Wayne Shorter - Juju
Wayne Shorter
Juju
Blue Note 1964
Produced by Alfred Lion
Wayne Shorter - tenor sax
McCoy Tyner - piano
Reggie Workman - bass
Elvin Jones - drums
Juju is one of my personal favorites of Wayne Shorter. It was the first album I had purchased led by Shorter, and it was equidistant from the first material I had heard with his involvement (the now beyond legendary second Miles Davis Quintet) and from the mostly abstracted material of today. It is a sweet album, and I mean that in not only the colloquial meaning of that word, but in terms of actual taste. It's sweet. It's like confectionery. It is one of those albums you can enjoy as an engaged listener, finding new things to latch onto with each subsequent spin while your head keeps repeating "that is bad-ass", or can confortably recommend to friends who want to know about jazz beyond the rote boredom of Wynton Marsalis and are sick of his Ken Burn's style music slumming.
It was only his second album, before he had fully developed the compositional style he later would become lauded for, and its sound draws some strong similarities to John Coltrane. This makes some sense, considering Coltrane's entire rhythm section of Tyner/Workman/Jones is the band for this set, and the same things that made them great behind Trane works equally well here. There is a delicate fury going through the whole recording. The late Elvin Jones propels and Workman just glides effortlessly through the arrangements, with an approach that acts as an emollient between the other players. Tyner, who is really one of jazz's greatest living pianists, has a light touch but it isn't lightweight. The whole backline is supportive of the compositions -all Shorter originals- and can shuffle between the subtle stylistic shifts between tracks, such as the Sub-Saharan tribal influnec of the title track and the skittish gait of Mahjong (which is also the most Trane-sounding of all the tracks).
Wayne himself alreasy at this early stage evinces some of the early signs of what would become his trademarks; long, intricate lines of thought, and a lyrical phrasing built from a canonical command of the language. Wayne was even at this stage, a burning soloist capable of pummelling technique and endless melodic invention. If you are looking for his tender soprano sax work (suck it down Kenny G, you do not even deserve to hold the instrument) there is none of it here -- it is all tenor, all the time. But Juju is not without its more subdued moments, as most of House of Jade just seems to pass through like clouds. Twelve More Bars to Go is a blues that does not sound even remotely contived.
Ain't no jive here.
You might like this if you like:
John Coltrane - any of his Atlantic releases
Joe Henderson - Live in Tokyo
Branford Marsalis - Crazy People Music
Juju
Blue Note 1964
Produced by Alfred Lion
Wayne Shorter - tenor sax
McCoy Tyner - piano
Reggie Workman - bass
Elvin Jones - drums
Juju is one of my personal favorites of Wayne Shorter. It was the first album I had purchased led by Shorter, and it was equidistant from the first material I had heard with his involvement (the now beyond legendary second Miles Davis Quintet) and from the mostly abstracted material of today. It is a sweet album, and I mean that in not only the colloquial meaning of that word, but in terms of actual taste. It's sweet. It's like confectionery. It is one of those albums you can enjoy as an engaged listener, finding new things to latch onto with each subsequent spin while your head keeps repeating "that is bad-ass", or can confortably recommend to friends who want to know about jazz beyond the rote boredom of Wynton Marsalis and are sick of his Ken Burn's style music slumming.
It was only his second album, before he had fully developed the compositional style he later would become lauded for, and its sound draws some strong similarities to John Coltrane. This makes some sense, considering Coltrane's entire rhythm section of Tyner/Workman/Jones is the band for this set, and the same things that made them great behind Trane works equally well here. There is a delicate fury going through the whole recording. The late Elvin Jones propels and Workman just glides effortlessly through the arrangements, with an approach that acts as an emollient between the other players. Tyner, who is really one of jazz's greatest living pianists, has a light touch but it isn't lightweight. The whole backline is supportive of the compositions -all Shorter originals- and can shuffle between the subtle stylistic shifts between tracks, such as the Sub-Saharan tribal influnec of the title track and the skittish gait of Mahjong (which is also the most Trane-sounding of all the tracks).
Wayne himself alreasy at this early stage evinces some of the early signs of what would become his trademarks; long, intricate lines of thought, and a lyrical phrasing built from a canonical command of the language. Wayne was even at this stage, a burning soloist capable of pummelling technique and endless melodic invention. If you are looking for his tender soprano sax work (suck it down Kenny G, you do not even deserve to hold the instrument) there is none of it here -- it is all tenor, all the time. But Juju is not without its more subdued moments, as most of House of Jade just seems to pass through like clouds. Twelve More Bars to Go is a blues that does not sound even remotely contived.
Ain't no jive here.
You might like this if you like:
John Coltrane - any of his Atlantic releases
Joe Henderson - Live in Tokyo
Branford Marsalis - Crazy People Music
posted by theloniusfunk at 4:46 AM
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