Browse by Artist: SHORTER, WAYNE

Artist:	SHORTER, WAYNE
Title:	Night Dreamer
Label:	BLUE NOTE
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	BLP 4173LP

Recorded 1964. "Tenor-saxophonist Wayne Shorter's Blue Note debut found him well prepared to enter the big time. With an impressive quintet that includes trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Elvin Jones, Shorter performed a well-rounded program consisting of five of his originals plus an adaptation of an 'Oriental Folk Song.' Whether it be the brooding title cut, the Coltranish ballad 'Virgo' or the jams on 'Black Nile' and 'Charcoal Blues,' this is a memorable set of high-quality and still fresh music." --All Music Guide

Artist:	SHORTER, WAYNE
Title:	Speak No Evil
Label:	BLUE NOTE
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	BLP 4194LP

Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1964. "On his third date for Blue Note within a year, Wayne Shorter changed the bands that played on both Night Dreamer and Juju and came up with not only another winner, but also managed to give critics and jazz fans a different look at him as a saxophonist. Because of his previous associations with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Reggie Workman on those recordings, Shorter had been unfairly branded with the 'just-another-Coltrane-disciple' tag, despite his highly original and unusual compositions. Here, with only Jones remaining and his bandmates from the Miles Davis Quintet, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter on board (with Freddie Hubbard filling out the horn section), Shorter at last came into his own and caused a major reappraisal of his earlier work. The odd harmonic frameworks used to erect 'Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum,' with its balladic structure augmented with a bluesy regimen of hard bop and open-toned modalism, create the illusion of a much larger band managing all that timbral space. Likewise on the title track, with its post-bop-oriented melodic line strewn across a wide chromatic palette of minors and Hancock's piano pushing through a contrapuntal set of semi-quavers, the avant-garde meets the hard bop of the '50s head on and everybody wins. The loping lyric of the horns and Hancock's vamping in the middle section during Shorter's solo reveals a broad sense of humor in the saxophonist's linguistics and a deep, more regimented sense of time and thematic coloration. The set ends with the beautiful 'Wild Flower,' a lilting ballad with angular accents by Hancock who takes the lyric and inverts it, finding a chromatic counterpoint that segues into the front line instead of playing in opposition. The swing is gentle but pronounced and full of Shorter's singular lyricism as a saxophonist as well as a composer." -- All Music Guide

Artist:	SHORTER, WAYNE
Title:	The Soothsayer
Label:	BLUE NOTE
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	LT 988LP

Exact repro reissue. Recorded 3/4/67. Featuring Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), James Spaulding (alto sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), McCoy Tyner (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums). "Although the melody line of 'The Big Push' is rhythmically unusual, the solos by Shorter, Hubbard, Spaulding and McCoy flow in straight four. Wayne's solo entrance is arresting and wry as he playfully and creatively juggles a simple two note motif and weaves into a full blown solo. 'The Soothsayer' is a burning, delightfully descending line that engenders the kind of fire that makes Spaulding fly. He and Wayne steal the show here. Shorter launches his flight with those fragmented, punctuated lines that were a trademark of his playing in the sixties. Shorter has always been a master composer of ballads. And his tribute to Billy Holiday's 'Lady Day' is no exception. He gives an unbelievable reading that is set off by a lovely, lyrical piano solo from Tyner. A year and a half before this session, Wayne had recorded his own 'Dance Cadaverous' (on Speak No Evil) and credited the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' 'Valse Triste' as an inspirational source point. Here he arranges Sibelius' own music for the sextet with solos from all except Williams. Coincidentally, this ensemble is VSOP with McCoy in place of Hancock and with Spaulding added. But this was no planned all-star reunion. This was merely the music of the period played unselfconsciously by the musicians who were playing it best." -- Michael Cuscuna, from the back cover.

Previous Page Index of Artists Next Page