Customer Reviews

Mysterious Shorter

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What can be said about an album of tunes by an incredible composer and their interpretation by an all-star aggregation of musicians? It is gratifying to hear some hard-core playing again in 2006-- the musicians attack this material and make it their own. Wayne should be proud. Highly recommended.

Great music masterfully played by great players. Payton is solid, Belden tributes his main influence, Yahel is just discrete, and Drummond is a master drummer. Check this out: it grooves.

The eight selections on this compact disc represent the best and most intriguing of Wayne Shorter's compositional career. Why is this the first major recording to perform the music of Shorter? Have other musicians been cowering from the opportunity? "Mysterious" is a perfect quality achieved, thanks to the misty sound of the organ, the dark arrangements of Bob Belden, and the spacey guitar of Jon Hart, and the single-mic in the center of the room recording style. So there is mystery, and there is Shorter.

The recording is underwhelming, though. What happened to Nicholas Payton? He really was coming into his own style, culminating around albums like his own Sonic Trance and his landmark M-base with Greg Osby. But on Mysterious Shorter he sounds like he's trying way too hard. On the first track, "Montezuma," he deliberately cuts out of the chord changes, angularly slicing through the minor tones and jarring with dissonance, and then plays a sloppy sixteenth note run that lasts about seven measures, sounding like a bizarre mix of Woody Shaw and Don Cherry. And on Footprints, he starts with an odd syncopation figure that he continues for seemingly ever, which really doesn't go anywhere - which, like I said, gives the impression that he's trying too hard to be "different" instead of being himself. He gets props for trying to be adventuresome, but he sounds almost nothing like his former self - his tone is thinner and lacks the powerful conviction from his blowing on, say, DEAR LOUIS. Not to say I'm not his biggest fan - he's my favorite jazz trumpet player and I shelled a bunch of money out for this CD just to hear him - but to say I was disappointed hits the mark. His ballad feature, Teru, is searching and at beautiful, but there are a lot of cracked notes and un-interesting lines. This was played for a blindfold test, to Eddie Henderson, and he didn't even recognize Nick. Was this after his car crash? The saxophone playing of Bob Belden is underwhelming, too, but his arranging skills more than make up for it.

The rhythm section really hits a groove, however. The horns lay out for the last track, "Miyako," which is really one of Shorter's most tender melodies. They also develop a greasy, almost unhealthy groove jam during Tom Thumb, which is too-often butchered by organ trios. The organ playing of Yahel is elusive and never hits a conventional chord; such imaginative voicings and basslines. Billy Drummond is a veteran drummer and can really hit the skins, especially on a waltz like Footprints.

The music is beautiful and evokes mystery at times, especially courtesy of the talented rhythm section and occasional ebullient moments from Payton, but I really do think that Wayne Shorter deserves a much higher-quality tribute. An organ trio was a good start, but sometimes you just need a pianist that can recall Herbie Hancock or McCoy Tyner to get the full flavor out of Shorter's shades and harmonic twists. And the tenor player should be able to remind you of him as well! It's a worthwhile CD, but should be reserved for hardcore fans of Payton/Wayne Shorter; there is much better modern jazz out there.
kc

While the title and the song list provide clues, it bears stressing that this disk is a take on a collection of Wayne Shorter tunes. For those who may not know, Wayne is an all time jazz great saxophone player and composer. He played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, was part of the famous mid-sixties Miles Davis Quintet, was a founding member of Weather Report and has numerous of his own disk, both recent and 60's vintage.

You could write a book about the greatness of Shorter's music. Suffice to say that many of his tunes are standards and that all time greats like Art Blakey and Miles Davis relied on him as a composer.

It is also important to say that this is not really a Nicolas Payton (trumpet) album. While he has the biggest name, this disk is really a team effort. Bob Belden (sax) did much of the arranging. Per Belden in the liner notes, " We chose the funky stuff, the happy tunes, which lend themselves well to the organ and are fun to play." Best examples of this are Montezuma, Tom Thumb and Beauty and the Beast.

But this is not jazz funk or soul jazz like Stanley Turrentine's "Sugar." Nor is this a "Mighty Burner" treatment of Shorter's tunes. Both approaches could be great, but would probably lose much of angularity of Shorter's music. Choosing Sam Yahel (organ) made the difference on that score. His harmonic sense is perfect for the task.

The drums (Billy Drummond) are very late sixties and, dare I say it, a little out of the Bitches Brew playbook. In the same spirit John Hart brings in a lot of pre-Mahavishnu Orchestra John McLaughlin guitar stylings. (i.e. back to the days of Extrapolation.) At the same time, Hart mixes in a bunch of George Benson and even some Wes Montgomery octave playing on Tom Thumb.

The front line of Beldon and Payton survive a comparison to the unsurpassable Shorter and his frequent partner on trumpet, Freddy Hubbard reasonably well. They, like everyone else, plays within themselves. So, even though this is a band of virtuoso's and the playing is just great, the overwhelming feel is an ensemble trying to take a team approach to the task at hand.

So, this is a great CD for Shorter fans, jazz guitar fans, OGD fans, jazz funk fans and fans of any or all of the principals.

As compared to an average Wayne Shorter session, this quintet recording has two vacant chairs: there is no pianist and no bassist. Sam Yahel on organ is quite uncapable of filling both roles, that are so crucial for Shorter's music: I find him unispired and superficial throughout. So instead of an interacting band we get four soloists plus a drummer. There is a constant feeling of uneasiness (not a bad thing in itself)and the great compositions of Wayne Shorter simply don't happen.