While this isn't the only
Wayne Shorter Blue Note collection, it is the best.
The Best of Wayne Shorter, which was released in 1998 within a series of other Blue Note best-ofs that were coming out at the time, is adequate, but with only one disc it's hard to cover any ground with a guy who's recorded around a dozen top-notch records as a leader for Blue Note, and then appeared on scores of others -- and that's where this collection wins. The second disc consists of appearances he made alongside such greats as
Art Blakey,
Lee Morgan, and
Freddie Hubbard. Perhaps a Blue Note
Wayne Shorter box set is in order? At any rate, "Speak No Evil," "Footprints," "Witch Hunt," and "Nefertiti" prove to highlight
Wayne Shorter's astounding career and in turn show off jazz composition in general -- as
Shorter stands as the one of the genre's best songwriters. Recommended as a springboard into the full-length discs these tracks are culled from,
The Classic Blue Note Recordings of
Wayne Shorter hits the mark. ~ Sam Samuelson