Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Wayne ShorterBrand: SHORTER,WAYNE
Performer: McCoy Tyner
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-03-23
Music Label: Blue Note Records
Soundtracks:
- Witch Hunt
- Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum
- Dance Cadaverous
- Speak No Evil
- Infant Eyes
- Wild Flower
- Dance Cadaverous [Alternate Take][#][*]
Free Music Notes for Speak No Evil
Free Music Review: What This Album Means To Me
Hit: 5 Stars
This dynamic quintet marks one of the peaks in jazz creation and interplay in it's musical history. With an allstar cast of Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones, the music was destined to be nothing less than amazing from the start. But amazing players is not all it takes to make an album worth a spot on the jazz timeline. The day of recording it was obvious that everybody was on. Fueled by the lyrically sad and revolutionary compositions of Shorter, their creative drive was explosive. Being a drummer this album has taught me a huge chunk of what I know about the concepts of swing and interplay. This music has nothing to do with showing off or proving something to one's audience. The fantastic thing about Shorter is his ability to say exactly what he wants and yet the music comes across in a way that's "medicine for your ears" according to Herbie Hancock. Shorter was the only person to bring music to Miles that never had to be changed because it was perfect and this album shows exactly that; a solemn soul creating something far beyond music.
Witchhunt is a dynamic opening to the cd. The rhythmic explosion at the intro already tells the audience with in it's first few seconds of sound that the album's a classic. It's interesting to note how the intro is a great example of call and response, a somewhat foreshadowing of the interplay to come in the solos. Elvin's swing into the head is driving and powerful. All the tunes and solos on this cd are examples of Wayne's ability to use space. Witchhunt is no exception with a bouncy rhythm of 8th notes for two bars followed by space for two bars. The horns are somewhat behind the beat, defining their unique concept of swing. Wayne understood what the rhythm section was there for. It wasn't to make himself sound good, but to make the music sound good. The intense B section contrasts the mellow and bouncy A and is another great example of how Wayne incorporated call and response in ways beyond just leaving space after a phrase. The end of the B section then mellows down with some 8th note phrasing somewhat reminiscent of the A. Wayne's solo begins with an epic fill by Elvin and then the subtle interplay begins. If you're to tune out the rhythm section it almost sounds like Wayne is soloing over a ballad. His enigmatic way to keep his cool over a "medium up" song is incredible. His phrasing and style make his rests seem longer and spacier than they are which is also very masterfully accomplished by the rhythm section. They knew how to make two bars feel like an eternity, something that is hard to explain in simple music terminology. He has a subtle way of referencing the head into his solo without using it too much. Hubbard begins his solo with some high pitched dynamic phrasing. Freddie is a lot more ahead of the beat than Wayne, another interesting form of call and response that keeps your ear wanting more. Hancock's solo opens with a simple 3 note motif. His solo is not very related to the head but still is innovative and exciting, proving his inate ability to write music on the spot. Coming back into the head the drums are more intense than they were at the beginning. Freddie slips a little at the end, but is almost not even worth mentioning as the song is incredible.
Fee Fi Fo Fum opens with a syncopated and mysterious piano intro. The head itself is very spacey and mellow with the current of swing under it. One of the most amazing pieces of this album is Freddie's solo intro on this track. It's virtually indescribable along with the rest of his solo which built off his great topic sentence. The solo is fairly short, but still says so much. Shorter's solo is very behind the beat and very rarely has anything faster than quarter notes. Later in his solo he busts out some lines that are almost straight. These lead into some very bluesy licks and his climax into Herbie's solo. Herbie's solo plays off Wayne's blues motifs and incorporates his own style until he builds tension with a triplet line back into the head. The first note of the head is played in such a way that it seems like they used some kind of effect, but it's all simply in how well they played it. The ending is predictable and releaving.
Dance Cadaverous is a somewhat "up" waltz, but is more like a mysterious and haunting lullaby. The piano comping over the head is another one of my favorite parts of this cd. It's this amazingly awkward and muddy feeling that if heard by itself would simply be weird, but Herbie knew how to use his out of the box mind to add the spice to Shorter's music. The piano solo begins behind the beat and very beautiful. Herbie rapidly builds tension and releases it into a flurry of notes leading into the downbeat. The energy subtly increases into Shorter's solo in which he seems like he's grasping onto something. Shorter's uncanny ability to use his life experience to bring out the human and raw emotion in something as obscure as a complex waltz is truly stunning. His solo then builds back into the mysterious head where Herbie's comping is again exactly what the composition needed. The strong ending is great and a perfect end to a perfect song.
