JuJu (Album)
Occupation
- Tenor Saxophone: Wayne Shorter
- Piano: McCoy Tyner
- Bass: Reginald Workman
- Drums: Elvin Jones
JuJu is a jazz album by Wayne Shorter, which was taken on August 3, 1964 by Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and published in the same year by Blue Note Records.
The album
The studio album JuJu was after in April 1964 resulting LP NightDreamer the second publication of the tenor saxophonists of his own for Alfred Lion's Blue Note label. It is one of those publications before 1970, expect the Richard Cook and Brian Morton to the " most individual works Shorter's ". [ Cook 1] Nat Hentoff noted in the original liner notes to JuJu that in Shorter Night Dreamer a stronger, more personal language 've tried, as on his previous LPs that have arisen between 1959-1962 for VeeJay. Mid- 1964 had become Quintet, whose cast also corresponded to the previous album by adding the trumpeter Lee Morgan Wayne Shorter member of Miles Davis. For Shorter JuJu gave up another wind; he was accompanied by a rhythm section that gives rise to associations with the former model John Coltrane - McCoy Tyner ( piano ), Reggie Workman (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums). This was the same rhythm section, Coltrane 1961 accompanied on his album Africa / Brass.
Shorter had studied with John Coltrane, and his style reflected Shorter in 1964 in his playing and compositions. The title track " JuJu ", with the Shorter associations with Africa produced by wanting to remember the old tribal customs; Juju was a Nigerian pop music style that has emerged since the 1920s from traditional Yoruba music out. The structure with the short, repetitive phrases to build on the simplicity of African chants. Hentoff pointed out that Shorter on a complex and colorful ground by the rhythm section a formidable evocation with almost hypnotic mood builds up, which are associated with swirling rituals. [ Hentoff 1]
With the issuing topic of " Deluge " (Eng. flood, flood ) Shorter wanted to create the mood of something Falling, a musical analogy to rain. When writing the piece he remembered Bible studies in his youth, when he heard of the flood: " Now I wanted in my age write something about how I felt when I heard about it for the first time. " [ Hentoff 2]
It follows the ballad " House of Jade", came the opening sequence of Wayne Shorter's wife Irene. After conducting over Bridge Shorter takes the subject up again, the Hentoff recalls Shorter's characteristic song lyricism. [ Hentoff 1]
In the composition " Mahjong " Shorter thought of the ancient Chinese board game Mahjong; the division of the four-bar piece ( in the sequence melody, rhythm, melody, rhythm, bridge -like melody, melody, rhythm ) and the pauses should give the players the opportunity to think about the next (game) train; the melody and its increase each select the next play, as Nat Hentoff. [ Hentoff 1]
The penultimate piece of the original LP " Yes or No " is a harmonious composition Remininszenz to Coltrane's "Moment 's Notice" from the recorded 1957 album Blue Train. The JuJu - album closes with "Twelve More Bars to Go"; the title is a pun: Shorter first seem so, cheerful, like to visit with a list in hand, the bars in the city; Finally, the " 12 bars in form". [ Hentoff 3] Shorter tried doing by letting it sound like " a retrogressive increase " to get away from the standard blues harmonies and create the musical portrait of a man who tries slightly tipsy forward to come, but it is declining. [ 1 Hentoff ]
In 1987, a new edition in CD form with two additional, previously unreleased tracks.
Album Review
In Allmusic, which gave the album the highest rating, highlighted the critic Stacia Proefrock that JuJu reveal the potential that announced itself in the predecessor NightDreamer. JuJu was also Wayne Shorter's first real opportunity to show his great talents both as a performing musician and as a composer. Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman, and McCoy Tyner were the perfect musicians to accompany Shorter, which revealed a great understanding of his compositions. Here McCoy Tyner was the better choice for Shorter than Herbie Hancock with his light touch and his beautiful improvisations. JuJu would be " in the emerging branch of Shorter's creative peak " and " the beginning of its foundation as a leader ." Although his compositions and playing style of Coltrane would be affected, they still showed a great autonomy in the way he aufbreche the structures of the hard bop and with all this diversity and flexibility find his voice; this he had completed then on his later albums like Speak No Evil ( December 1964 ) and The Soothsayer ( March 1965 ).
Richard Cook and Brian Morton emphasize in their review of the album, which she excelled with the second- highest rating that especially the two alternate takes of the new edition would show the inventiveness and the experimental attitude Shortes; the energy and drive of hard bop associations here with the new; it was the Seething and melancholy that were on JuJu to Shortes trademark. [ Cook 1]
C. Michael Bailey points out in his review of JuJu (as well as the follow-up album Speak No Evil ) in All About Jazz Shorter's role as a jazz composer Benny Golson similar contributions to the Jazz Messengers repertoire. Golson and Shorter are two living legends, jazz standards composed (and not just imagined ). The two albums were " acoustic jazz from the mid-1960s of the highest quality ." Shorter show doing a " brilliant ingenuity " and was a great composer of ballads.
The title
- Blue Note BLP 4182 (LP), BST 84182 (LP), CDP 7 46514-2 (CD), CDP 7243 8 37644-2 (CD)
( All compositions are by Wayne Shorter)
Swell
Literature / Bibliography
- Nat Hentoff: liner notes by JuJu, 1964
- Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Edition, London, Penguin, 2002 ISBN 0-14-017949-6.