WAYNE SHORTER HAS DIED

Wayne Shorter is one of my favorite musicians of all time, and last week at the age of 89 he passed away. For me his genius resides in the compositions he wrote, and I would put him up as one of Americas greatest composers. He seemed to have had an uncanny ability to blend a variety of elements, and musical influences in and out of jazz, to create something totally new and fresh. He had assimilated the language of bebop, hard bop, modal, and avant-garde, then added a delicious spice of classical technics. He loved the music of Stravinsky, which he had throughly studied while getting his music degree. I hear the influence of this in the way he crafted melodies that expanded and contracted (like in the songs etc. and pinocchio). All this went together to make an extremely rich and fresh musical experience.

Personally I have been hugely influenced by his harmonic language. He seemed to create this non-tonal string of chords that sound amazing and totally logical. Which if you start to study them you realize they are logical, just not the normal, all in the same key, type of logic. On top of his albums as a leader for blue (which I discuss below) he was also apart of Miles Davis’ seconded great quintet. Many people hold the opinion (myself included) this is one of the greatest jazz groups of all time. His compositional strengths really shine though on the albums miles smiles, sorcerer, and Nefertiti.

His blue note albums of the mid 60’s are generally agreed to be some of the most important albums of the era. Here are some of my thoughts on those records.

Night Dreamer, Ju Ju - His first two records feel pretty interchangeable, so much so it almost feels like a double album. On both he is joined by Mccoy Tyner and Elvin Jones. These records are great and they are the first ones I would recommend, but there are several songs (to my subjective ears) that feel a little melodically weak. The harmonies are very colorful but sometimes it feels like just a ditty was put on top. All the same these are great records.

Speak No Evil - For many people this is Wayne Shorter’s best album. To be honest this record took me a while to warm up to, not exactly sure why, but it took repeated listenings for it really started to click. I would say the emotional tone of this record is hard to explain. This is the first record with Herbie Hancock on piano (he was on all the rest of his blue note albums) which is an amazing pairing.

Etc. - I can not believe this music sat unreleased for 13 years. I love this record, and its probably in my top ten albums of all time. Theres defiantly a stronger avant-garde influence here, especially on the opening and closing numbers. The tune Barracudas is beyond amazing. The way they play the six eight time is so buoyant. I based a piece of music off the rhythmic feel of this piece.

Soothsayer, All seeing eye, Schizophrenia - All three of this albums have a larger front line with three or four horns. Over all solid records, but each has a track or two I don’t love. All seeing eye is the most out there (as in more elements of free jazz) of these records but also the most classical. Which creates a really interesting juxtaposition.

Adam’s Apple - This record feels a little more focused being striped back down back to a quartet. It has the song, footprints which is one of his most famous compositions. Its also a good example of his eclecticism. The opening number is funky and dancey, then it moves on to the latin flavored el gaucho (which by the way is the same melody as the piece Penelope) then to the impressionistic Teru.