Odyssey of Iska: Wayne Shorter's Pre Weather Report Avant-Garde Jazz Rock Blue Note

Wayne Shorter wrote in the liner notes: "Iska is the wind that passes, leaving no trace..."

I like that statement, it also aptly describe the mysterious quality in Shorter's sound, both as a writer and as instrumentalist.

Odyssey of Iska recorded in August of 1970 presages the work the work Wayne would do with Weather Report shortly there after.

 It also has a heavy influence of Miles Davis' In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, both of which Shorter participated on.

Iska is a suite in a sense: "Wind", "Storm", "Calm", "Depois do Amor, o Vazio" (After Love, Emptiness), and "Joy" chronicle a persons spiritual journey through trials and tribulation, then the gradual understanding and finding of truth along the way. Wayne points out some people never quite get there.

 I believe the "journey" of trying to improve is actually finding God, "be still and know". Objectively observing your surrounding, without prejudice. Staying in control, and not reacting negatively to forces that try to control you is in a sense finding God.

Of all the jazz musicians I follow Wayne's thinking is pretty close to my own, I find his writing and interviews to be incredibly fulfilling. I have actually learned a few things from him beyond music.

I don't want to get bogged down in trying to describe this music track by track, an impossible task by the way.

Iska is a chamber jazz fusion album. Much more avant-garde than the rock element might make you suspect. "Depois do Amor, o Vazio" (After Love, Emptiness) is the most commercial track here, offering a lovely island dreaming bossa nove vibe.

The rest of the album is some rather challenging post-bop meets fusion styles, with ebbs and flows throughout. Never atonal to my ears,  just different and unique.  Other than Wayne's soprano sax and some tenor, guitarist Gene Bertoncini is the real standout. Bertoncini is not flashy at all here, but his playing is a compliment to the music.

Dave Freidman's Vibes and Marimba add to the mysterious "Shorter" sound. Ron Carter and Cecil McBee do things on bass, that well, I am not at all sure who's who.

 These soundscapes are rewarding and demand repeated listens. My favorite track is the raucous propulsive "Joy" featured below.

Wayne Shorter's Most Avant-Garde Blue Note Album: The All Seeing Eye

Back 20 years ago or so when I first started getting into modern jazz:

It was always a shock to the system when I'd discover an artist and be into a certain style of music that was more commercially accepted, only to be turned upside down by a different more challenging sound.

I think the first Shorter album I checked out was Speak No Evil, then Adam's Apple. When I finally worked my way over to this complex masterpiece The All Seeing Eye, I was shocked.

I didn't easily take to the avant-garde styled jazz, actually, ironically I did early on like free jazz of the Coltrane's Ascension variety, pure aggression some of that music is, and it just seemed to be easily understood to me.

Albums like Dolphy's Out to Lunch, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure are composed pieces in a purer sense, at least they sound that way to me. I had a harder time understanding the chamber jazz style. 1965's The All Seeing Eye is Definitely chamber jazz.

It would be asinine on my part to try to explain this music track by track, other than perhaps the moods and tempos. This is music that takes many listens to digest.

For what it's worth, this is the album I feel Wayne sounds the most like Coltrane, he digs into his solos with more earnestness, an less mystery perhaps?

This music is not that far removed from what Wayne was doing with Miles Davis at around this time. pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter offer support along with Joe Chambers on drums. The Music is definitely more experimental, and less melodic than the Davis quintet material.

What makes this album so special are the horns, Shorter, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, James Spauding on alto, and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, they all get to stretch out here.

Then there's Allan Shorter, Wayne's older brother playing flugelhorn on his own composition "Mephistopheles". A bizarre monotonous droning track that settles into a drum beat that will pound your head to Excedrin headache number 9.

Ultimately this album is fantastic if you like cerebral avant-garde style jazz. I know some will think music like this is pretentious, but really, how can you fault an artist for creating music he wants to as an artistic statement and not necessarily as a pay day? 

Shorter, in the liner notes for the album exclaimed that he had God in mind when creating this music. "Titles like "Genesis" "All Seeing Eye", and "Chaos" bring this to the forefront. Then his brother's "Mephistopheles", which brings in the devil and the struggles with that force, so you can see, this is thinking people's music, it's chamber jazz.

Do you dare to battle The All Seeing Eye?

Pianist Andrew Hill's Blue Note Debut Black Fire

Andrew Hill's (1931-2007) 1963 debut for the Blue Note label is a modern jazz classic.

Amazing when you think about all the debuts on Blue Note that were stone classics.
 John Coltrane's Blue Train, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer, and Johnny Coles' Little Johnny C. to name a few.

