VMP Magazine

There are almost no other living artists who have had as vast an impact on jazz music as saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Nor are there many other artists of his age (85) that are still trying to push at the boundaries of the genre, as he did on his most recent album Emanon, a multi-part epic including one disc of sweeping, magisterial work recorded with his current quartet and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and two discs of bold post-bop recorded with the quartet in London. Oh, and it came with a sci-fi graphic novel co-written by Shorter that imagines a “rogue philosopher” attempting to rid the universe of evil and spread a message of peace and enlightenment. The resolute strength of his playing has dimmed somewhat as a result of his advanced age, but his mind remains agile and curious.

Olivia Newton-John’s name and face are familiar to generations of crate diggers. You’ll often find the Australian singer cheek-to-cheek with John Travolta, a soft smile on her face in the center of each copy of the soundtrack to the film version of Grease. Or you’ll see her big blue eyes beaming from the covers of the exceedingly successful run of albums that saw her evolve from an easy listening/country-pop crooner into a sexpot pop powerhouse. It was Sandra Dee’s turnaround from the cotton and wool of “Summer Nights” to the leather and nicotine of “You’re The One That I Want” from Grease, but spread out over a decade of hit singles and cultural ubiquity that ran through the ’70s and into the ’80s.