Colligan And Shaw Play Shorter

Now that we have added pianist George Colligan’s stimulating Jazztruth to the Rifftides blogroll (the blogroll is ‘way down in the right column), the staff found a way to introduce Colligan’s playing to readers who may not be familiar with his vigor and inventiveness. He and alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw performed a tribute to Wayne Shorter a couple of years ago at the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival. It was a prescient booking by the Tel Avivians—two steadily rising younger artists playing music by one of the idiom’s most honored veteran composers. Colligan (pictured left), a former New Yorker, has established himself as a major presence in Portland, Oregon’s thriving music community. Shaw (pictured right) grew up in Philadelphia and makes his headquarters in New York.

With Boris Kozlov on bass and Donald Edwards on drums, we hear and see a quartet of musicians attracting increasing recognition. One of the tunes they thoroughly explored in Tel Aviv was Shorter’s 1965 composition “Speak No Evil.”