Alright, I'm back with another album recommendation: Saxophonist Wayne Shorter's classic 1965 record "Speak No Evil." This album is widely recognized (by me as well) as one of the must-haves if you're listening to jazz. I myself have been listening to this album a lot the past few weeks and thought I'd pass it on to all of you.
Let me begin with the lineup, which is one of the finest ever put together. Wayne Shorter came close to duplicating Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet, which also happened to be playing together around this time. Ron Carter (bass), Herbie Hancock (piano), and Wayne Shorter (saxophone) were all member of Miles Davis' legendary quintet at the time. In Miles' place is trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who was developing into one of jazz's premier trumpet players at the time (on a side note, Freddie Hubbard sadly passed away two months ago on December 29, 2008). In Miles' drummer's place is John Coltrane's drummer at the time, Elvin Jones. In short, this is an album made by five jazz legends. They all know how to play together harmoniously and can probably make anything sound good.
As for the music, it is some of the most interesting music you'll ever hear and it grooves surprisingly well. What I mean by this is that, First, Wayne Shorter has never been known for writing straight-ahead stuff. This is not music that you'll want to get up and start dancing to. The music is not very straight-forward and can take some time to get used to. However, in the end, you'll realize that, whatever it is that Wayne Shorter has written (he wrote all the pieces), it simply works. Take for example the second track, "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum." This is an eerie, spacious, and dark tune. However, at the same time, it is bluesy and swings. Somehow, the unlikely character of this tune just gels, as with the rest of the tunes. I attribute this phenomenon to the extraordinarily talented group.
As I mentioned before, this album will take some time to get used to. I suggest really listening to it for a week or two. By this I mean that you should listen to it many times, but each time really digging into and enveloping yourself in the music. Don't just let it glance over you, or you'll miss the true beauty that lies inside the music. So, don't cheat yourselves out of a exceptional experience; get the album and listen hard!
If you want to hear a few of the songs off the album, below are two links. The first goes directly to a youtube slide with with the actual recording of "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" in the background. The second will take you to grooveshark again, where you should search "speak no evil." Look for the tune "Dance Cadaverous" by Wayne Shorter.
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