01x03 - Zero Gravity 2000-Infinity

[bunniefuu]

[slow jazz music]

[Bob Belden] You don't
need the screen with Wayne.

You close your eyes and there's the movie.

[Herbie] He almost sees the
things that we cannot see

but provides a way for us to see them.

[CNN Reporter] No, he is not making
things difficult.

He's just reacting to them. They are
attacking him...

[Wayne] Mr. Clump...

I'm gonna, [unintelligible]...

[CNN Reporter]...his supporters. We need
a strong president of the United States

and that's why a million people have gone
out to vote for Donald Trump already

[Wayne] and that form goes here.

Pasting. Cuttin' and pasting.

[CNN Reporter] Should he apologize to
Senator McCain? You're a senior advisor

would you tell him to go ahead

[Carolina] Hi baby.

What you doing over there?

You've been here for too many hours Wayne.

No, but I cut this wrong. See, that's too
much. I gotta put a thing.

[CNN Reporter] get these organizations
out there that are worthy of the money.

but we wanted to make sure that they were-

The TV is actually a
very important component

of Wayne's work universe, if you will.

He usually writes this-

- Against it.
- Yeah.

[Wayne] I hear something.
Somebody say something.

Then I say, oh man, that's not cool.

Then I'll try to, I'll
come across something

to counter it in sound.

[Carolina] One of his biggest
challenges is to write music.

That doesn't sound like music.
That sounds like life.

[Wayne] I took this out of the opera.
Just a little bit.

Let me play this. Just it's like

[soft piano music playing]

[Wayne] [unintelligible]

[opera music plays]

[John] The chemistry with the
four of us has gotten deeper,

and my relationship with him over the
last, since 1986, has deepened a lot.

When Danilo and Brian came,

'cause it was Danilo who came first

and then Brian, I felt like
it opened his heart up.

He started bringing all this music
that he didn't bring before.

We should have an open thing

with some kind of character
attitude that we have, after 81.

[Bob Belden] He didn't want to sound like

that other kind of music.

More freedom to tell the story.

[Bob Belden] You weren't
thinking of Joe's Island

on Weather report. You weren't
thinking of Miles Davis.

You weren't thinking of Art Blakey.

You were thinking of
the Wayne Sugar Quartet.

[Danilo] He brought all this
music, like a lot of music,

and he put it on the piano and I say,

"Maestro, when are we going to rehearse?"

And he said, "You can't
rehearse the unknown, Danilo."

Okay.

Wow. I was just completely puzzled.
I had no idea.

And then all of a sudden
the the music start,

and he going like this. He's doing all
this. Like, let's go.

[upbeat music]

And I'm like, oh my God,
where are we going? You know?

It just felt like, what I call now,

fear training class like
an ear training class,

but it actually was a fear training class.

[lively jazz music playing]

[John] It's not like what
people sometimes think

of free playing, where
everybody just freaks out

in their own way and it
all kind of works together.

His way was literally
developing ideas and themes

and building a composition
in real time from nothing.

Wanting to get to that place

where people would never know
when the written music was

and when the music that we
were writing in real time.

Blur that line.

[jazz music playing]

[Brian] As a band leader, he
gives you that liberty

to collectively improvise and
create a composition together.

[John] And the freedom and
the encouragement that he

gave us to go there is
unbelievable. It's very freeing.

[jazz music continues]

[Brian] Danilo and John lean
into what's on the page

while Wayne is already off the page
and in this other space.

[applause]

[Carolina] When TWA and the accident
happened,

a lot of people thought
that Wayne was gonna get

this huge settlement.

It's very probable that he would've just

sort of moved into
retirement, if you will.

And I think that the world would've missed

the most important part
of his body of work.

[Herbie] Hearing Wayne's Quartet
makes you question

what you thought music was.

It's almost like a redefining of music.

[soft music playing]

[Herbie] The old three categories

of harmony, rhythm and
melody is not adequate.

[Bob Belden] What the band does is add
their chapters

to the story and then
when he plays a phrase,

they go onto the next
book or the next film.

Then you realize the continuum
was a night at the movies.

But there's a different movie,
there's a different director,

you know, there's a different actor.

[Wayne] Danilo Perez surprised
me with the keyboard.

All of the 10 sounds that
come out at different times,

and that's like the orchestra.

There are like harmonic
waves which send signals

to your instinctive response.

It's not just signals.

It's almost like, guess where I'm going?

Guess where all these sounds are going?

