Speak No Evil
Occupation
- Tenor Saxophone: Wayne Shorter
- Trumpet: Freddie Hubbard
- Piano: Herbie Hancock
- Bass: Ron Carter
- Drums: Elvin Jones
Speak No Evil is a jazz album by Wayne Shorter, which was acquired on December 24, 1964 in the studio of Rudy Van Gelder, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and published the following year by Blue Note Records.
The album
The studio album Speak No Evil was created by the 1964 LP Night Dreamer and JuJu the third release 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 ". which offers " highly original and unusual compositions ."
The cover of the album shows Teruka ( Irene ) Nakagami, Wayne Shorter's first wife, whom he met in 1961.
After he had played two previous albums for Blue Note with the Coltrane musicians McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Reggie Workman, he had been " unfairly labeled as ' one - of - this - Coltrane disciples ,'" Thom Jurek wrote in Allmusic. At Shorter's appearance on this album was one of the in Coltrane's " classic quartet " musicians playing only drummer Elvin Jones; were added two members of the " second quintet " by Miles Davis, Shorter himself belonged since September 1964, namely the pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter. For the quintet formation by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, had collaborated with the Shorter since his days as musical director of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers was. Hubbard was in the mid 60s also a frequent musical partner of Hancock.
However, the second main soloist on Speak No Evil is the pianist Hancock, not the trumpet player ( not the solo on "Dance Cadaverous " and " Infant Eyes " plays ). Hancock and Carter accompany rhythmic freely and catch harmoniously the soloists, while Jones focuses on the timekeeping. The tone of the compositions Shorter's are rather dark, as I witness the title.
Shorter brought into the session six new compositions; Don Heckman quoted him in the liner notes, writing the material for this album
Fairy tales were also a source of inspiration for the bluesy ballad " Fee -Fi -Fo - Fum ," which is named after the exclamation of the giants in Jack and the Beanstalk. Jurek lifts the " unusual [n ] harmonic [n ] frame ( ... ) with his ballad-like structure " shows, the " mixed with the blues feel of hard bop and modal jazz, which creates the illusion of a larger ensemble " itself.
The album begins with "Witch Hunt" and its striking Hornfanfare. The waltz -like "Dance Cadaverous " was influenced by Shorter of an old photograph of medical students who make it to autopsy a corpse. The piece contains melodic references to Jean Sibelius ' Valse Triste, the Shorter finally on the next album, The Soothsayer (1965 ) grossed. After the title track " Speak No Evil " in which " levels of harmonic and rhythmic freedom urges that were not tolerated in the usual hard bop context," follows " Infant Eyes ," which he wrote for his daughter when she was an infant, in structure other ballads Shorter resembling like " House of Jade " (from JuJu ) or " Iris" by the Davis album ESP. The album ends with "Wild Flower", another piece in waltz rhythm. Shorter's solo on this topic " ingeniously combines simple melodic ideas with sweeping runs and sound effects. "
Reception
Shorter's Speak No Evil is now with Art Blakey's Mosaic, Herbie Hancock Empyrean Isles and Maiden Voyage, Freddie Hubbard Hub -Tones, Bobby Hutcherson Components or Joe Henderson Mode for Joe to the " almost perfect [n ] classic [ s ] " of that time, wrote Michael Cuscuna. For Janis Görlich of the Jazzzeitung the album is " a classic of jazz history " Richard Cook and Brian Morton also include the album Shorter's most brilliant work and chose it in The Penguin Guide to Jazz in their list of the Core Collection.
Ian Carr also provides the album in the series of Shorter's most important works; it was " a classic album, both in terms of composition and improvisation, was a source of inspiration for many musicians. " the Allmusic gave the album the highest rating of five stars. For author Thom Jurek meets here the " avant-garde to the hard bop of the '50s and everyone wins. " As an example of Shorter's approach he chooses the title track, in which he sets the post-bop - oriented melodic lines against Hancock's counterpoints.
The music magazine Jazzwise recorded the album in the list The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World.
Editorial note
Speak No Evil was originally released as an LP BLP 4194 and BST 84194; the first edition in CD - form takes place in 1986. A remastered version, edited by Rudy Van Gelder was released in 1998 and contained an Alternate Take of Dance Cadaverous.
Title list
All compositions are by Wayne Shorter.
- Speak No Evil ( LP: BLP 4194 and BST 84194, CD: 07,777,465,092 )