"Speak No Evil" is the title track of Wayne Shorter's landmark 1964 Blue Note album, a composition that has become one of the most performed and studied pieces in the modern jazz repertoire. The 50-bar AABA form in C minor features solos from all three front-line voices at a medium swing tempo. Shorter delivers two commanding choruses on tenor saxophone, his angular, economical phrasing revealing the compositional thinking that would later make him one of jazz's most important composers. Freddie Hubbard's single trumpet chorus is a model of focused intensity, his brilliant technique channeled into a solo of powerful directional logic. Herbie Hancock contributes a piano chorus that demonstrates his ability to inhabit any harmonic environment with creativity and authority. The composition itself, with its moody theme and sophisticated chord movement, exemplifies the aesthetic Shorter was developing during his tenure with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet. Ron Carter and Elvin Jones anchor the performance with the interactive drumming and responsive bass playing that defined this era. The album Speak No Evil is widely regarded as one of the finest recordings in jazz history.