I refer to Brian as a man
who walks through walls.

He's quiet if he's there

and then he's not, he's gone.

But when he plays, he explodes

in places where you, you can't predict.

[loud jazz music playing]

[Young Wayne] When you really improvise,
it's difficult to lie.

[jazz music continues]

[Danilo] And when you get away
from your own agenda,

Wayne knows exactly, from
the first time I did it.

And I think for Brian
and John is the same.

You know, when John start going like this,

like he's away from what the
bass should be or whatever,

Wayne look back and encourage
us. He say, "Yeah, that's it."

[jazz music playing]

[Wayne] You know, John can do a very
classical,

'cause he's teaching now at
the Berkeley School of Music,

but when he is on the
stage playing with us

it's like Cape Canaveral.
When is lift off?

[lively jazz music playing]

[Rob] Zero gravity. I see it
as freedom and expansion.

Just like the universe is
expanding, we're also expanding-

our thoughts, our dreams, our hopes,
and these things can be realized.

This is what Wayne's trying
to show us through his music.

That we can all do this.

[Danilo] It's almost like the
key to this fantasy world

that he's inviting you.

And I had a feeling that I
cannot move away from the piano,

and all of a sudden I look and I look,

and we were on the stage
and I was somewhere flying

and I said to Wayne, "Wayne,
this happened to me."

And he look at me, he go,

"That's what I've been telling you."

We fly with Miles Davis all the time.

[upbeat jazz music playing]

[jazz music continues]

[applause]

[Don] You'd go see that group play,

and leave in a different state
than the one you came in.

And they were consistently mind blowing.

[camera shuttering]

[Michelle] Wayne's genius is so unusual

that there was not a
receptive place for it

in the world for a long time.

He had to, over the course
of his life and career,

gain the confidence in a way
that would be true to himself

and that the world could understand.

And I think that took decades.

[Sonny] He's one of these artists
who have a hard time in life

because people are just not
ready for what he's doing.

[Greg] Part of the thing that makes
Wayne difficult for people is

that he's comfortable with mystery.

You know, he's comfortable

with not being easily assimilated,
you know, or easily translated.

[John] He doesn't wanna lead
in the traditional sense.

He doesn't believe in
leader sideman thing.

But at the same time, obviously
he's a mentor and a master.

[Brian] What I consider to be perfect on
paper,

he's already he's just
placing it before you

and wants you to bring yourself to it.

He's not resting on
what happened last night

or 10 years ago. He's still searching

and the flashlight is
on, not the darkness.

[man] Why should we fear anything?

[Danilo] After hours, he started calling
me.

"Hey Danilo, how you doing?"

"Hey man, you gotta check
out this movie on channel 4."

[Narrator] In a small Wisconsin town,
something was about to happen

that would send shock
waves around the world.

[woman screaming]

[Narrator] There has never been a
film like this before.

Oh my God, this gotta be the most
horrible film I ever saw in my life.

Why is he recommending me this?
Isn't he supposed to be a genius?

Why he recommended this crap?

He would make you suffer
through some ridiculous movie

because of one aspect that he got

that he wants to, it's almost like a test.

He wants to see if you're gonna get it.

He's having an emotion
and the emotion reminds him of this scene

and so he brings up this scene
and it's a description of an emotion.

That movie is terrible.

And Wayne said, "Yeah,"
and he started laughing like a little kid.

So I went back and watched

and there was an incredible
line that I have missed

and I learned my lesson.

I said, through everything
you can learn something.

[audience clapping]

[John] And the idea of making
the music evoke images

in people's minds and hearts
and really encourage them

and change the way they
think about things.

I think he really, he's
really thinking about that.

[Carolina] A lot of times after he plays a
concert,

the music is pretty much in his head.

The only thing that will actually put his
mind at ease is if he's watching a movie.

[grand music swells]

He specifically likes
movies that pose a question

and that will leave you
to continue a journey.

[Wayne] Most cultures think of
tragedy and losing someone-

death of a wife.

And in most cultures that's
perceived to be a tragedy

and sort of like the end.

People don't think of pursuing something

called a constant rather than
something that's temporary.

I'd rather pursue the constant.

The constant of eternity in ourselves.

[piano plays]

[John] You got it?

[Brian] The idea of what the mission,
becoming more than just a concert,

more than just another
night in another city,

but is there really an emanating
grace wave from the sound?

Can people receive something revelatory

beyond just you know,
notes or things being hit?

[John] He would say, "I want to play like
I don't know how to play."

I want to be, he wanted to go back to that
childlike state of discovery.

Everything is new on your instrument.

[Carolina] When he talks about true
mentorship,

he uses the example of the father

that takes the child to see a parade.

And of course the child cannot see

unless the father puts
the child on his shoulder.

But once the father puts
the child on his shoulder,

the child then can see further

than what the father can actually see.

Wayne believes in this oneness
of mentor and disciple.

His relationship with
the guys in his quartet,

in a way, they're very much like family

and I would say almost like
Wayne's children really.

[woman] Cool. Thank you. Thank you guys.

[man 2] Can I have your autograph?

[Carolina] Okay, we're not gonna
be able to do autographs

for everybody guys. I'm so sorry.

[Santana] Last time I saw Wayne,
you know, with the quartet,

it was at San Rafael. It was packed.

And the majority of people were students,

like either junior high
school, high school or college.

I looked around and I was like,
"Damn, this is a young audience."

It gave me a sense of belief

that the youngsters today
were not being deceived

or bamboozled by disposable sound bites

instead of eternal,
memorable language of light.

I have this relic from the 60's I wanted
to get you to sign.

[Wayne] [unintelligible]

I'm trailing you by a number of years.

Oh yeah?

- What's your name?
- Gabriel.

[Carolina] When I see these young kids,
coming to talk to him after the concert,

that's Wayne's mission being fulfilled,

is him inspiring these
kids to reach for more

and to go into the the
zero gravity universe.

Never give up!

Ok?

- Thank you.
- You're gonna have fun with life.

Have some fun with life.

Instead of life having fun with us!

[Carolina] His desire when he's
talking to young people

is to awaken them to the fact
that in this day and age,

we need more leaders than followers.
That we can't afford to be followers.

[Wayne] A lot of guys, with the horn,

are still trying to get away from Charlie
Parker

and Coltrane.

'Trane was going for the harp in a way.

Not to go for a like instrument
same like you.

Ysaÿe played the violin

Try it on the trombone. Not played like
a violin but, go down your own corridor.

Just play it now.

[trombone playing]

[Roger] Young people and students of jazz

find Wayne maybe one of
their biggest inspirations.

There are some older jazz musicians

who are quite accomplished,
but they have older audiences.

And the reason I think young people
are attracted to Wayne is

he still speaks to them,
he's still creating.

His message is, we're doing this together.

We're making music
together. This is our music.

He has this expression
that I love, which is

play music for the kind of
world you want to create.

[Wayne] But the word jazz was
a sound. It was a sound.

It was spelled J A S S.

And it was the sound of the cymbal.

Jazz is like saying, once upon a time-

and then fill in the blanks.

[upbeat jazz music]

[Carolina] These are the last few things
to come.

There you go, there you go.

[jazz music playing]

[Sonny] Jazz musicians,

they were in the forefront
of the freedom movement

because jazz musicians associated
with all races of people.

So they were in the forefront
of all of the advancements

that were made for the race, so to speak.

And if you're a jazz musician,
that's what you have to do.

Whatever else is happening in the world,

you've got to make sure

that you are right on
target with your music.

I never go back to Georgia.
I never go back to Georgia.

[spirited jazz music playing]

[Reggie] It's about infinity.

It's about universal law.
There are no boundaries.

[Reggie] We don't even know, as
[indistinct] used to say,

galaxies beyond this one.

[Herbie] You may not see jazz on the
surface.

You don't even see your
heart on the surface.

Your heart is underneath the
surface, but it's beating.

Jazz is like that. Often,
it's under the surface,

it's underground, but it's still
growing and it's expanding.

[robust jazz music]

[Marcus] If Wayne Short wanted to,

he could play Nefertiti and Footprints
for the rest of his life.

People would be very happy.

But these guys, Wayne
Shorter, Herbie Hancock,

these musicians who came outta
that sixties environment,

everything has to be about change.

Everything has to be about moving forward.

[Terence] For Wayne, jazz was supposed to
be that thing that was ahead of the curve.

Jazz was supposed to be that thing
that challenges your thinking,

that challenges your thought process,
challenge your belief system.

[Young Wayne] Jazz means, I dare you.

[people chattering]

[man 3] Let's be cool.

[Terence] Jazz is starting to mean
something else.

If you grab any kid out there,

you know, in the street,
and you just bring up the word jazz,

I don't think they would
think of anything current.

