Wayne Shorter - 1964 - Night Dreamer

Wayne Shorter 

1964

Night Dreamer

01. Night Dreamer
02. Oriental Folk Song
03. Virgo
04. Black Nile
05. Charcoal Blues
06. Armageddon

Bass – Reginald Workman
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – McCoy Tyner
Tenor Saxophone – Wayne Shorter
Trumpet – Lee Morgan

While this was Wayne Shorter's first solo album for Blue Note, he had been playing with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for 5 years and was already a mature saxophonist and composer. But with this 1964 album, he was free to write music to suite his own taste rather than Blakey's. He was free to dream his own dream. Shorter did this very successfully, emerging as a major jazz composer, a painter of vivid soundscapes.

He was backed up by outstanding musicians. I happen to be a big fan of Lee Morgan and already owned some Morgan CDs that featured Shorter --"Search for the New Land" and "The Gigolo"; I would have been glad to have any additional album featuring them together, but that is especially true when the compositions are so distinctive. Actually, Morgan only plays on "Night Dreamer", "Oriental Folk Song", "Black Nile", and "Armegeddon". Maybe Shorter wanted to prove to Blue Note that he could sustain listeners' interest in a quartet; his next album "JuJu" did in fact feature the same quartet heard here on "Virgo" and "Charcoal Blues" for that entire album.

The album and title track open with a wonderful series of runs on the piano played by McCoy Tyner before launching into the theme. Shorter, Morgan, and Tyner all deliver solos which maintain the dream-like mood which Shorter extends with a second solo before the return of the closing theme statement. Even then, Shorter is not done and spins out one more solo. This tune really sets a high bar for the album, but the remaining tunes meet this challenge.

"Oriental Folk Song" doesn't really sound that oriental to me, but it is a charming, mellow tune featuring more fine solos and some drum breaks. "Virgo" is a lovely ballad full of mystery; one of the most beautiful original jazz melodies I know of. "Black Nile" is a fast, hard bop number. It is followed by "Charcoal Blues" which needs no explanation (except for Morgan's absence). The entire quintet caps off the session with the vibrant "Armegeddon" which Shorter described as the "focal point of the whole album"; despite the title, it is not at all gloomy since Shorter does not view "Armegeddon" as being the final battle of good and evil, but "a period of total enlightenment in which we will discover what we are and why we are here".

Tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter's Blue Note debut found him well prepared to enter the big time. With an impressive quintet that includes trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones, Shorter performed a well-rounded program consisting of five of his originals, plus an adaptation of "Oriental Folk Song." Whether it be the brooding title cut, the Coltrane-ish ballad "Virgo," or the jams on "Black Nile" and "Charcoal Blues," this is a memorable set of high-quality and still fresh music. [Some reissues add an alternate take of "Virgo."]

Evolution is the operative word when looking back at Wayne’s Blue Note debut, Night Dreamer, recorded in the Rudy Van Gelder Studio on April 29, 1964 and released later that year. While Wayne had already recorded three albums for Vee-Jay Records as a solo artist (1959’s Introducing Wayne Shorter, 1960’s Second Genesis and 1962’s Wayning Moments), the tenor saxophonist and composer ascended to a new level of artistic maturity when he was signed by Blue Note, telling original liner note writer Nat Hentoff that for his first album he wanted “to say something substantial!”

Substantial indeed as Wayne begins his exceptional enlightenment journey to substitute compositional complexity and a flurry of chords for the essence of song simplicity, heartfelt saxophone expression and a sanguine outlook that the title, Night Dreamer, points to with its suggestion of earthly darkness and otherworldly luminosity. Along for the ride is trumpeter Lee Morgan, another Jazz Messengers alum and future Blue Note hit maker; pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones moonlighting from their John Coltrane classic quartet; and bassist Reggie Workman, another Coltrane alum pre-Jimmy Garrison.

Night Dreamer comprises a six-pack of Shorter compositions beginning with the title track, where the tenor blows with urgent brio over Elvin’s ¾ time drum drive. Arranged from an old Chinese tune, “Oriental Folk Song” features Shorter and Morgan sketching the theme before the improvisations swing into action, and Shorter offers lyrical melancholy on “Virgo” (his astrological sign). The buoyant “Black Nile” has a flow akin to a river with plenty of splashes from Elvin’s drums bash, “Charcoal Blues” grooves as a smooth, bluesy swinger, and the pensive end piece “Armageddon” catches a groove that the rhythm team pushes ahead with McCoy’s sparkling runs, Elvin’s muscular and tumbling drums, and Reggie’s solid pulse. It makes for a dramatic close to an arresting album.

Returning to that chat in Melbourne, when asked what he saw as the role of the artist, Wayne sagely replied, “Being the lone voice in the wind. To be on a mission and not be afraid.” On Night Dreamer, with its optimistic outlook despite the minor keys that pervade the compositions, the intrepid tenor was just beginning to lift off. A few months later he joined the magical express ride of the Miles Davis Quintet within which he was compositionally instrumental in its quicksilver evolution. At the same time, he was continuing his own assured journey with Blue Note (eleven albums in his six-year run with the label), a rich period of fearless exploration that nearly a half century later in his return to the label continues to abound with soaring beauty.