Search - Wayne Shorter :: Second Genesis

Fun, crackin' early Wayne with his Messengers friends

Micah Newman | Fort Worth, TX United States | 02/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For whatever reason, this 1960 session was never released until 1974. It would appear that at this point Wayne Shorter, just a year into his employment with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, had begun to develop his personal style of playing as well as composition. On this date, he is joined by two of his Jazz Messengers associates Art Blakey on drums (who sits in as a sideman here by way of a kind of "noblesse oblige", as the liner notes put it) and Cedar Walton on piano, as well as Bob Cranshaw on bass.Wayne and Art particularly "click" together, and it is clear how comfortable they are with one another. Art's drumming has a real "snap" to it, and it's a joy to listen to him and Wayne interact. Wayne's six compositions here are, as one might expect, not quite the stellar brilliance that his later output would be, but are very good and begin to hint at the shape his writing and phraseology would take in the years to come. And then two standards, "Getting to Know You" and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", are thrown in just for grins. Wayne clearly has fun on these tunes.His first Blue Note album as a leader still four years away, Wayne is surprisingly impressive on _Second Genesis_. Recommended for anyone at all into Shorter and/or Blakey."