And that's unfortunate.

I'm in a room with Herbie and Wayne

and we're sitting around,
talking and chatting,

and they basically started
talking about this very thing

of like, listen, we're
trying to find innovators.

[Jimmy] When he is auditioning
students, he's looking

for somebody who is going to
be explorative and creative.

[Young Wayne] Music, second. Human being,
first.

[chanting]

[Brian] When you see a relationship,
a true marriage like Wayne and Carolina,

and the oneness that exists there,

the true bearing of what needs doing

that the other cannot do, is beautiful.

[Carolina] Yeah, that's a great picture.
Check this out, Wayne. It's a good one.

A band of spellbinding intuition
with an absolute commitment

to the spirit of discovery.

It has had an incalculable influence

on the practice of jazz
in the 21st century.

[Wayne] Yes.
- And not necessarily for the same reasons

that established Mr.
Shorter's legend in the 20th.

- Excuse me! Wow.
- In the 20th

[Terri] It's just really nice to see Wayne
still have a childlike nature.

But with Carolina, somehow
it comes out even more.

This is crazy. This is crazy.
Look at this, look at this. Oh my God.

I wonder if he wants these to come alive.

[laughing]

They're simultaneously
fantasy driven, yet real.

So they're real enough to
say, "Wow, that could be,"

but they're in situations
that you know don't exist.

And so it would be prone
to stimulating fantasy,

and that's what any good
storyteller will do.

Take you to a place you've never been.

So at night, do they all come alive?

That's what I'm waiting for.

[laughing]

I leave this light on,

and I look for shadows on the door.

[Neil] You know, this is a Twilight Zone
episode ready to be filmed,

where one day you are nowhere to be found,

and then the camera zooms in at the end,

and there's Wayne Shorter.
He becomes one of these.

[Carolina] He's been interested in
fairies for the longest time

but he discovered recently with, you know,

iPad and internet that he
could get those fairies.

Tons of fairies.

It started out actually with superheroes.

From the superheroes, it
evolved into the fairies.

He discovered the fairies,

like on the next page or something.

And every single day,

every single day fairies and more fairies

and more fairies would
arrive at this house.

And then one day he
comes home, and he says

"I have something that I
know you're gonna love."

And I'm thinking, oh my gosh.

"I found this six foot
statue of Prometheus.

It's a lamp. You gonna love it."

That was where I drew the line.

I said, "Wayne, if Prometheus
comes through the front door,

I'm leaving through the garage."

Well thanks for sharing
your collection with me.

Now you're even weirder than
I previously thought you were.

I have nowhere else to go.

[orchestra music playing]

[Matilda] He loves the invisible world.

He knows the power of the invisible world.

Fairies do work when
everybody else is asleep.

[orchestra music continues]

[Wayne] I realized that the
childlike base of my life

had to remain an asset to
what I'm doing, to music.

Becoming fine tuned and accomplished

seems to be very adult,
but lacking substance.

And the substance that
we garnished as children.

I wanna make sure I don't
drop a lot of the pearls

of wisdom along the rest of this journey.

[orchestra music swells]

[John] One of the great things about Wayne

is his ability to use the
orchestra in his personal style.

His orchestral music sounds like him,
which is hard for many jazz musicians,

when they get into that thing
where they write for that larger form.

[lively music playing]

[Herbie] He's carving out new
territory in orchestral music.

He's carving out new territory
with his quartet and jazz,

is setting a bar that is so high.

[orchestra music continues]

[applause]

[Renée] He has an extraordinary inner
life.

He lives on a plane
artistically and musically,

that is very rare.

I'm over it.

Listen, I'll see you
whenever you're under it.

Okay.

[Carolina] His encounters with people,
of all kinds of people,

he's always paying attention
to that individual.

It's never just like,
the guy who brought the food at the hotel.

There's always an individual there
with a life and a story.

[Terri] Once, I was complaining
about a hotel room,

I was probably 21, you know,
you get off a tour bus,

you're tired, so I was
asking for another room.

You know, first Wayne said,

"You need to cease your
complaining nature."

And that was, that was a big one.
I was like, wow, okay.

But then he said, then
he backed it up with,

"What's one night in
the eyes of eternity?"

[laughing]

And that has stuck with me forever.
So every time I go into a hotel

or just anything, you know, an airport,

I think, what is one night
in the eyes of eternity?

[Herbie] The way he was playing the
saxophone,

he wasn't playing notes
with a saxophone sound.

