Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter - Live at Montreux (1988)
For those who wonder what Weather Report, arguably the premier jazz-fusion band of the '70s and '80s, might have sounded like with a guitar player,Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter - Live at Montreuxis a good reference point. The verdict: if Shorter's involved, it's going to be good. The saxophonist-composer and his Weather Report co-founder, keyboardist Joe Zawinul, had disbanded the group by mutual consent about two years before Shorter joined forces with guitarist Santana on a 1988 tour that included this gig at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. And while Santana was the bigger name, the music presented in this two-hour concert is actually closer to the Weather Report sound--i.e., a rich blend of electric jazz and world music influences performed by a versatile group of virtuoso players. In fact, three of them had been Weather Report members at various times: bassist Alphonso Johnson, the amazing drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, and Chester Thompson, who plays keyboards here but had manned the drum seat while with Shorter, Zawinul, and company. Along with keyboardist Patrice Rushen and percussionists Armando Peraza (congas) and Jose Chepito Areas (timbales), both Santana stalwarts, they assay material familiar to both Shorter fans ("Elegant People" from Weather Report'sBlack Market, "Sanctuary" fromBitches Brew, one of the many Miles Davis albums on which Shorter played) and Santana lovers ("Incident at Neshabur," "Blues for Salvador," "Europa"). Shorter is brilliant throughout; his solos on both tenor and soprano sax are fiery and expressive, and his communication with the others is a wondrous thing to behold. Santana, on the other hand, often sounds out of his element, if not out of his league; although he has an instantly recognizable sound and plays with great passion, he's primarily a rock guitarist with a limited blues-based style that restricts his ability to interact with skilled improvisers like Shorter and Rushen and take part in the kind of dynamic ebb and flow that characterizes great jazz performances. In the end, this is a good, sometimes inspiring show. But one wonders what might have happened if Shorter had joined forces with, say, John McLaughlin instead.--Sam Graham