Been jamming a lot of Schizophrenia lately, and have always wanted to check out Super Nova. Don't know much else. Let's call this a S&D thread, shall we?
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 21 October 2010 23:09 (2 years ago) Permalink
Super Nova is GREAT.
― Katy Lied, Lady Died (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 October 2010 23:10 (2 years ago) Permalink
the all seeing eye!
― not everything is a campfire (ian), Thursday, 21 October 2010 23:10 (2 years ago) Permalink
I mean the classic Blue Note shit is great -- esp JuJu and Speak No Evil
If you can stomach a slight touch of smooth jazz, Native Dancer has amazing moments
Of course there's also Weather Report, all the records he did with the 60s Miles Quintet, etc.
― Katy Lied, Lady Died (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 October 2010 23:13 (2 years ago) Permalink
As an aside, I always loved that in most record store jazz sections it went:
Bobby ShortWayne Shorter
― Katy Lied, Lady Died (Hurting 2), Friday, 22 October 2010 00:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
I'm not a huge fan, but I've tried to do some in-depth listening in the past year or two. The All Seeing Eye is a great one, and his last two on Verve - Alegria and Footprints Live - are really pretty terrific; much more abstract than you might expect from a dude his age.
― Born In A Test Tube, Raised In A Cage (unperson), Friday, 22 October 2010 01:15 (2 years ago) Permalink
Also his solo on "Aja"!
― dr. phil, Friday, 22 October 2010 02:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
Super Nova is astounding. Everyone I've played it for says the exact same thing: "THAT'S Wayne Shorter?!" Same thing with the Miles' It's About That Time Fillmore East set.
― Sterling-Kinney (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 22 October 2010 03:43 (2 years ago) Permalink
super nova is totally astonishing, get it asap
― some droopy HOOS in makeup (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Friday, 22 October 2010 03:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
Just bought it - found it cheap on Amazon - thanks!
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, 22 October 2010 04:43 (2 years ago) Permalink
pretty much everything this guy did in the 60s is essential, from the the jazz messengers to the solo blue note stuff to the miles quintet. not sure how he found the time to do all of that, and keep it at such a high level of quality. i still haven't entirely fallen for weather report, etc., but i imagine it'll click with me one day.
― tylerw, Friday, 22 October 2010 14:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
He didn't really do much of that concurrently; he left the Messengers to go with Miles, and there were several long stretches of inactivity in Miles' group. Williams and Hancock put out a bunch of Blue Notes around the same time (and Williams' Spring and Life Time are sick).
― Son of Sisyphus of Reaganing (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 22 October 2010 16:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
hey, i am really fucking stoked for this thread, assholes.
i know all the miles stuff and a lot of the weather report stuff, and i too have been wearing out my copy of schizophrenia, the only WS solo record i have. cant wait to check out more from these recommendations.
― 69, Friday, 22 October 2010 17:05 (2 years ago) Permalink
FWIW I never cared that much about his stuff with the Messengers. I think it was probably a good training ground but not really the right vehicle for his more contemplative and bittersweet style.
― Bobby Short, Wayne Shorter (Hurting 2), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
xpost, yeah, he wasn't doing all that stuff at the same time, just saying he had a busy, supremely creative decade!
― tylerw, Friday, 22 October 2010 17:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
re: the messengers, some of that stuff is great -- mosaic, free for all, in partic.
night dreamer is a really great album
― S Beez Wit the Remedy (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:09 (2 years ago) Permalink
― Bobby Short, Wayne Shorter (Hurting 2), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
I think he might be the most underrated jazz composer in a way -- I mean not literally, b/c there's probably someone much less known who's more underrated as a composer, but among the giants you always hear people talk about the compositions of Miles, Mingus, Coltrane, Monk. Shorter belongs in the same breath, I think.
― Bobby Short, Wayne Shorter (Hurting 2), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:13 (2 years ago) Permalink
Please! Douchebags, if you don't mind.
― Unfrozen Caveman Board-Lawyer (WmC), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:15 (2 years ago) Permalink
― tylerw, Friday, October 22, 2010 1:07 PM (32 minutes ago)
― tylerw, Friday, October 22, 2010 1:07 PM (31 minutes ago)
Ah, got it...he was active, but with a minimum of juggling (mental image of Wayne juggling on stage behind Miles soloing) and a ridiculous level of consistent brilliance. Never actually heard his work with the Messengers...must check out.
