voice. Flutist Nicole Mitchell, an Afro-futurist, is at the heart of the project, alongside guitarist Brandon Ross. A former member of Shorter’s band (off and on between 1987 and 2002), Carrington hopes the SFJAZZ performance will embody a sense of daring and unpredictability — playing “without a net,” as Shorter would put it. “Wayne’s just one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever been around,” she says. “He definitely changed my life. Really, he’s just the greatest. Like Muhammad Ali’s the greatest? Wayne’s the greatest.”