I have no idea how he did it.

[ethereal music playing]

It was like he was talking.

[man 4] Surprise me!

That would be impossible.

[audience cheering]

Since we are a trio, we're a trio.

We're a trio

1, 2, 3.

[applause]

There's enough fighting
going on in the world

so someone surprise me.

[applause]

[Wayne] Some people think that music and
sound

can change people's minds about life,

and people go to w*r on each other,

singing and playing bagpipes
and things like that.

People march on each other
using sound as a weapon.

[peaceful music playing]

[Santana] When he plays one note,
he's able to channel the highest.

It's not, they're not notes anymore.

They're big galaxies and constellations.

[jazz music playing]

[Carolina] What he's trying to do
with every single note

that he writes, or that
he plays, is to see

if it would reach an individual's
heart and awaken them

[jazz music continues]

to the greatness of their own life.

[Director] Okay, so

I think we're on schedule

which means we have 45 minutes for Lotus,

which is roughly two times through again.

Do the improv. So let's
do the start again.

[man 5] Here we go, Lotus take one.

[Wayne] I'm trying to play a sound.
The sound of humanity that's buried.

The sound of human behavior
that has been subjugated, suppressed.

[Brian] I mean, Wayne is always
listening and watching

and paying attention to
what's happening in the world.

The mission is this musical
frequency that can bring change.

[Wayne] I have room down here called the
fun room,

and i'd be here almost all day from five,
six in the morning...

all the way until six, seven, or eight
that evening.

No naps?

No.

Oh wow. How do you do that? I need naps.

You're doing an album that's
gonna be a graphic novel.

Yeah, there's a graphic novel in there
and part of the the deal, the packet.

Merry Christmas.

[laughing]

What's with the pens? Tell
me the story of all the pens.

Oh, I just wanna say that they all work.
I was checking them out.

[Jeff] You were checking 'em out. Okay.
- Through everything, you know.

[Jeff] Okay.

This is the name of the
opera we're working on.

Oh, Iphigenia.

Yeah, Iphigenia. Yeah.

[Wayne] She was the youngest-
[Jeff] I used to go out with her.

[laughing]

[Wayne] I like the sound.

Iphigenia.

She is the first character,

the woman from the Greek tragedies,

who emerges as a person
who cares about humanity.

[Terri] He feels that, you
know, women, strong women

and children were leading the
way and making things happen,

and I think he felt
like that's the future.

[Carolina] He tends to collaborate

with strong women or
women that he admires.

[Female Announcer] Please welcome the
amazing Esperanza Spalding.

[applause]

This is all about Wayne.
This human being before us and

with us this evening is such
a phenomenally special being.

The 2017 Poland Music Prize

is awarded to musician and
composer, Wayne Shorter,

from Newark, New Jersey,
aka the Newark Flash.

[applause]

[Esperanza] We're all questing to be
our ideal of ourselves,

our highest potential.

But Wayne, he lives that every moment.
He lives his highest philosophy,

his highest self, in all circumstances.

It's such a powerful mirror too
because I feel like we're all reminded

of our potential when we're around Wayne.

I feel something similar of
the character, Iphigenia,

and the role that she played in her story
of her people and this idea of Gaia,

this all-encompassing organism
that's usually associated

with some sort of feminine fertility,

life supporting concepts.

Can we look at some of the parts
that have possible melody with lyrics?

He would talk about what
each segment was saying.

This part is like the kids telling the
parents to wake up and grow up.

And he said over here it's like, you know,

it's saying like those are the kids.
Those are the kids.

[Esperanza] Gaia is this concept of one
organism.

The whole cosmos that we
can see and simply imagine

all being part of this one
living, breathing, connected organism.

[inspirational music plays]

[Dave] His music is gonna outlast all of
us.

It's about a very long lasting
legacy that he's leaving us.

[jazz music playing]

[Danilo] Wayne never really wrote a song.

He's been writing a
soundtrack for his life.

[jazz music continues]

[Danilo] His music never sounds finished.

It says to you, to be continued.

I'll see you later.

[Wayne] We have unity in the vacant lot.

I realize that that vacant
lot, then, was a rehearsal.

The vacant lot is the whole universe now.

[jazz music swells]

♪ Wake up and dream ♪

[Wayne] Zero gravity is to say and do
things in the present moment.

The present moment is the only place
where you can change the past

and dictate the future.

[ethereal music playing]