Wayne Shorter
Tenor Sax Solo on
Wild Flower

About

Wayne Shorter leads off the solos with a single chorus on tenor sax, the first of three improvisations on the recording. The waltz feel at 161 BPM over the 64-bar ABAB' in B♭ lends the solo a distinctive lilting three-beat pulse. Shorter's tenor saxophone solo is characteristically enigmatic, his phrases seeming to float above the waltz rhythm with an independence that suggests multiple simultaneous time streams. Recorded for the album Speak No Evil in 1964, the performance captures Wayne Shorter at 30 to 31 years old. Freddie Hubbard follows with a trumpet chorus that brings his trademark brilliance and rhythmic authority to the waltz feel, his playing more grounded rhythmically than Shorter's but equally creative harmonically.

Wayne Shorter was 30 to 31 years old at the time.