tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with the one of the world's most honored composers and conductors, esa-pekka salonen. as well as the conductor laureate of the l.a. filler mining. in we turn to a conversation with jazz great wayne shorter, who added to his honors earlier by winning best improvised jazz solo. he will give us a sample of his artistry with a performance to close out tonight's program. we are glad you have joined us. those conversations and a performance from wayne shorter, coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and composertor esa-pekka salonen was the leader of the l.a. philharmonic for 17 years before handing over the baton. he has now returned to the l.a. field for a series of concerts. he is currently leading the orchestra and seven conserves including the premiere of frank

zappa's 200 motels. plus his own violin consider cho -- concerto. let's listen as they play his violin concerto. ♪ tavis: you really consider yourself a composer more than a conductor. >> it started out like that. fluke.ng happened, by

tavis: what do you mean by fluke? >> i was studying to be a musician, back in the 1970's, and the real conductors, the professional conductors at the time are not interested in our stuff. we felt that we had to have one conductor among the group to do all that, so i was chosen to be that one. this is actually something i like doing, so it started like that. but i never thought i would have an entire career as a conductor. that was not part of my plan. tavis: >> what is the joy, the difference between the joy that composing brings you and the joy that conducting brings you? >> conducting is intensely social. you work with a hundred people every day. you collaborate, you try to

focus their thoughts and give them a concert. you try to inspire them, and it's actually exhausting. [laughter] exchangeso much energy , so you get back a lot, of course, but you also have to give a lot. energynd of a high thing. we rehearsed for a few days or sometimes maybe a week, then have the concert and then it is over. with composing, it's the total opposite. it's very lonely. it's very, very slow. describeuld like to composing as one word, slow would be the word. sometimes you can spend nine months, 10 months, year, writing will hear twoou years later or something like that.

it's a very different sort of metabolic. did this why are how vocation come to you with regard originalg compositions, writing new contemporary classical stuff, when there is so much of the old stuff? >> if we always thought like that, why would we study? why would we do any kind of research, because we already know so much, there is no one place that can contain all that information. the same thing with art. why paint, because we have michelangelo and leonardo. why waste your time?

most likely are not going to be on that level anyway, but it's not about that. today, ortist works not aboutit's creating immortal masterpieces. that we don't design ourselves, it is generations after. it is something that relates to here and now, something which is about communicating your thoughts and your understanding of what is important to other people. and therefore we need new art. that.t cannot do it can do a lot of other things, and of course humanity hasn't changed that much. in the last thousand or 2000 years. are stilleek dramas

at the very core of human experience. but still, we need new stuff. tavis: i hear your stuff about the new art versus the old art. our traditional, classical music lovers open to new art versus old art? i listen to your example about the visual arts, for example. my sense is people are actually open to seeing new stuff. our traditional classic music lovers open to hearing new stuff versus wrongs and beethoven, brahms andsus beethoven? don't like the term classical, it is wrong. >> give me something else. >> it has been a more difficult

process for classical music andences around the world, i'm not completely certain why. if you think of the history, in the days of brahms and beethoven and all these guys, almost every concert was at a music hall. to play something old was really an exception. that has somehow changed. it changed between the first and second world wars. somehow what happened was that the hero that had been the composer now was the performer. and especially the conductor. of mildlya kind annoying mythology about conductors. riding up harley davidson on the lp cover, i don't think he ever

wrote a harley davidson in his life. [laughter] somehow conductor as a between theonduit masters and the masterpieces and the mere mortals. this is a very disturbing image, actually. but somehow the sort of commercial parameters changed after the war. the whole industry became more backward looking, and that might have to do with the fact that lp changed the business. when lp became widely available, all of a sudden every household had access to these masterpieces. were a european or american household in the

1950's, when people started climbing up the ladder, what did they buy? piano was number car, and then access to masterpieces, the sort of series of books where you have the suit -- the place of shakespeare etc.. of being partea of contemporary culture disappeared out of that equation. i would say it is our fault as well because we kind of cultivated that image. i want to ask this question only because the next time i see you, or the next time you come on this program, i want to advance this conversation.

you suggested earlier in the conversation that classical is not the right word and you don't really like this word, but you don't have a different word for it. tell me what we are going in search of. we may discover a word somewhere down the road. tell me what we are looking for. >> we are dealing with music that is being played by traditional instruments, and mostly by orchestra in a specifically built building called a concert hall. but classical -- the reference is wrong. mozart,and it refers to haydn, beethoven, which is of fine period, but it was a while ago. on the other hand it believes to some kind of class, which is not true and is detrimental to the whole idea. the important thing is the music

is available. relatively reasonably priced. aboutt tickets are only is at the moment, which about two dollars less than a movie ticket. cheaper tickets are less than 40 bucks at the moment. we are not talking about an elite art form from the price point of view. l.a. thatbuilding in is incredibly open, exciting, inviting and all that. there's no reason for this music not to be part of everybody's everyday life. tavis: so the term is too highbrow all the way around. >> if i were in a position to announce a public competition to coin a new word, i would do it. tavis: i'm going to do it for you. 2 tavis smiley.

