Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter

Speak No Evil was recorded on December 24, 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and released on Blue Note Records in 1966. The quintet — Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums — was drawn from the Miles Davis Quintet and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, two groups Shorter had recently been associated with. All six compositions are Shorter originals, written during a period when he was simultaneously contributing material to Davis's second great quintet. The music inhabits a space between hard bop and something more elusive — dark, atmospheric themes that Shorter described as evoking "misty landscapes with wild flowers and strange, dimly-seen shapes" and imagery of witch burnings and folklore. "Witch Hunt" opens with a fanfare that dissolves into a deceptively simple theme, while "Infant Eyes" is a ballad of exceptional tenderness that has become one of Shorter's most admired compositions. The album received little attention upon release but has grown steadily in reputation and is now regarded as one of the essential Blue Note recordings and a pinnacle of Shorter's work as a composer. The writing throughout favors mysterious harmonic movement and unexpected structural turns over conventional blowing vehicles.