Andrew Hill is a clear Thelonious Monk disciple, but certainly more advanced and perhaps more quirky sounding?

I actually prefer Andrew Hill over Monk. Sacrilege perhaps, but I do enjoy the Hill's music more overall. I don't mean that as a slight to Monk.

Black Fire is a very fulfilling album, quartet and trio performances, with advances modal styles, with a hint of Afro-Cuban mixed in offering an exotic vibe.

Continually I marvel at how many great post bop Blue Note classics from the 60's tenor Saxophonist Joe Henderson played on. Black Fire is no exception, a muscular tone and searching.

You mustn't think of Black Fire as a pure avant-garde jazz record,  I don't think it is all that "out" there. Sure it's in the neighborhood, but it is not even remotely free jazz.

Black Fire is structured and composed, hardly atonal... it's in the vein of the Miles Davis second quintet, POST BOP rather.

 This music was recorded well before Wayne shorter joined that band; and 2 years before Miles Smiles was released. Imagine Hill with Davis instead of Hancock? I could dig it! Andrew can get a little funky too like Herbie.

The lead off track "Pumpkin" is very different, really gets a Miles Davis quintet vibe going, the Richard Davis bass line is very Ron Carter like, or Was Ron Carter Richard Davis like?

Andrew stretches out all over the map, this seems like free improvisation to me, very off the cuff, has a live vibe. The Roy Haynes drums are recorded remarkably well I might add, Stellar.

This RVG remaster I am listing to while writing this sounds very good, one of the best CD's I have heard lately. Admittedly some of these have had a tinny sound to me, sometimes distortion can bleed through, not this one.

 I have a hard time believing that the vinyl would sound that much better, and I am a vinyl nut. Black Fire happens to be one of the few 60's Blue Notes that I don't own as an original or at least 70's reissue. Always seems like the price tag for near mint copy, even the Liberty issues are well over 50 dollars plus.

I dig the trio track "Subterfuge" Bassist Davis is doing some pretty remarkable playing on this track, even a nice little solo turn, underrated apparently is Davis, never focused on the track like this before, bassist Davis is pretty darned good.

"Cantarnos" is a nice minor key track, that shows Henderson playing in the vein of John Coltrane on the track "Teo" off of the Miles Davis classic Someday My Prince Will Come.

Henderson is seaching and probing, but perhaps not hell bent on destroying Hank Mobley, as it sounds like Coltrane was attempting, and succeeding on that album where Mobley also appeared.

Anyway, that's how it sounds to me on that particular album. Henderson doesn't over do it here, but the vibe did remind of "Teo".

Overall Black Fire really is a stellar post bop record, and proves to me Andrew Hill was an all time great.  He should get more consideration as a one of the real advancers of the music at the same time John Coltrane's classic mid 60's band was taking shape.

As much as I like Davis and Coltrane, you could never convince me Andrew Hill's genius wasn't their equal. When I hear Black Fire, or Hill's Point of Departure for that matter, we are talking about some seriously groundbreaking jazz that today, 50 plus years later sounds like it has not aged at all.  That fact, the music of modern jazz sounding fresh and sometimes completely new 50 years after it was developed, speaks volumes to me. It's timeless, as much as a 200 year old symphony is.

Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer 1964: His Blue Note Debut is One of His Best

The Thing that struck me about Wayne Shorter's music right away, was his unique ability to sound enigmatic.

For me it's like there is something in it that I can't always find the answer to. His music always seems to have a depth beyond the typical.

Coltrane is this way too, all the masters I suppose are, but Trane and perhaps Miles Davis are more earnest in their composing.

 Shorter is enigmatic at his core, as a writer and as musician, it adds something to his music, I like it.

You can hear a lot of this mysterious quality with his work with the Jazz Messengers, but Art Blakey probably tempered that a bit, at least any avant-garde leanings?

Those early Vee Jay sessions also seem to not quite be on par with this Blue Note debut Night Dreamer.

With Wayne or Tenor, pianist McCoy Tyner, trumpeter Lee Morgan, Bassist Reggie Workman, and Elvin Jones on drums it's hard to lose session.

If you consider Night Dreamer, and the rest of the Blue Notes during the mid 60's along side all the work with Miles Davis quintet, Miles Smiles and Nefertiti especially, you're talking about a monstrous force in jazz history. Really as of 2015, is there any doubt who the greatest living jazz composer is?

Night Dreamer is one of Wayne's best albums, and in my opinion underrated. I like it nearly as much as Speak No Evil and better than Ju Ju.

