Marine Barracks Annex, Washington, D.C. -- This week the Marine Fusion Jazz Band will perform a tribute to legendary American jazz musician Wayne Shorter at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 20, in the Bumper Car Pavilion at Glen Echo Park in Maryland. The free concert will highlight the combination of traditional jazz language with rock elements such as electric guitars, basses, and keyboards.
“The program is designed to showcase the wide variety of sounds that Shorter achieved as a saxophonist and also as a composer,” said group leader and bassist Master Sgt. Eric Sabo.
The fusion jazz program begins with Weather Report’s “Birdland,” a piece Shorter himself performed to make it the iconic and recognizable jazz piece it is today. “Birdland by Weather Report was one of the first tunes I learned on electric bass, and I was hooked after that,” noted Sabo.
Sabo had only played upright bass in orchestra until his junior high school band director, Andy McLellan, suggested that he could easily learn electric bass “since the notes were almost the same except sideways.”
Following “Birdland,” the program will feature Wayne Shorter’s “This Is For Albert,” “Footprints,” “Infant Eyes,” and “Adam’s Apple,” as well as works by Don Henley and Herbie Hancock.
“This concert showcases Wayne Shorter’s versatility as an artist,” Sabo continued. “From his early days with Art Blakey and Miles Davis, to his time with Weather Report, to some of his more mainstream endeavors with Joni Mitchell and Bruce Hornsby, Wayne Shorter continued to evolve. He stayed relevant for so many decades. He is and always will be one of the greatest innovators that has ever lived.”
Parking and Directions