Ethan Iverson: Tell me about Art Blakey as a bandleader. That was an important gig for you.
Wayne Shorter: Art Blakey, his thing was: get to the point when you’re playing a solo. Get to the point, and when you start repeating, it’s time to finish your story. But he always said, “Get a band where you have somebody who can write.” He said, “I don’t write anything, but I have composers.” And he always said, “The main thing: get a band. When you leave the Jazz Messengers, you got to get your own band and don’t be clumping together and holding the horn to just this one band that you’re in because,” he said—I use the word “snipers”—they’re out there. And if we all stay in one group, like the stage coach goes through the gully, they’ll ambush you at the pass and get you all at the same time, but if you have a lot of bandleaders spread out all over, it’s hard to target you.
Wayne Shorter In Memoriam (1933 – 2023)
Entrevista a Wayne Shorter por Ethan Iverson realizada en 2015 y publicada en su página web https://ethaniverson.com/.
Fotografía tomada por Joan Cortès en 2014 en el 46 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona.
Texto: © Ethan Iverson, 2015
Imagen: © Joan Cortès, 2023
