Wayne Shorter
Tenor Sax Solo on
Deluge

About

Wayne Shorter's tenor saxophone solo is the first of two improvisations on this brooding composition. Taking four choruses of the 16-bar form in E-flat at 116 BPM, Shorter explores his own dark harmonic palette with the concentrated intensity and narrative patience that characterized his most searching playing. His compressed, elliptical phrasing creates an atmosphere of gathering tension that perfectly suits the composition's evocative title, each chorus adding layers of complexity to the unfolding musical narrative.

Wayne Shorter was 30 to 31 years old at the time.