Music Monday: Wayne Shorter

As most people know, Wayne Shorter transitioned this past week. I feel a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve never really been a huge Wayne Shorter fan. I’ve dipped into his impressive discography as a leader and his work with Weather Report, with guys like Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Herbie Hancock, as well as with Miles Davis and somehow never really making the move to listen to Wayne Shorter (even if I appreciated his contributions).

So that last few days has has me thinking a bit more about Wayne Shorter and his impressive accomplishments to music over a half century.

It’s hard not to love Lee Morgan’s Search for the New Land (1966) where Morgan plays with Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, Reggie Workman, and Billy Higgins:

To be fair, this album isn’t necessary a showcase for Shorter’s song writing or even playing (I think he only has one solo on the entire recording!), but I do appreciate how his work here contributed to this album’s distinct sound (and he clearly had a great sensitivity to playing alongside Morgan, Herbie Hancock, and Grant Green). 

A couple years later, Miles Davis releases Filles De Kilimanjaro (1969) and I love the track “Mademoiselle Mabry”. I mean, it’s a track named after Betty Davis and is apparently an adaptation of Jimi Hendrix’s “A Wind Called Mary.” Again, I’m not sure Wayne Shorter should get any particular credit for this track, but his sound is evident and important: 

I have listened to Schizophrenia (1969) and enjoyed it and also took Weather Report’s Night Passage (1980) for a spin. Both of these albums pulled me in deeper to his 1970s output.

I think his albums Super Nova probably was my favorite of the bunch. John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock on guitars, Chick Corea on vibes, Jack DeJohnette and Airto Moreira on drums.

It’s pretty great and I’ll probably let it carry me through this week and into spring break.

It’s just kind of a bummer that a musician has to transition for me to take the time to really explore his discography and significance.

As a final note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the passing of SPOT, the famous producer for the SST record label in the early 1980s. In his memory, we’ll close today’s post with Meat Puppets’ “Lake of Fire” which Spot produced in 1984.