Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil at JazzStore.com

Review

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. [The CD reissue adds a fine alternate take of "Dance Cadaverous."] ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Track Listing

1. Witch Hunt	8:07
2. Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum	5:50
3. Dance Cadaverous	6:41
4. Speak No Evil	8:21
5. Infant Eyes	6:50
6. Wild Flower	6:02
7. Dance Cadaverous [Alternate Take][#][*]	6:35

Details of This Recording

Label: Blue Note
Credits:
Additional Info:
Styles:
- Modal Music
- United States of America
- Saxophone
- Hard Bop
- Post-Bop
- Jazz

Extended Article

The Rudy Van Gelder (RVG) Series consists of classic Blue Note albums that have been newly remastered in 24-bit by original engineer Rudy Van Gelder with state of the art equipment. These audiophile releases contain bonus tracks and session photos.

Quotes

He is still a master. -Herbie Hancock

I've got nothing to lose now. I'm going for the unknown. -Wayne Shorter

Read About This Recording

Christmas Eve, 1964. Wayne Shorter had left Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers and joined the Miles Davis Quintet. A musical revolution was in the air. It was seven years before he co-founded Weather Report, the groundbreaking jazz fusion group. John Coltrane's A Love Supreme proved that jazz was and could be spiritual music, and that musicians could take listeners to new places. Shorter, a veteran of countless concerts, recording and jam sessions, entered the Van Gelder Studio to lay down Speak No Evil.

Shorter has always been a seeker constantly exploring the big picture. A prolific composer and one of the best tenor and soprano saxophonists alive or otherwise, he's continued that journey through his solo recordings as well as his collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan. Speak No Evil is the album to have on while thinking about the big picture. Folklore and legends inspired most of these songs.

Joined by fellow ex-Jazz Messenger Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, pianist Hancock and bassist Ron Carter from the Miles Davis Quintet, Shorter and associates are in top form.

The band digs deep into these grooves, especially the original and previously unreleased versions of Dance Cadaverous. The title track, with its unison horn lines, serpentine solos and striking stop time passages and Infant Eyes, written for his daughter, are standouts. The music is melodic, propulsive and as accessible as anything Shorter had written for Blakey or would write for Miles.

Contains original liner notes by Don Heckman and Nat Hentoff, new notes by Bob Blumenthal and photos by Reid Miles and Francis Wolff. Remastered by original engineer Rudy Van Gelder.

-Richard Antone