The Album still has a foot in hard bop, but barely. It is very much post bop and heavily modal. Wayne is also very muscular sounding at times and of course searching and yes, very enigmatic on the lower tempo numbers.

The title track begins with pianist Tyner and then the theme is stated. Right away we get a nice solo out of Wayne, inventive and robust. Lee Morgan is a nice change of pace on trumpet here, more bop oriented than say Freddie Hubbard, perhaps not as searching as Wayne, but the contrast is nice.

"Virgo" is a contemplative ballad. Admittedly reminds me of Coltrane quite a lot, "Naima" pops into my head, but you shouldn't confuse the two.  Dexter Gordon also clearly has influenced Wayne. You'll love the little solo outro on "Virgo".

"Armageddon" is my favorite on the album, it ebbs and flows and summons an ominous vibe. Finally after playing with you, Wayne rips into a nice solo, one of the best on the album. This track sort of sums up the entire album.

The rest the album, "Charcoal Blues", "Oriental Folk Song", "Black Nile" have the same mysterious quality as the highlighted tracks, the latter "Black Nile" being my favorite, Wayne stated that he wanted the track to sound like a river flowing. The album to my ears sounds like an unfolding story in 6 parts.

Original NY USA copies of Night Dreamer ain't cheap right now, in 2015, were talking two- hundred dollars for openers, going forward these are going to climb through the stratosphere.

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Duke Pearson's Sweet Honey Bee on Blue Note: A Melody Filled Classic From 1966

Of all the musicians and arrangers in jazz history, Duke Pearson may be the most underrated.

Blue Note aficionados know Pearson, and perhaps in general jazz fans as well, but you don't hear his name mentioned as one of the all time greats. Not as an arranger or as a pianist.

Duke Pearson is one of my favorite composer/arrangers of all time. His compositions are always light and bouncy, with very memorable melodies.

I love the larger band records he's cut as well, big band or nonet. Sweet Honey Bee is a sextet session that surely has cast its spell on me.  The monster tenor of Joe Henderson, the alto sax and flute of James Spalding,  Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, and Micky Roker on drums.

James Spaulding's flute, other than the Pearson melodies stand out the most on the album. He, "Spaulding" is also well versed on alto, plus his flute on the title track is sublime.

A happy up beat tune from Pearson, according to Nat Hentoff's original liner notes: The title track and the cover's inspiration was Duke's new wife Betty, much of the music was created with her in mind.

"Ready Rudy" a play on the name of enginer Rudy Van Gelder presumably, is a nice hard bop vehicle, with a little bit of Thelonius Monk woven in, what Monk tune does it sound like to you?

Comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I like Pearson's tasty playing here, he's in the Monk mode of course, but also Horace Silver. You know, one of things that is so rewarding when you study music, being able to discern influences of other instrumentalists in their playing?

"Empathy" has a Middle Eastern vibe. Spaulding's flute once again owns this tune as well, Pearson reminds me of Horace Silver here with his comping, Hubbard breaks out the muted horn on this one, and it's nice, a different, and pleasant surprise. Henderson builds up a nice little solo on his tenor, staying down and subdued, and finally breaking out a little, but he never explodes.

"Big Bertha" bursts out of the gate with a nice little medium to fast paced Ron Carter bass strut, with Pearson and Roker playing support to his lead bass. Then the very nice classic hard bop theme kick in. Lots of great solos from all concerned. That Carter bass pulse is always there in the mind haunting every solo, I love it.

"Sudel" another upbeat number, it lets Hubbard and Henderson stretch out a little. But the strong melody is what wins here, a catchy  sing-a-long quality. That's how I would describe Pearson's work, catchy and memorable if not groundbreaking, just damn good and sometimes great music.

"After the Rain" is a real winner as well, a ballad, that creates a very ominous and spartan mood, another great showcase for the flute of Spauding near the end. I told you before that flute is a really player on this set,  I like it.

You can still get vintage original NY USA addressed vinyl copies for around 100 bucks, that's a pretty good deal honestly, I had a 21st century reissue that sounded OK to me. The remastered CD isn't bad to my ears, doesn't have that harsh tinny sound like some RVG remasters have had to my ears.

Art Blakey: The Backbone of the Classic Blue Note Sound

For me, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers were the back bone of the Blue Note Sound, and honestly it's written in stone.

Every record they created for the label is worthy of having in your collection.

Artists like Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, and Stanley Turrentine were as prolific recording albums, and house arrangers like Ike Quebec and Duke Pearson meant a lot.

When I think about Blue Note, and even hard bop music for that matter, I think BLAKEY.

