WAYNE SHORTER — The Soothsayer (review)

WAYNE SHORTER — The Soothsayer album cover Album · 1979 · Hard Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
Definitely Wayne’s more intriguing string pre-WR albums, outside Nova and Iska IMHO, and no doubt due to the amazing line-up featured, which includes the unusual presence McCoy Tyner (generally not associated with the Miles-Shorter crowd), and the slightly less-surprising Hubbard. Completing the line-up are the ultra-young Tony Williams, the ever-unavoidable Carter and the less-famous Spaulding (a usual Horace & Hubbard suspect) doubling Wayne sax on different ranges. Well despite my original intrigue, the album ultimately proves to be a bit disappointing, because McCoy is not being given enough space on Shorter’s compositions to allow him to make a distinct difference on countless other albums, even if one can hear is awesome southpaw pounding the keys. If the overall soundscapes of Soothsayer are fairly standard, one can’t really classify as an outright bop thing. In some ways, Soothsayer is very much in the line of Juju and Night Dreamer, with the notable exception of the title track, which bears a definite Trayner influence.

All of the other tracks are generally post-bop enough to sound like an early 60’s jazz release, but by no means is the present album any superior than the huge majority of jazz releases of those years.

Wayne (with McCoy) would be one of the few musicians that would cross the Miles-Trane gap (well Shorter did play also with Elvin, before he would with McCoy) and he would return the favour by playing on a few Tyner albums around the turn of the decade. Good stuff but nothing transcendental, except for the modal title track.

Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Shapes of Silence (live) World Fusion
ALEPH QUINTET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Horizons Held Close Jazz Related Improv/Composition
TRANCE MAP (EVAN PARKER AND MATTHEW WRIGHT)
Buy this album from MMA partners
Puttin' On the Ritz Classic (1920s) Jazz
THE NEW WONDERS
Buy this album from MMA partners
異響同塵~Different echoes in the same dust~ Jazz Related Improv/Composition
TOSHI TSUCHITORI 土取利行
Buy this album from MMA partners
Brötzmann / Nilssen-Love : Butterfly Mushroom Avant-Garde Jazz
PETER BRÖTZMANN
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Puttin' On The Ritz
THE NEW WONDERS
js· 10 hours ago
Wet Weather Wet
THE WRONG OBJECT
js· 1 day ago
Michael Kiwanuka - Lowdown (parts i and ii)
MICHAEL KIWANUKA
js· 1 day ago
Who Needs You (Billie Holiday-Jeanne Burns) by Ineza with Alex Webb & The Copasetics
INEZA (INEZA KERSCHKAMP)
js· 2 days ago
Notbad
PEELA
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed