In 1964, Wayne Shorter had just finished an extended stay in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and was beginning his tenure with Miles Davis' band (in what would become Miles' Second Great Quintet). Having hit his stride as a player, and with precise command of his talents, his writing was set to ascend to incredible heights in the following years. Night Dreamer, his first recording as a frontman, is less challenging than some of the albums to follow, but remains a classic.
The music falls somewhere between the hard bop workouts of his Art Blakey days, and the exploratory ethos of his then-brief Miles Davis experience. With truly stellar help from Lee Morgan (trumpet), Elvin Jones (drums), McCoy Tyner (piano), and Reggie Workman (bass) - some of the greatest talents on their respective instruments ever - his exceptional compositions are delicately-interpreted and explored.
The song titles (Night Dreamer, Charcoal Blues, Black Nile) are expressive of the prevailing themes and images, with the band's refined performance and Shorter's composing taking the music to gorgeous places. A perennial late-night favourite:
01. Night Dreamer
02. Oriental Folk Song
03. Virgo
04. Black Nile
05. Charcoal Blues
06. Armageddon
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