The title track to the album below, Free For All, it was a real game changer for me when I discovered jazz.

"Free For All" kicks ass! (See video below) No delicate way around it, nearly 20 years ago, the title track changed my concept of what jazz was.

 I came to jazz music through the jazz rock door, Miles 70's fusion work, Corea's Return to Forever, McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, I was a rock guy, plain and simple.

Free for All made me realize my notions about jazz were all wrong, I had this old fashioned vision in my head of Louis Armstrong singing "Hello Dolly".

I never liked instrumental jazz either, could not stand scat singing at all, still don't much care for it,  but after Free For All, and Blakey's Night in Tunisia album, I was off to discover Miles' Prestige and Columbia output.

I was blown away at the variety of jazz, and the complexity of it, a real thinking person's music. Don't get me wrong, there is still a pulse, or a beat there to tap your toe to for those that need that subtle swing.

Well, thankfully Blakey and this band did punch me in the face, because it did the trick, I never looked back. I couldn't imagine my life without modern jazz. Blue Note jazz is the foundation of what jazz is for me.

Free For All is That Good

Art Blakey's best album outside of Moanin' in my opinion is Free For All. Heavy metal jazz, POWER is the word! It's one of my favorites, but Moanin' really should be the first Blakey you get.

The title track on Free For All is an absolute freight train of a piece, in fact if you listen close, the microphones used for the date barely hold up to the power.

Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, and Cedar Walton ride this mother like their lives depended on it.

 Of course these guys weren't exactly raking in the dough back then, they did have to earn their survival. Free For All is one of those bop albums that lives up to the moniker "hard" bop.

Moanin'

Boy do I love Benny Golson, no doubt he is the star of the show on this self titled Jazz Messengers album nicknamed Moanin'. Benny gets forgotten sometimes when mentioning the best jazz composers and saxophonists.

His compositions "Blues March", "Along Came Betty", "Are You Real", and "Drum Thunder Suit", easily make this well rounded album not your ordinary hard bop album.

The most famous tune, "Moanin'" for which the nickname comes from, is easily one of the greatest themes of post WWII jazz,"Moanin'" is pianist Bobby Timmons' composition.

My favorite track on the album is "Along Came Betty" I just love the soft strut, and lilting theme.

Betty must have been one fine lookin' lady that's for sure. The other Golson tracks are also very good, "Blues March" and "Drum Thunder Suite" really had some hard bop power to balance out the softer standards.

Benny Golson is the man, and I think he his underrated as a player and composer. If you like Moanin', you must check out Lee Morgan's Volume 3 as well.

Note: The Blue Note 4003 LP Cover  was my own, one of my better record shop finds. You can read the story about that great find, and what ultimately happened to it here.

Herbie Hancock's Blue Note 4109 Takin' Off is a Nice Beginning

Pianist Herbie Hancock's debut as a leader Takin' Off is one of his best, though none of his Blue Notes should be missed.

Recorded and released in 1962, it is a stellar record. Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Dexter Gordon on Tenor sax, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums foretell the caliber of music.

Takin' Off is best known for the would be hit from Mongo Santamaria "Watermelon Man".

Hancock's original here is not as Latinized as Santamaria's for sure, It's just damned good hard bop.

Believe me, it's funky for sure, but in a Horace Silver kind of way. Trumpeter Hubbard and saxophonist Gordon play on the funkiness too. I like Gordon in particular here, he doesn't usually sound like this. Seems a little rougher his tone.

Billy Higgins does some interesting things also on the track during Herbie's Solo. Listening again as I am writing this, Herbie sure does sound like Horace Silver here. I do consider Herbie the superior pianist, Listening to the Miles Davis 65-68 quintet pretty much proves that point. But I really like Herbie when he is feeling his funky vibe.

So how's the rest of the album?

 Well, honestly, the rest of the albums is as good or better than the track the album is known for "Watermelon Man". "The Maze", "Driftin", "Three Bags Full", "Alone & I", and "Empty Pockets" are all solid hard-bop. The Ballad "Alone and I" is a showcase for Dexter Gordon, who is my favorite of all the ballad players.

The rest of the album, is what I would call fine advanced, but not too out there hard bop. A fantastic toe tapping debut from an all time great.

Of course this album does not come close to what was to come. Maiden Voyage, and Speak Like A Child for instance, as something new to the jazz vocabulary.

Takin' Off has a blowing session vibe to me. I feel like the music was made for the label more than the artist. A cutting your teeth, paying your dues album perhaps.

