Shorter’s listeners get a good talking-to

Wayne Shorter likes to let his music speak for itself. In concert Saturday at UCLA’s Royce Hall, the 71-year-old saxophonist barely uttered a word to his enthusiastic capacity crowd. But the music was more than enough.

In interviews, Shorter’s conversation can be roaming and elliptical, filled with maze-like twists and turns.

His music -- both his soloing and his compositions -- takes those qualities beyond their enigmatic aspects into immensely engaging combinations of emotion, intellect and swing. (Michelle Mercer’s recently published Shorter biography, “Footprints,” insightfully explores the full range of these inner linked qualities.) His current quartet -- including pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade -- has been together for years.

The reward of such longevity revealed itself in every piece of music, offered in an almost uninterrupted sweep of pieces. Although familiar, individual fragments of melody occasionally peeked through the tapestry of sound and rhythm, improvisation was the evening’s primary focus.

Shorter’s soprano saxophone work in particular seemed energized by the spontaneous collectivity, stretching the envelope of his style into some of his finest playing of recent years. Perez, as always, provided superb organizing elements, with Patitucci and Blade bringing waves of galvanizing momentum to the rhythmic flow.

But aside from the unquestioned individual skills, it was the symbiotic musicality that made the performance so memorable.

The program -- which seemed too short at about 85 minutes -- climaxed appropriately with an encore featuring Shorter’s classic “Footprints” in a suite-like setting, showcasing the abilities of these remarkable players to soar freely in the challenging improvisational equivalent of zero gravity.