Archive for the ‘Wayne Shorter’ Category
Freddie Hubbard: Here To Stay (Blue Note – 1962)
This album has certainly had a sad history. It was left in the Blue note vaults for fourteen years. Then it was reissued in a double-vinyl set with Hub Cap, a coupling that doesn’t reveal either session in the best light.Then a decade later, it finally was released as a single album. And that brings us to the present version, on which occasion the devout Bob Blumenthal seems to say in his liner notes (well, he hedges around the fact) that this is just fine, but he’d might rather listen to other Hubbard Blue Notes. That leaves the impression that perhaps Blue Note was right for keeping this in the vaults for so long.
Here’s an attempt to redeem “Here to Stay,” perhaps one of Hubbard’s finest ever, and surely misunderstood as well as undervalued. The case for this album’s value can be built simply. Forget the original track sequence. Begin with Hubbard’s cover of “Body and Soul,” a completely remarkable ballad performance marked for the maturity of the individual interpretation the young trumpeter (who was 24 years old in 1962) brings. Hubbard is thinking hard—harder than most trumpeters double his age have thought—about the lyrics, holding a lot of passion in reserve while maintaining a determined, probing tone. I think only the classic Coleman Hawkins’ original recording outclasses Hubbard’s reading.
While Hubbard recorded with drummer Philly Joe Jones on a number of sessions, I think their chemistry was never as intensely pitched as on this session, particularly on the opening “Philly Mignon,” written by Hubbard for the fiery drummer. This is one of Philly Joe Jones’ supreme moments in the studio, and this CD deserves top-drawer billing for that alone. If you listened to “Body and Soul” first, then skip to “Philly Mignon,” where you’ll drop the cliche of the young Hubbard as all brassy confidence with brio to the brim, and instead hear a mature musical intelligence at work that is as questioning and questing, as conflicted as Lee Morgan’s.Another indication of Hubbard’s well-seasoned taste on this session is revealed in using two of Cal Massey’s most memorable compositions, “Father and Son” and “Assunta.” Listen to the solos by Hubbard and Shorter on “Assunta” and ask yourself if they haven’t slipped to a new phase of their growth, apart from Blakey’s band at this juncture, that’s more darkly introspective.
Norman Weinstein (All About Jazz)
1. Philly Mignon
2. Father and Song
3. Body And Soul
4. Nostrans And Fulton
5. Full Moon And Empty Arms
6. Assunta
Personnel:
Freddie Hubbard (trumpet)
Wayne Shorter (tenor sax)
Cedar Walton (piano)
Reggie Workman (bass)
Philly Joe Jones (drums)
Blue Note Records 1962 – Original Release Date: September 12, 2006
J.J. Johnson: Heroes (1999 – Verve Music Group)
Still paving the way for younger trombone-playing leaders and composers, J.J. Johnson at 75 plays that instrument better than any other jazz artist does. Remember Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden, Vic Dickenson, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey? Don’t forget Frank Rosolino. And there’s Urbie Green, John Fedchock, Steve Turre, Wycliffe Gordon, Robin Eubanks, and Ray Anderson. Lots more names too, but the list is nothing compared to the large numbers of trumpeters and tenor saxophone players who’ve led bands and whose names would roll right off your tongue without the need for reference materials. The trombone-playing leader is a minority in today’s market, but a welcome entity nonetheless.
Johnson began his jazz career as a teenager, working and recording with big bands. When bebop appeared, the trombonist was working with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and as a leader. In 1954, Johnson teamed up with trombonist Kai Winding for a few successful years and then began to concentrate more on composing. His writing and arranging has been heard in the concert hall, on television and in movie theaters for the past 40 years. All tracks on Heroes except “Blue in Green” and “Blue Train” are his compositions, which reflect thematic concepts associated with their titles. Johnson uses multi-tracked saxophone and trombone voices from Faulk and his own horn to create the effect of a larger, fuller unit. The imagery drifts from an early morning startup to an evening wind-down, and through some interesting places. Of course, the rhythm section fits Johnson’s ideas to the letter. “Vista” is performed by solo piano and represents a lovely panoramic view, while the piano-trombone duet “Better Days” finds Johnson’s melancholy horn reflecting on the better days we’ve seen. The piece could easily fold into the setting of a Gershwin opera. For those interested, there’s a J.J. Johnson listserver whose FAQ page contains pointers to a thorough biography and discography. To subscribe, simply follow the instructions found at http://www.calvert.com/jjlist.html .
