Pieces such as "JuJu" and "Masqualero" took on another life, thanks not only to the saxophone master's accrued wisdom, but also the youthful spark of pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade.

At the Kimmel Center on Friday, Shorter, 74, moved another step forward. The songs themselves were gone. Only the interaction, open-ended and full of fire, remained. The quartet improvised freely for an hour without pause, then encored with "Prometheus Unbound."

This was a radical shift from the opening set by trumpeter Terell Stafford, with pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Dana Hall. Keeping his contribution brief but trenchant, Stafford led off with "The Touch of Your Lips" at an unusually fast tempo. He filled the hall with pure, fiercely swinging jazz and good vibes.

Shorter's new music had a bewildering effect on some, who trickled out the doors as the set progressed. But high in the cheaper seats, people were leaning over the rails, fully absorbed.

If this was avant-garde, it wasn't the hard-core '60s sound of late-era Coltrane or Albert Ayler. It was a waking dream, with volatile outbursts and inner-directed warmth, semiclassical in its tonal language.

Shorter played tenor and soprano sax and even whistled into the microphone - producing an eerie effect. Pérez, more than Blade, served as rhythmic navigator, venturing stark eighth-note pulses. Blade responded with ethereal colors, as if he were the pianist. Patitucci was huge in tone, unerring with the bow, laser-focused in his pizzicato solos.

In the final 20 minutes the music achieved its full power. Shorter played a climactic tenor note and Pérez matched it, fueling an ardent solo piano meditation. Within moments, during a surprise vamp, Shorter managed to quote "Now's the Time" by Charlie Parker.

Jazz's tomorrows and yesterdays converged in a flash of insight. The more careful listeners flipped out; so did the band.