Album: Wayne Shorter, Without a Net (Blue Note)

There have been some wilderness years since Weather Report (for jazz as well as Wayne Shorter), but this live recording from a recent world tour confirms the veteran sax man (who's 80 in August) as the most startling improviser on the planet.

What hits you is how on-it Shorter sounds, how alert to his regular band members. Everything is great, with the centrepiece of "Pegasus", a John Adams-ish tone-poem augmented by a wind group, a revelation.