Johnson’s tribute to Monk is a quirky and adventuresome composition with an arrangement containing soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, and rhythm section. “Blue in Green” is just as exciting, as the alternating duple and triple meter (amounting to a 5/4 signature) transfers the moody piece to the listener on soprano sax, flugelhorn, and trombone timbres with supporting rhythm. The familiar opening of “Blue Train” leads to a lesson in contrast, as Faulk urges his tenor saxophone to dynamic volume highs and lows. Much as the Kai and J.J. duo from four decades past capitalized on contrasting trombone styles, Johnson’s quintet brings disparate voices together and creates a colorful picture. By Jim Santella
1. Carolyn (In the Morning)
2. Ten-85
3. Thelonious the Onliest
4. Vista
5. In Walked Wayne
6. Better Days
7. Blue and Green
8. Blue Train
9. Carolyn (In the Evening)
Personnel:
J.J. Johnson (trombone)
Dan Faulk (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone)
Renee Rosnes (piano)
Rufus Reid (acoustic bass)
Victor Lewis (drums)
Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone)
Don Sickler (flugelhorn)
Original Release Date: January 26, 1999 – Label: Verve
Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil (1964 – Blue Note)
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.
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
1. Witch Hunt
2. Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum
3. Dance Cadaverous
4. Speak No Evil
5. Infant Eyes
6. Wild Flower
7. Dance Cadaverous (alt take)
Personnel:
Wayne Shorter (Sax Tenor)
Ron Carter (Bass)
Original Release Date: December 24, 1964 – Label: Blue Note Records
Jaco Pastorius – Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology (2003 – Rhino / Wea)
Thankfully, there is finally a definitive Jaco Pastorius anthology that offers an accurate portrait of the breadth and depth of his innovative artistry beyond what his contributions to Weather Report and his own Word of Mouth and Trio of Doom (which many would argue are sufficient in and of themselves) would suggest. This two-CD, 28-track collection ranges across the fretless bass inventor’s earliest recordings, documented by a live appearance with Wayne Cochran’s C.C. Riders and home playing the Cochran standard “Amelia,” to his work with underground R&B act Little Beaver and such artists as Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Joni Mitchell in and out of the studio, Paul Bley, Airto and Flora Purim, Michel Columbier, Brian Melvin, and his diverse projects — including “Birdland” with Weather Report. There are three unreleased cuts — “Amelia,” an unreleased home demo of “The Chicken,” and “Good Morning Annya” from his unfinished steel drum project, Holiday for Pans. Two other cuts, “Foreign Fun” and “Okonkole y Trompa,” are on CD in the United States for the first time. Pastorius fanatics will no doubt already have everything here in one form or another. Casual listeners will be astonished by the sheer multi-dimensional nature of his limitless musicality and vision. Even those well acquainted with Pastorius will be surprised as to how well the sequencing of these tracks offers such a prismatic view of Pastorius’ growth as a bassist — check out the silky funky grooves on Little Beaver’s “I Can Dig It Baby” and the gutbucket greasy R&B of “Amelia,” as they give way to adventurous early fusion of “Batterie” with Metheny, Bley, and Bruce Ditmas. Even in abstraction, Pastorius had a groove. The more pop side of Jaco’s work is highlighted on the first disc with his contributions to Joni Mitchell’s Mingus and Shadows and Light albums, as well as his more exotic, atmospheric work with Airto and Flora. Disc two concentrates on Jaco’s innovative work as a composer for his own bands, as evidenced by “Word of Mouth,” “Liberty City,” “John and Mary,” “Chromatic Fantasy,” and “Blackbird.” Four live tracks with the big band showcase his role as a bandleader and arranger of true authority and vision. The solo “Amerika” offers a more intimate view of Pastorius as a seeker of texture and sonic subtleties. The set closes with him in trios with Mike Stern and Brian Melvin. This is a necessary package for anyone interested in the development of electric jazz in the 1970s and 1980s.
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Disc: 1
1. The Chicken (Home Recording)
2. Amelia
3. I Can Dig It Baby
4. Batterie
5. Continuum
6. Midwestern Nights Dream
7. Foreign Fun
8. Birdland
9. Nativity
10. Las Olas
11. Sunday
12. Layas
13. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
14. The Dry Cleaner from des Moines
15. Punk Jazz
Disc: 2
1. 3 Views of a Secret
2. Liberty City
4. Blackbird
5. Word of Mouth
6. John and Mary
7. Good Morning Anya
