Shorter, Wayne Etcetera

It took Blue Note 15 years to release this 1965 session from Wayne Shorter, his fifth album for the label. The critical consensus of the day agreed the album was well worth waiting for, however. Featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Joe Chambers on drums and Cecil McBee on bass, the album is another showcase for Shorter's songwriting talent with four originals and a cover of the Gil Evans song "Barracudas".

Recorded in 1965 but not released until 1980, Et Cetera holds its own against the flurry of albums Wayne Shorter released during the mid-'60s, a time when he was at the peak of his powers. It is hard to imagine why Blue Note might have chosen to shelve the album, as it shows Shorter in a very favorable light with an incredibly responsive rhythm section performing four of his originals and a cover of Gil Evans' "Barracudas." The low-key nature of the album as a whole, especially the title track, might have contributed to Blue Note's lack of attention, but there are definitely gems here, especially the closing track, "Indian Song." At times the rest of the album seems like a warm-up for that amazing tune, where Shorter swirls around in a hypnotizing dance with Herbie Hancock's piano, grounded by the nocturnal bass of Cecil McBee and the airy structure of Joe Chambers' drumming…

Javon Jackson - For One Who Knows (1995) {Blue Note Records CDP 7243 8 30244 2 1}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 292 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 117 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 12 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1995 Blue Note Records | CDP 7243 8 30244 2 1
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

This CD only has one fault, but it is a major one. It seems that no matter what he plays (whether it be an obscure song by Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, or Antonio Carlos Jobim, or one of his two originals), Javon Jackson sounds too close to comfort to Joe Henderson; in fact there are times when the tenor-saxophonist sounds identical.

On February 26, the venerated multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe Chambers will release Samba de Maracatu, a notable Blue Note Records return for a significant figure in the label’s history. The album is a nine-song set of original compositions, standards, and pieces by Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, and Horace Silver.