Wayning Moments

Personnel: Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Eddie Higgins (piano); Jymie Merritt (bass); Marshall Thompson (drums).
Producer: Sid McCoy.
Reissue producers: Donald Elfman, Naomi Yoshii.
Recorded at Universal Recorders, Chicago, Illinois in 1962. Originally released on Vee Jay (3029). Includes liner notes by Don Gold.
WAYNING MOMENTS is Wayne Shorter's third and final release for Vee Jay, the label where he started his solo career. At this time, it was by far his most expansive release, covering a broad range of musical ground. It also expands further on Shorter's gifts as a composer as he inches closer to the fully mature style for which he would become legendary. It is at this time, however, that we find Shorter, still a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, coming into his own as a prime mover of the tenor saxophone in the hard bop era.
Shorter is joined by fellow Messengers Freddie Hubbard and Jymie Merritt, both in excellent form and fitting right in with Shorter's elegant musical conceptions. Also on the date are the more obscure sidemen Eddie Higgins (piano) and Marshall Thompson (drums), each of whom participated in many great hard bop sessions of the time. While a few popular tunes like "Black Orpheus" and "All Or Nothing At All" are easily recognizable, the focus of the session are Shorter's intriguing originals. The darkly swinging "Devil's Island" and the blazing "Powder Keg" are two such examples of Shorter's developing greatness as master artist.