Track Listing

1. Juju
2. Deluge
3. House of Jade
4. Mahjong
5. Yes or No
6. Twelve More Bars to Go
7. Juju [Alternate Take][*]
8. House of Jade [Alternate Take][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10156 in Music
• Brand: Wayne
• Released on: 1999-05-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Limited Edition, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Details
Japanese Release featuring 24 Bit Remastering and LP Style Slipcase for Initial Pressing Only.

Amazon.com
When Wayne Shorter recorded this date in 1964, he was asserting his own voice as both a saxophonist and a composer after his years with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He's joined here by pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, essential parts of the then dominant John Coltrane Quartet, but Juju serves to emphasize what was distinctive in Shorter's approach as well as the similarities. Though he shared something of Coltrane's twisting line and hard sound, Shorter was far more interested in crafting conventional compositions, and there's a range of everyday emotions to be felt in this music that went untouched in Coltrane's more intense work. Shorter's a master of tension and release, using contrasting elements in a piece, mixing major and minor, consonance and dissonance, and different rhythms to evoke complex moods of doubt and playfulness or constraint and joyous swing. Those structures are a happy fit with Tyner and Jones as well, who can bring their characteristic welling intensity to "Juju," a relaxed bounce to "Yes or No," or a subtle oriental emphasis to "House of Jade." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Wayne & the Classic Quartet
This followup to the excellent Night Dreamer is one of Wayne Shorter's best albums on Blue Note record. It places him in a challenging context: he's the only horn in front of two members and one alumnus of John Coltrane's rhythm section. Any lesser musician would have been smothered by juggernauts like Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner, but Shorter rises to the challenge. And rather than marking him as a Trane disciple, the backing really highlights differences between the two.

The opening track, "Ju Ju", places him in the surging modal groove that this rhythm section had mastered on "My Favorite Things" and "Out of This World"; but Wayne's playing is a bit more quirky and asymmetrical, less dense than that of Elvin and McCoy's boss. "Deluge" and "Mahjong" highlight Shorter's growing ability to convey images or ideas through composition. And his tunes are always completely surprising, taking 90 degree turns where you least expecting them -- the ballad "House of Jade" (beautiful intro by Tyner) is a classic example. "Yes or No" ventures into Coltrane territory in classic Shorter curveball fashion, while "12 More Bars to Go" is a blues with several connotations.

Along with Speak No Evil this is the perfect introduction to Wayne Shorter's solo albums. Great saxophone playing, great sidemen, and great compositions. Who could complain?

And the Winner is....
If we listen to the best Jazz played today, we see that among the many directions suggested in the 1960's, Shorter's way has been the most influential. MOstly through his great work with Miles Davis' second great quintet, but also through his own recordings, Shorter created music that was both inside and outside, had free elements within known forms, and allowed the artists creativity in contexts that still relied on such terms as chords and scales.
In Juju, recorded in 1964, Shorter's sound is dry, heavily influenced by Coltrane. The use Tyner, Jones and Workman adds more weight to the comparison. Shorter reminds me of Coltrane, but his energy is different. With Coltrane you feel that every solo is treated as though it is his last, while Shorter, energetic as he is, saves a little for later.
All tunes are by Shorter, and they are all unique. Tyner and Jones sound as if they really enjoy this one, and push Shorter to give his best. They work really well with workman.
Some may complain that this music is less "listenable" than Somethin' Else (Adderley & Davis) or even "The Sidewinder" (Morgan).
It is true that those masterpieces are hard to compete with, but Juju is a work of daring creative artists in top form, and this kind of work has the tendency to attract the initiated, the "experts" first, while the uninitiated come to it a little later, if they persist.

5 stars if you the 1996 CD release
This is a great album. The compositions are all strong and the musicianship intense and of a very high caliber. I`ve had this CD since 1996 and I still listen to it regularly. Elvin Jones fans will find some of his best playing here. One caveat though, the Van Gelder remaster is a mess : Shorter`s sax has gained so much crispness that he sounds like he muted his sax with a box of KFC and the bass is now wobbly and muddled. Get the 1996 CD.