2013 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll

1. Wayne Shorter: 'Without A Net' (Blue Note)

Orbits
from Without A Net
by Wayne Shorter

The revered saxophonist and composer's first new album in 8 years, made up of concert recordings, puts the focus on his near-telepathic interplay with his longtime rhythm section. It also adds Imani Winds, a five-member chamber group experienced in interpreting Shorter, for "Pegasus," a whirlwind 23-minute jazz/classical hybrid. And with his slippery compositions and searching solos as a member of Miles Davis's Quintet, a much younger Shorter looms larger-than-life on Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2, this year's winner in the Reissue category.