For those who can afford to indulge a little academic interest, these two albums form a useful point of comparison between Shorter’s early and middle period. As the history books have it, he started to shape his personal sound while with Art Blakey from 1959 to 1964. The first of these albums, the Affinity (first issued on Vee Jay), lets us hear Shorter before he had expunged most of the bop elements from his style, and just before he joined Art Blakey. In terms both of material (all by Shorter except Mack) and improvisation, Blues A La Carte adheres faithfully to the fifties bop gospel. Bits and pieces suggest what was to come, like the chord movement on Harry’s, Shorter’s sound and articulation, and his apparent preference for medium tempi (he doesn’t sound too comfortable with the fast pace of Black Diamond). But otherwise, it’s a not unusual hard bop date, and with sidemen like the Brownie-ish Morgan and the ever reliable Kelly trio that’s no surprise. There’s plenty of good Morgan and several examples of Chambers’ arco work.
Seven years later. Shorter had stripped his playing of excess, adopted those aspects of Coltrane that he liked, become more simply melodic and consolidated his new approach to composition. Adam’s Apple illustrates all of this and above all shows that Shorter’s early sixties flowering had resulted in a much richer emotional range. El Gaucho and Footprints are typical Shorter compositions, and Chief shows his predilection for relaxation, though by the time we get to the latter track, it is evident that though Shorter is inventive, he is not entirely free of cliché; he does have his favourite riffs, but it’s these that help us to identify his original style. The impressionistic, floating Teru hints at what happened with Weather Report, but that’s another story and another album.
Discography
ADAM’S APPLE
Adam’s Apple; 502 Blues (Drinkin’ And Drivin’); El Gaucho (19.53) – Footprints; Teru; Chief Crazy Horse (21.18)
Shorter (ts); Herbie Hancock (p); Reginald Workman (b); Joe Chambers {d). Recorded New Jersey, February 24, 1966.
(Blue Note BST 84232)
BLUES A LA CARTE
Blues A La Carte; Harry’s Last Stand; Down In The Depths (20.45) – Pug Nose; Black Diamond; Mack The Knife (20.40)
Shorter (ts}; Lee Morgan (t); Wynton Kelly (p); Paul Chambers (b); Jimmy Cobb (d). Recorded November 10, 1959.
(Affinity AFF 144)