Right now original high grade vinyl copies of Takin' Off are selling for $250 or more, if the past is any indicator, that not at all cheap price will seem like bargain basement prices in the years to come. Just in the past 3 years I have seen so many 60's issued Blue Note spike.

Even 1970's liberty label copies of 4109 are bringing 30 bucks in lesser condition. Won't be long and those will likely be out of hand price wise too.

Horace Silver: 6 Pieces of Silver, Fake Stereo or Not, a Must Have Record on Blue Note

Recorded in 1956, and released the next year, Horace Silver's classic 6 Pieces of Silver belongs in every hard-bop collection.

The standards "Senor Blues" and "Cool Eyes" set the pace and proved that Silver away from the Jazz Messengers and Drummer Art Blakey would be a force to be reckoned with.

This copy I found in a local Dayton Ohio area record shop for 10 bucks, yeah I snagged it, re-channeled stereo Liberty copy and all.

Honestly it didn't sound bad, I have not heard an original, so can't honestly make a comparison.

 I am not an audiophile lunatic though, and I don't get all high-and-mighty about "bastardizing the sound with the re-channeled stereo" like many do. To get a copy from 1970 for 10 bucks, is a real steal in my book.

As good as Donald Byrd plays trumpet here, it's frankly Hank Mobley who steals the show. This guy knew how to blow the blues, and it never comes off as cliche. Silver is such a funky player, his piano playing is funky as all get out, and his Otis Span like blues delivery between funky dances on Senor Blues is delightful. Mobley melds perfectly with Silver's piano and compositions.

The Horns doubling up coming out of silver solo on the track will grab you and shake you, they ride it out with Louis Hays on drums in fine fashion.

Don't miss out on the trio ballad performance "Shirl," a somber mood, reminds me of something in the vein of Bill Evans trio perfprmance"Blue in Green"; it's both gorgeously understated, and drained of any hint of sentimentality, a real winner.

The bouncy boppers "Virgo" and "Camouflage", are also nice Horace Silver gospel tinged rides. Mobley and Byrd do their thing once again with Silver, Hays, and Doug Watkins on bass. I think I undervalued this record upon first listen. It's mighty good.

I thought about including "Senor Blues" below for your enjoyment, but I think the ballad "Shirl" has cast her spell on me, and should surely be better known, enjoy-

Grab a copy yourself.

Joe Henderson's Final Blue Note Mode For Joe

Joe Henderson's final Blue Note album as a leader is a fine one.

Mode For Joe from 1966 does not rest comfortably in the hard bop vein, though fans of the genre will enjoy this record.

A probing bop style, not unlike the music Andrew Hill or Jackie McLean were releasing, but not quite as "out" there. 

I am a sucker for vibrophonist Bobby Hutcherson, I can't think of an album he's been on that didn't sound good.

I just love the sound of Bobby's vibes in a post bop context.  Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch blows my mind every time. Cedar Walton on piano, Lee Morgan on trumpet, the great trombonist Curtis Fuller, bassist Ron Carter, and the underrated drummer Joe Chambers round out the men on this modern jazz masterpiece. 

Cedar Walton's title track tribute to the leader "Mode for Joe" is  a now a standard and one of the tracks I bet saxophonist  Joe Lovano in particular wore out when he was cutting his teeth on his old man Big T's collection.

These Henderson Blue Notes always make me think about Lovano's better albums, that's how good Lovano is, that's not hyperbole either.

Walton's title track I like, the latin vibe of the track not as overtly latin as "Caribbean Fire Dance".

Henderson does some odd stuff here: Out of the gate he is honking squawking, off kilter, might even make the jazz novice cringe. Then he goes on to just play the hell out of it.

A tasty light bounce from Hutcherson's vibes is also nice. Joe said in Leonard Feather's liner notes, : "We got the feeling for this one right away". "This was the first take."

The Basic "Black," another Walton composition is straight ahead, and typical of a Blakey or Silver session, in other words, kicks ass.

Joe also said that Cedar really burned his hands off on this track, I agree. I like Joe's quote of "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" at the 1:05 mark on the video below.  A real hard swinger this track is, enjoy.

You won't find a weak link on this album I can promise you. "Caribbean Fire Dance",  "A Shade of Jade", and "Granted" from the leader are all stellar, the first 2 being standards.

Also Lee Morgan's "Free Wheelin" was thrown together on the fly at the session. You wouldn't know it, Curtis Fuller blows the doors off on this tune too with his trombone. What a great album from some true classic jazz musicians.

Do yourself a favor, pay attention to the lesser known tracks here like "Black", and "Free Wheelin", you won't be disappointed.