#reginald workman

Freddie Hubbard - Father and Son (Here To Stay, 1962)

Record Label: Blue Note ▪ Recorded: December 27, 1962

Wayne SHORTER

"Juju"

(LP. Blue Note. 1984 / rec. 1964) [US]

Wayne Shorter’s Footprints from the 1966 album Adam’s Apple is one of his most well known songs, and one of the great works of mid ‘60s jazz. 

While this song is a 12 bar Cm blues with a swing feel, it’s the rhythm that does all the work in making the song feel so cool. The melody alternates between 6/8 and 4/4, and the drum rhythm moves from 3/2 to 2/2. In effect forming an Afro-Cuban cross rhythm yet maintaining a straight-ahead-jazz feel.

At 15, Shorter saw Lester Young, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Russell Jacquet in Newark. He started to learn clarinet, but switched to tenor sax and formed “The Jazz Informers”.

By 1964 he was playing with the Miles Davis quintet, and according to Herbie Hancock, Wayne was one of the few people who brought music to Miles that didn't get changed. He stayed with Davis through the transition to fusion, and in ‘71 cofounded Weather Report with Joe Zawinul.

A MIGHTY CREW OF JAZZ… Duke Jordan, excellent pianist