Wayne Shorter - 1970 - Moto Grosso Feio

Wayne Shorter

1970

Moto Grosso Feio

01. Moto Grosso Feio (12:25)
02. Montezuma (7:50)
03. Antiqua (5:20)
04. Vera Cruz (5:05)
05. Iska (11:20)

Wayne Shorter / tenor & soprano saxophones
John McLaughlin / 12-string guitar
Dave Holland / acoustic guitar, bass
Ron Carter / double bass, cello
Chick Corea / marimba, drums, percussion
Micheline Pelzer / drums, percussion
Miroslav Vitous / bass - not confirmed

Recorded at A & R Recording Studio, New York City on April 3, 1970.

Weird how some sessions fit to make full album get lost or forgotten in the vaults of some of the biggest labels, Blue Note in this case. And just get a load of the participants to Shorter’s second session of that day (the first session had produced the tracks that would make Odyssey Of Iska): Corea & McL (ja, man!!), Carter & Holland (believe, man!!), with only the unknown being a Belgian teenage girl Michelin Prell (whom Shorter had known since infancy) to insure the percussions. Well, it’s when some contract dispute (his moving from Blue Note to Columbia, where he was already with WR) in 75 (five years after its recording) that this session was remembered and finally located (not labelled) and finally released under a quickly thought-out Brazilian-sounding album, just like most tracks on MGF bore Latin names.

OK, Shorter’s fascination with Brazilian music and language played a role (his wife was Portuguese) in these names, but you won’t find much music that’s really related to Latino music, except maybe the cover of Nascimento’s Vera Cruz. Indeed, most of the tracks are very much in the dissonant avant-garde and free-jazz mode, although it’s still fairly listenable to relatively profane ears (IMHO, at least), but please investigate, rather than take my words for granted. Opening on McL’s acoustic guitar, underlined by Carter’s cello, the 12-mins+ title track is an enchanting and relatively haunting stroll in the Matto Grosso forest, where Shorter’s sax puts a spell on us, before some obtrusive (for the calm climates) drums interventions leap out like hungry jaguar. While the calm returns quickly, the serenity is not as evident, now that we are aware of the menaces that can abound. Montezuma opens a tad more traditionally and might just be the most accessible track of the album, but it’s definitely no cinch either: Prell’s amazing and intuitive drumming is purposely up front in the mix like it would be in some of the best Sun Ra albums, and Carter’s cello shines. Great stuff

On the flipside, Antigua is again starting rather standard, but quickly digresses into dissonant territory, although there is again nothing Latino about the music. Nascimento’s Vera Cruz plunges directly in the inner realms of Shorter’s explorative mood, and there are again not much South American ambiances in there. The album closes on another version of Wayne’s Iska (his baby daughter’s name, Jessica in Hebrew), which is probably the more difficult piece on the album, with McL’s guitar often crossing the sanity borderline, but the amazing presence of the teenage girl Prell is probably the nail that closes the coffin down into the grave. Astounding stuff, but not for the faint-hearted, though.

Recorded on the same day as the superior Odyssey of Iska, this loose session (Wayne Shorter's final one for the Blue Note label) is quite unusual. Although Shorter sticks to his customary tenor and soprano, ianist Chick Corea plays marimba, drums, and percussion; bassist Ron Carter mostly performs on cello; electric guitarist John McLaughlin sticks to the 12-string guitar, and bassist Dave Holland also plays acoustic guitar, with drummer Michelin Prell rounding out the group. Not released until 1974, the music is influenced by early fusion and has its interesting moments although it often wanders. The group performs Milton Nascimento's "Vera Cruz" and four of Shorter's originals, of which "Montezuma" is the best-known.