Listened to a lot of the late great Wayne Shorter last night. The album Speak No Evil is probably his best overall session.
"Speak No Evil", "JuJu", "Night Dreamer", "Adam’s Apple" and "Etcetera" please me equally.
"The All Seeing Eye", "Schizophrenia" and "The Soothsayer" not so much. I find the writing on "The All Seeing Eye" off-putting and on the two other recordings, James Spaulding is, to my ear, a liability. While he may be a fine second-tier player, he’s not on the level of Shorter and the other players.
On "Odyssey of Iska" and "Motto Grosso Feio", Shorter plays (if I recall correctly, soprano) over long jams that you might actually find to your liking, if you haven’t heard them. They are somewhat akin to early Weather Report. Also, check out Horacee Arnold’s "Tribe", "Tales of the Exonerated Flea" and Miroslav Vitous' "Mountain in the Clouds".
Shorter had at least two encounters with Milton Nascimiento -- on Shorter’s "Native Dancer" and on the latter’s "Milton". I prefer "Milton".
That Blakey outfit with Wayne, Freddie Hubbard (or Lee Morgan on Indestructible) was amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJBLA39spc4&list=OLAK5uy_nJOp9u0pWGGTEbPU_rtQN35yOkuJ9WCd0
Wayne was also a prophet...
Shorter was deeply influenced by involvement in the Nichiren Shoshu sect of Buddhism, as were some other Jazz "heavy hitters", such as Herbie Hancock.