― Son of Sisyphus of Reaganing (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah -- i mean, a lot of jazz dudes played a lot of sessions/gigs in the 60s, but Shorter was writing the bulk of the original compositions for blakey, miles, his solo stuff, and a lot of those songs are pretty classic.
― tylerw, Friday, 22 October 2010 17:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
Definitely. I think Wayne contributed more compositions to Miles studio work during that time than any other composer...it's a shame more of those weren't played live, though (save "Footprints" and "Masqualero").
― Son of Sisyphus of Reaganing (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 22 October 2010 17:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/24/arts/music/24shor.htmlSmall and cheery, dressed in I'm-not-going-outside-today clothes and bedroom slippers, Mr. Shorter struggled to set up his Krell home-theater pre-amp to play a CD. I was forming a suspicion that he didn't often listen to music. "Hey, man, the Krell: you ever see the movie 'Forbidden Planet'?" he asked. "There was this planet full of people called the Krells. The explorers from Earth didn't see anybody when they arrived. But they all went to sleep one night in their spacecraft, and you hear the first sound of special effects that really came to the fore in movies - this Chrrmmm! Chroooom! And you see the ground that's been depressed by huge footprints. ..."i like this interview
― tylerw, Friday, 22 October 2010 17:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah sort of seems like a lot of those tunes on the miles records were only played once -- during the recording session!
― tylerw, Friday, 22 October 2010 17:57 (2 years ago) Permalink
I don't think I've ever heard a bad Art Blakey album. But I've never listened to anything after Shorter left the group; all the discs I have are from the mid '50s to the mid '60s. It's very possible they became ordinary/pedestrian in the '70s and '80s.
― Born In A Test Tube, Raised In A Cage (unperson), Friday, 22 October 2010 18:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah, you can rarely go wrong w/ blakey - though, yeah, i haven't heard much past 1966 or so. the latest one that was knocking me out was Ugetsu.
― tylerw, Friday, 22 October 2010 18:37 (2 years ago) Permalink
Finally getting around to Alegria and Beyond the Sound Barrier -- really good! He does an amazing job of not retreading old ground for a musician at such a point in such a career.
When I was a senior in high school the school jazz band got to "open" for Wayne once, and that same night his wife and niece were killed in a plane crash -- it's a really strange and horrible memory/association. He also had a daughter who died of a seizure in the 80s. I think about that a lot when I listen to his later music.
― mississippi delta law grad (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 June 2011 01:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Wow, "Introducing Wayne Shorter" is kind of an overlooked gem, no?
Also it's helping me complete my quest to identify all of the jazz that leonard lopate uses as tag music.
― click here if you want to load them all (Hurting 2), Monday, 9 July 2012 21:33 (10 months ago) Permalink
haven't heard "introducing," guess i should check it out!
― tylerw, Monday, 9 July 2012 21:36 (10 months ago) Permalink
You add up the Blue Note records that Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock did during the time they were playing with Miles - that has to be one of the more productive periods for any band in any genre.
What's killer about Wayne Shorter's records is that you pretty much just swap parts in Coltrane's quartet on them. Speak No Evil, Juju and Night Dreamer are all amazing ESPECIALLY Speak No Evil, which is as good an any of those jazz records.
I love the 2nd quintet Miles Davis records, but I think Speak No Evil (and really also Maiden Voyage) are just as good as the best stuff that group did.
I'm also a fan of Weather Report although Wayne Shorter did less and less writing in that group deferring to Joe Zawinal as it went on as a composer.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 10 July 2012 03:51 (10 months ago) Permalink
xp It's really nice stuff -- Lee Morgan, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Very much a standard hard-bop record in sound but with Shorter's compositional nuances and distinct phrasing. Recorded the same year as Kind of Blue. Overall the band showcases Shorter much better than the Jazz Messengers did -- I always thought he was too introspective and that band called for a bigger, more brash tenor player, but I guess Blakey knew talent.
― click here if you want to load them all (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 10 July 2012 03:58 (10 months ago) Permalink
That's true, and his tunes interestingly get a fairly different sound and feel out of the same band. Like you can't picture coltrane on those tunes, it's really Wayne's band on those records.
― click here if you want to load them all (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 10 July 2012 04:01 (10 months ago) Permalink
― click here if you want to load them all (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 10 July 2012 15:57 (10 months ago) Permalink