8. Invitation
9. Soul Intro/The Chicken
10. Amerika
11. Okonkole y Trompa
12. Mood Swings
13. Out of the Night
Personnel:
Joni Mitchell (Guitar), Joni Mitchell (Vocals), Joni Mitchell, Bob Berg (Sax (Tenor)), Paul Bley (Piano (Electric)), Michael Brecker (Sax (Tenor)), Michael Brecker (Soloist), , Larry Carlton (Guitar (Electric)), Jack DeJohnette (Drums), Peter Erskine (Drums), Jon Faddis (Trumpet), Herbie Hancock (Piano), Hubert Laws (Flute & Alto Soprano Sax) , Albert Mangelsdorff (Trombone), Brian Melvin (Drums), Pat Metheny (Guitar), Bob Mintzer (Clarinet & Sax (Soprano & Tenor), Bob Moses (Drums), Alphonse Mouzon (Drums), , Bill Reichenbach Jr. (Trombone (Bass)), Wayne Shorter (Sax (Soprano & Tenor), Mike Stern (Guitar), Lenny White (Drums), Alex Foster (Clarinet & Sax Alto, Tenor & Soprano), Timmy Thomas (Keyboards), Emil Richard (Percussion), Don Alias (Conga & Bells), Airto Moreira (Percussion & Drums), Peter Graves (French Horn &Trombone (Bass)), Alex Acuña (Drums), Wayne Andre (Trombone), Joe Zawinul (Synthesizer, Piano & Vocals), Manolo Badrena (Tambourine), Dave Bargeron (Trombone), Dave Bargeron (Tuba), Michael Boddicker (Synthesizer Programming), Neal Bonsanti (Saxophone), Neal Bonsanti (Woodwind), Randy Brecker (Trumpet), Michel Colombier (Synthesizer), Michel Colombier (Piano& Fender Rhodes), Bruce Ditmas (Drums), Manfred Eicher, Randy Emerick (Clarinet), Randy Emerick (Sax (Alto, Baritone & Tenor)), Hugo Fattoruso (Keyboards), Kenneth Faulk (Trumpet), Robert Ferguson (Percussion & Drums), Russ Freeland (Trombone), Robert Gable (Sax (Baritone)), Steve Gadd (Drums), Mike Katz (Trombone), Steve Katz (Mixing), Rodney Lafon (Trumpet), Benny Latimore (Keyboards), Gary Lindsay (Saxophone), Gary Lindsay (Woodwind), Paul McCandless (Horn (English, Oboe & Sax (Tenor)), Othello Molineaux (Drums & Pan Flute), Brett Murphey (Trumpet), Melton Mustafa (Trumpet), Brian O’Flaherty (Trumpet), Jerry Peel (French Horn), Flora Purim (Vocals), Lee Ritenour (Guitar), Allyn Robinson (Drums), Oscar Salas (Percussion), Jerry Solomon (Engineer), Toots Thielemans (Harmonica), Ron Tooley (Trumpet), Brad Warnaar (French Horn), Leroy Williams (Drums (Steel)), Bill Milkowski (Liner Notes), John Brem (Trumpet), Mario Cruz (Clarinet, Flute (Alto, Soprano & Tenor Sax)), lex Darqui (Fender Rhodes), Paul Horn-Muller (Guitar & Drums (Steel)), Gary Mayone (Marimba), Steve Roitstein (French Horn), Pamela Sessody (Vocals), Bobby Thomas, Jr. (Percussion & Conga), Bobby Thomas, Jr. (Hand Drums), Jon Davis (Piano), Steve Jordan (Drums), Charles “Icarus” Johnson (Guitar), Willie Clarke (Percussion), Mary Pastorius (Vocals)
Original Release Date: April 22, 2003 – Label: Rhino / Wea
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CD1 CD 2
Wayne Shorter – Alegría (2003 – Universal)
It is an utter joy to witness the profound evolution of a genius. With the release of Alegria, Wayne Shorter continues to widen and refine his unique musical vision—and share it with the world. From the first few notes of the opening song, “Sacajawea,” it becomes immediately evident that we’re being invited into a lyrical sonic world that is beyond common jazz metaphor. This music is stripped of all superfluity and becomes a singular document—a meeting of heavy spirits.
The music on Alegria feels “lived in” and this aura pervades every piece on the recording, even the sessions with musicians outside of the quartet orbit and the overdubbed sections. The ‘lived in’ quality comes from Shorter himself; like his former employer Miles Davis, there is as much music in what he chooses not to play as what he does voice with his horn. His tremendous presence with each note and every gesture again recalls Miles Davis, inspiring those around him to rise to a higher level of understanding of the music they are asked to interpret.
1. Sacajawea;
2. Serenata;
3. Veniendo Alegria;
4. Bachianas Brasileiras No.5;
5. Angola;
6. Interlude;
7. She Moves Through the Fair;
8. Orbits; 12th Century Carol;
9. Capricorn II
Personnel:
Wayne Shorter: tenor and soprano saxophones;
Danilo Perez; Brad Mehldau: piano;
John Patitucci: bass;
Brian Blade, Terri Lyne Carrington-drums;
Alex Acuna-percussion;
Lew Soloff, Chris Gekker, Jeremy Pelt: trumpets;
Jim Pugh, Steve davis, Bruce Eidem, Papo Vasquez, Michael Boschen: trombones;
Chris Potter: bass clarinet, tenor saxophone;
Charles Curtis: solo cello;
Paul Dunkel: flute;
Steven Taylor: oboe;
Allen Blustine: clarinet, bass clarinet;
Frank Morelli-bassoon; John Clark, Stewart Rose-horns; Marcus Rojas-tuba; David Garrett, Barry Gold, Gloria Lum, Daniel Rothmuller, Brent Samuel, Cecilia Tsan: Cello
Original Release Date: March 25, 2003 (Label: Universal)
Dexter Gordon – The Other Side of Round Midnight: (1985 – Blue Note)
Across Rhythm 