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Most interesting/favorite 'Wayne Shorter' BN


Rooster_Ties

Most interesting/favorite 'Wayne Shorter' BN  

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As many others did (or at least as many as any other Shorter disc), I voted for "Etcetera", and I also voted it as my all-time-favorite Conn title (in the "list your top-5 Conns thread).

Amazing to think "Etcetera" sat in the vaults for a number of years. In many ways, it seems a more easy 'sell' than "All Seeing Eye", and certainly Wayne's last three BN albums (the ones without piano). How "Etcetera" got left in the vaults is beyond me. :wacko::wacko:

Three cheers for "Etcetera"!!!!! :party::party::party:

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I voted for ODYSSEY OF ISKA, but my cookies were turned off, so the vote didn't register! :alien::ph34r::alien:

It's not my favorite (don't have one), but in many ways it's the most interesting to me, since it marks the beginning of Wayne Shorter, Opera Singer. Really, you listen to that album, and there is such pure MELODY to everything Wayne plays, and it's not the melody of a "jazz improvisor", it's the melody of a man singing arias. It's fascinating listening for me to hear this most facile of improvisors play such focused, directed music, especially given the loose, atmospheric accompanimental environments he created for himelf to do so in. I think this is not an album for jazz "newbies" or jazz "purists", but anybody who has the reference points to appreciate the concept of an improvisational saxophone opera (and the liner notes create an even more than usual "programmatic" scenario for the music that just reinforces the operatic concept) ought to check this sucker out and give it some time. It very well might grow on you more than you'd think. Or not. It has on me, that's all I know.

BTW, it's a REAL bummer that ODYSSEY OF ISKA and MOTTO GROSSO FEIO were listed as a single choice. Totally different albums w/totally different results (and are you SURE that they were recorded on the same day?) ODYSSEY SOARS, but MOTTO just sort of rolls around in the mud, and not very lustily at that. Not for nothing was it witheld from release until Weather Report started becoming popular. ODYSSEY, otoh, came and went OOP in the blink of an eye as the "real time" successor to SUPER NOVA. Life ain't fair.

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Had to go with The All Seeing Eye. Ten years ago I lived in London (only for three months, but it seemed longer), and, for whatever reasons, had only five albums to listen to. One of them was The All Seeing Eye. For me, it's not only the most progressive Shorter album from the 60's, but it also contains his most expressive soloing ... though my favorite Shorter solo will always be the title track from "Speak No Evil" — a complete short story in that improvisation. Fitzgerald, Joyce ... would have been proud.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was listening to "Schizophrenia" yesterday, and while the date isn't my all-time favorite Wayne album, there are still some great things going on there. I think Chuck said in another thread that this date suffered a bit with Curtis Fuller and James Spaulding on it, and I do kinda understand what you're saying Chuck.

I wonder if Moncur had been on the date instead of Fuller, if that might have improved things, perhaps??

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Etcetera is my choice. Chambers was indeed the perfect drummer for Wayne around that time, and adding McBee gives this one a very different sound than the typical "inside/out" BN date of the era, tipping the balance just a bit more towards "out." Remarkably contemporary sounding 37 years later, sounds as though it could have been recorded yesterday.

But we're talking about a rating scale for these recordings that starts with "great" and runs through" greater" and then "greatest."

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  • 10 months later...

Evan, give us a concert review after you see Shorter. I hear he's been playing some interesting material.

I picked See No Evil because it was my first one and, along with JuJu, is a nice balance between accessibility and sophistication.

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Sorry, but I have to pass on the vote. I can't choose between Ju Ju; Night Dreamer and Speak No Evil. Wayne's Blue Note output must be among the best body of work from any musician. Well that's my opinion.

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Still amazed that "Etc." -- an album not even released until, what, something like 10 years after it was recorded -- scores so high in this poll. :huh:

I'm not amazed that it's getting the votes (cuz I voted for it too, and lord knows it deserves it) --- but I am still amazed that the "Etc." session sat in the vaults for so long, and that it wasn't released back in the 60's, when it logically should have been. :wacko:

Spontoonious told me the other day that it was his favorite Wayne BN album too (don't know if he's voted in this poll or not, but probably not - I think this thread's been asleep for quite a while).

How did a session as great as this one remain unreleased at the time???

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I was listening to "Schizophrenia" yesterday, and while the date isn't my all-time favorite Wayne album, there are still some great things going on there. I think Chuck said in another thread that this date suffered a bit with Curtis Fuller and James Spaulding on it, and I do kinda understand what you're saying Chuck.

I wonder if Moncur had been on the date instead of Fuller, if that might have improved things, perhaps??

I voted for this one - a sentimental favorite as it was my first Wayne lp. Tough poll - as mentioned, a lot of it seems to depend on mood.

Eric

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Still amazed that "Etc." -- an album not even released until, what, something like 10 years after it was recorded -- scores so high in this poll. :huh:

I'm not amazed that it's getting the votes (cuz I voted for it too, and lord knows it deserves it) --- but I am still amazed that the "Etc." session sat in the vaults for so long, and that it wasn't released back in the 60's, when it logically should have been. :wacko:

Spontoonious told me the other day that it was his favorite Wayne BN album too (don't know if he's voted in this poll or not, but probably not - I think this thread's been asleep for quite a while).

How did a session as great as this one remain unreleased at the time???

Um...the same way that 2 or three Tina Brooks albums went unreleased at the time? In other words, ask Alfred.

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I know that Odyssey of Iska and Moto Grosso Feio show the same recording date in the liner, but is this really true? Can anybody verify this from the Blue Note discography? Thanks!

I vote for Adam's Apple, BTW: One of the best tenor sax quartet albums ever recorded, great tunes, each different in character. *****

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  • 9 years later...

(This old thread was the only one I could find that was solely dedicated to Wayne's Blue Note period)

Whatever your favourite Wayne Shorter Blue Note, there's a good chance it's now available as a 24bit/192kHz FLAC download at HDtracks. A lot has been added recently. The list currently is:

  • Moto Grosso Feio
  • Shizophrenia
  • Adam's Apple
  • The All Seeing Eye
  • Etcetera
  • The Soothsayer
  • Speak No Evil
  • Juju
  • Night Dreamer

Only Super Nova and Odyssey of Iska are missing from the list!

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