Speak No Evil, the title track, is a "medium up" swing song with such subtle things done during the head that it's hard to notice. The head itself is a simple 5 note motif that leads into the downbeat from the and of 3. The B section is a quick and large amount of tension that is quickly released. The solos are all over only the A section which makes it very cohesive and swingin'. Shorter's solo is my favorite on this cd. This is the only time he's on top of the beat in any way. This song has some of the most intense interplay i've heard in all my listening experience. Wayne's climax is practically orgasmic and after it happens you can hear one of the musicians say "yea," which is said in the best way possible. The crescendo into Hubbard's solo is strong and then mellows down to be built back up over the intense swing. Freddie has no problem consistently hitting notes that tug at the soul and uses them as a common tension builder throughout the cd. Hancock is also fairly on top of the beat but still maintains a very relaxed feel. He then busts into one of his polyrhythmic tension builders and leads back into the spacey head. The crescendos are so well done between Shorter and Hubbard that it's hard to tell that there are 2 horns. It ends with a fadeout which is appropriate even though I'm not ussually one for fadeouts.
Infant Eyes is the ballad of this cd. Shorter's intro is incredibly soulful and his sense of rubato glides the peace as opposed to making it feel like chunking quarter notes which can get very repetitive in ballads. This song is a perfect example of Wayne Shorter feeding off his painful life experiences to create something wonderful. "Bring It On" Shorter says when discussing life tragedies, "because I want to reep the benefits." With the loss of his wife, parents, and daughter, Wayne Shorter has embraced solitude and used it to breathe tragedy into his horn. This song has a level of authenticity that is far beyond chops, pitch, rhythm, but is simply directly about soul. He references the head in his solo and the discussion between the sax and the piano turn this from a ballad into a beautifully depressing conversation. The ending is very mysterious and poignant.
Wildflower is the final song of this cd with the exception of the alternate take of Dance Cadaverous. Though this song is an "up" waltz it really feels like a lullaby. I commonly find myself humming it while I'm walking around. Shorter begins his solo by quoting the head. He still uses his ability to stay behind the beat to show
the contrast he has with the rhythm section. Freddie's solo also quotes the head and uses his high pitch on ability to stay on top of the beat to portray his message. Hancock uses polyrhythms to lead into realeases on the downbeat, starting his phrases halfway through the measures. He and Elvin synch up on a dotted half note rhythm back into the head. The A section is soft and serene while the B section builds the tension into the ending.
This cd gave me so many new concepts as a musician, but as a listener too. This was one of the first jazz albums I really got into and it was a gateway drug of sorts because it really opened my mind to this world I had never explored. Shorter still remains one of my all time favorite musicians and composers. There's something about his playing that's not just wonderful. It's not just lyrical. It really tugs at your heart in an indescribable way. He understands that music isn't just music. That a rhythm isn't just a rhythm and a note isn't just a note. If you ever find yourself wondering why all the soul in music is gone these days it's because most of it's gone to Wayne. He has no intentions of quitting and neither does my ear, cuz it needs it's daily dose of the Shorter.
Speak No Evil Poster
For this 1964 journey of jazz discovery, the tenor-sax adventurer brought with him Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Ron Carter and Freddie Hubbard. The results were remarkable; a CD-only alternate take of Dance Cadaverous joins the original plus Witch Hunt; Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum; Speak No Evil; Wild Flower , and more!Wayne Shorter's compositions helped define a new jazz style in the mid-'60s, merging some of the concentrated muscular force of hard bop with surprising intervals and often spacious melodies suspended over the beat. The result was a new kind of "cool," a mixture of restraint and freedom that created a striking contrast between Shorter's airy themes and his taut tenor solos and which invited creative play among the soloists and rhythm section. The band on this 1964 session is a quintessential Blue Note group of the period, combining Shorter's most frequent and effective collaborators. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones merge their talents to create music that's at once secure and free flowing, sometimes managing to suggest tension and calm at the same time. --Stuart Broomer
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