Back when the Wayne Shorter Quartet made its first tour, in 2001, it sometimes gave the impression of holding back. It seemed infinitely elastic, as if its members could theoretically push the music far into abstraction and still make sense but that they preferred to work within limits. The group -- Mr. Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophone,...

1. LIL WAYNE ''Tha Carter III'' (Cash Money/Universal Motown). The mixtape ubiquity of this impish New Orleans rapper raised doubts as well as expectations: could he sustain the fever pitch throughout a full-length release? ''Tha Carter III,'' his definitive answer, enlists more than a dozen producers but feels stubbornly cohesive. More than just...

Months ahead of time Wayne Shorter's 75th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall was being described as a kind of collaboration with Imani Winds, a classical wind quintet. This caused minor concern among fans leading up to the show on Tuesday. It isn't that Mr. Shorter, probably jazz's greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest...