Wayne Shorter's Witch Hunt

[bertrand]

I've wondered about this for years...

'Witch Hunt' from Speak No Evil starts with what sounds like a written introduction, then goes into the head/solo/head structure.

I always wondered if this intro was perhaps lifted from a piece of classical music, as was the intro to Woody Shaw's 'Zoltan' on Unity.

The answer may be obvious, and I apologize in advance for my complete ignorance of classical music.

It's just always struck me as odd, because Wayne's compositions at that time mostly adhered to the head/solo/head format, at least as they appeared on the records. What Wayne had on paper in the privacy of his own home is another story... Of course nowadays, he's revisiting the old tunes and altering them dramatically (e.g. Orbits), or perhaps pulling out sections of the compositions that were not used on the records before. According to an interview with Peter Erskine in the recent BBC radio documentary, Wayne would bring massive scores to Weather Report recording sessions, and Zawinul would extract just a small portion to use on the record. Some accounts have Miles doing the same thing, although Hancock in another interview says that Miles would leave Wayne's stuff pretty much as is.

Anyway, any ideas concerning the origins of the intro to 'Witch Hunt' will be appreciated.

Bertrand.

P.S.

Is there any realationship between the tunes 'Capricorn' (which appears on Water Babies and Super Nova), and 'Capricorn II' on Alegria, or are they similar in name only?

[JSngry]

I always thought of it as a fanfare to introduce the record and establish context for what follows. Sorta set up the ensuing conceptual trip through the "misty world" with snippet of the bright, agitated "real world", and them OOOF - you're somewhere ELSE entirely (and Elvin, just as he did on A LOVE SUPREME, handles the transition PERFECTLY!).

The intro that Lester Young plays on his Verve "Somebody Loves Me" has always struck me like that too - just a little something from TOTALLY somewhere else to emphasize the DIFFERENCE of where you're going from where you're coming from.

But maybe I imagine too much.

[Jim Dye]

I always thought of it as a fanfare to introduce the record and establish context for what follows.

I never thought of it that way! Kinda similar to what Abide With Me does for Monk's Music. It sets the tone. An opening prayer if you will. B)

[Late]

I'd guess that M. Fitzgerald might have a solid response to this one. I played this composition in high school (that intro is not easy to articulate cleanly!), and I'd have to say that the intro is simply Wayne's, and likely not borrowed. I could easily be wrong, but that's my hunch.

[jazzbo]

I always thought it was based on "Barnacle Bill the Sailor." If you listen really really closely, you can hear Elvin's throne squeak, and then he says "Freddie Hubbard the Shithead."

[Late]

Uh?

[JSngry]

It's a Joe Venuti reference.

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07...-rock-9728.html