i'm curious, for all you fans of classical easy, let's help as a pectus allen is out and see if we can suggest some ideas what we can change the word to. i will be thinking about it myself. in the meantime, i want to thank the maestro and the composer and just round -- all-around good guy, esa-pekka salonen. you cannot find a more beautiful building. you certainly cannot get better sound or better talent than we have here in los angeles. good to have you on the program. >> thanks very much. when wayne shorter was studying music back in the 1950's, he first confused and then professed his professors by combining classical music with jazz. i was the beginning of his insistent that musical berries were meant to be broken.

he has done that for almost six .ecades now of course the landmark jazz rock fusion group weather report. his new cd is called "without a net." there are so many clips i can share about his storied career, but i decided to pick this one from 1967. ♪ tavis: so congratulations on these 80 years, for starters. what do you make of this 80 year

journey so far? i said at my birthday party that i am eight. that same kind of feeling i had when i was eight years old, i'm collecting all these little statues of captain marvel. [laughter] tavis: let me ask that another way. how does it feel to still have the pipes to do what you do at 80? >> a lot less oxygen now. that's one reason it helps not to have rehearsals and read written because you have long lines with a lot of wind. i have to find another way to ,ust express with improvisation and i have a lot of room for the other musicians to have a voice, too. so it is a blessing that i don't have that much wind. from: a famous clip

iversen years ago, were you talking about, practice? does at me now that you don't spend as much time rehearsing, that it is about improvisation on the stage? it's mostly about improvisation. my question is, how do you rehearse the future? how do you rehearse the unknown? ares used to say when you practicing something, you're going to go on stage and do variations of what you practiced. it is no surprise there. dealing with the unknown, the unexpected, is a reflection of what is happening in the world today. people are learning how to dialogue with each other without any dratted g or any kind of formula. >> for young person watching this, you are not suggesting that they don't have to spend time getting the practice and to become a wayne shorter one day?

get yourve to really foundation together, practice a lot of scales and all that stuff. student asked charlie parker, you mean i have to learn to play everything in all these keys? he said yes, and then forget it. throw it away and start over. tavis: speaking of forgetting it, how much have you forgotten? saying,a strange way of are you still learning new stuff? >> i'm still learning. i'm learning more about life, when i'm playing, too, and writing music. learning more about the connections. what we are doing is not disconnected from human behavior. sometimes you can fool people and be really great, and be a

really dark, negative in your human savior. behavior.man i want to race the contradiction that have arisen too many times in the world. tavis: how does what you are at 80ng about life even show up in your performance? how does that translate? >> when i'm learning about life, and when i hit the stage, the first thing i'm actually thinking about, and the other musicians, we are thinking about , let's put away all our credentials, our musical credentials, grammys, awards, and keep that ego underhand cups -- under handcuffs, and go out on the stage vulnerable, as a human being. to showe afraid

struggle in your music. and anothere victory. not like you are out there right you know it all. and this is a perfect performance, they will say that group is tight. and have the trouble -- the courage to go out there and be fearless, the fearlessness of facing the unknown. how do you negotiate the unexpected? the thing is to be more creative, pull out of the depth of our human existence the necessity for creative endeavor to change the world. tavis: i time is up. i could do this for hours with you. tell me about the new project. >> for the first time we played it in a nightclub in san

francisco. there is an actress there that i have known for years. her name is anatomy d -- vanetta kcghee. at the end of the night, she and her husband, carl lumley, walked backstage. i have known her since she was about 15 or so. as she was leaving, she said, you know, you guys are playing and she left. it didn't sink in, but later on we were at a college in north carolina, wake forest. we are involved with the amazon and all that. we were at a dinner. one scientist said, we said the words, without a net, and he said, is that a song on the album?

we said that mystically they -- itted, whether she is connected. tavis: speaking of connections, i could talk to him for hours. i have a few more minutes to talk, but i'm going to save my questions for another night, because wayne shorter has brought a very special guest with him tonight. i was just delighted to see her walk in the door. i take ray pride -- great pride in saying that years ago, before the rest of the world knew her, i was delighted to have esperanza spalding on this show long before she became a grammy winner in 2011. believe it or not, she is sitting off to the side over here. esperanza spalding is in the building. coming up, a special performance with wayne shorter for this

lasted 10, footprints. esperanza spalding with our guest tonight, wayne shorter, coming up. stay tuned, we are back in just a moment. tavis: and now a special performance by a wayne shorter joined by special guest orders. she was on this program long before she was honored with a grammy for best new orders -- for best new artist in 2011. his first -- his classic composition, please enjoy footprints. good night from los angeles. ♪

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♪ [applause] >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with three of this years grammy winners, singer gregory porter and then ben harper and charlie musselwhite. that is next time. we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. >> be more. pbs.

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