Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Wayne Shorter: Adam's Apple To Super Nova Revisited

Wayne Shorter: Adam's Apple To Super Nova Revisited

By Chris May
May 21, 2023
View read count

Wayne Shorter: Adam's Apple To Super Nova Revisited

In the three and a half years which separate the recording of the Blue Note albums Adam's Apple, in February 1966, and Super Nova, in August and September 1969, jazz went through a paradigm shift going on profound identity trauma. In 1966, though it was already past peak popularity, hard bop was still an important soundtrack among street people and cultural sophisticates alike. But three years later, acid rock had more or less replaced it. Jazz musicians, reeling from the reduction in their earning power, were looking, with various degrees of desperation, for ways to ride rock's slipstream and regain a sizeable audience. Wayne Shorter, though far too cool and self-assured ever to be desperate, was among them—and these two magnificent albums are the evidence.

Adam's Apple is foursquare in mid-1960s' progressive hard-bop territory. Shorter's Speak No Evil (Blue Note, 1966) may generally be regarded as his hard-bop magnum opus, but Adam's Apple comes close. Though under-appreciated, it is well celebrated compared to the lesser known Super Nova. On that album, Shorter ventured his first own-name foray into the broad church that would soon become known as "fusion." But Super Nova stands light years apart from the insipid dreck with which "fusion" would shortly become associated. It is an historic outing, and the release of the audio-upgraded Adam's Apple To Super Nova Revisited, two months after Shorter left us in March 2023, is a timely opportunity to rediscover it.

Let us take a brief look at each album in turn...

Adam's Apple: Shorter was never a bar-walking tenor player, but he gets close on the opening title track here, which parallels his one-time Jazz Messengers colleague

Lee Morgan

trumpet
1938 - 1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Lee Morgan's hit "The Sidewinder." Pianist

Herbie Hancock

piano
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Herbie Hancock, Shorter's contemporary colleague in

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' band, can get as funky as you like—as he had already demonstrated on guitarist

Grant Green

guitar
1935 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Grant Green's gospel infused Feelin' The Spirit (Blue Note, 1963), not to mention his own "Watermelon Man" in 1962—and he locks tight into Shorter's groove. In a complete change of mood, the track is followed by

Jimmy Rowles

piano
1918 - 1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Rowles' introspective "502 Blues (Drinkin' And Drivin')," the only tune not written by Shorter. The samba-esque "El Gaucho" follows, and then the debut recording of Shorter's glorious "Footprints." The gentle, balladic "Teru" precedes the closer, "Chief Crazy Horse," a partial return to the opening track's intensity. Bassist

Reggie Workman

bass
b.1937

" data-original-title="" title="">Reggie Workman and drummer

Joe Chambers

drums
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Chambers complete the quartet's lineup.

Super Nova: At this point, things get a little tangled up with Miles Davis. Three of Shorter's pieces on Super Nova were first recorded by Davis, with Shorter in the band, in summer 1967, but were shelved until 1976, when they became side one of the Davis LP Water Babies (Columbia). The tunes are "Water Babies," "Capricorn" and "Sweet Pea." Fast forward to autumn 1969 and the sessions for Super Nova. By now, Shorter was wondering whether the Davis recordings would ever get released, so he recorded singular versions of each piece for his own album. The personnel is electric-Davis going on

Weather Report

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Weather Report. There is no pianist (acoustic or otherwise) and instead three guitarists:

John McLaughlin

guitar
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">John McLaughlin,

Sonny Sharrock

guitar, electric
1940 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Sharrock and

Walter Booker

bass
b.1933

" data-original-title="" title="">Walter Booker. There are three drummers/percussionists, too:

Jack DeJohnette

drums
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">Jack DeJohnette,

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea and

Airto Moreira

percussion
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Airto Moreira. The bassist is

Miroslav Vitous

bass
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Miroslav Vitous. Shorter plays soprano throughout.

The album's only cover, of

Antonio Carlos Jobim

piano
1927 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Dindi," at 9:36 the longest track, is a vivid example of how Super Nova tapped into the post acid-rock, countercultural late-1960s zeitgeist. There is a serene section in the middle of the track focusing on Walter Booker's acoustic guitar and Maria Booker's vocal, but this is bookended by sections in which it sounds as though the rest of the band has travelled deep into the Brazilian rain forest and ingested industrial quantities of shrooms. Maybe they metaphorically had and maybe they had not. There is no mistaking the vibe, however, nor the coincidental but appropriate replacement of the alcohol in 1966's "502 Blues (Drinkin' And Drivin')" with pscychedelics in 1969, be this exchange of recreational intoxicants actual or imagined.

Adam's Apple To Super Nova Revisited: Regular readers of these pages will be familiar with Michael Br?ndli, whose sound restoration and mastering skills take Ezz-thetics' carefully curated reissues further into exalted territory. Once again, Br?ndli has woven his magic and for the listener the result is almost like hearing the material for the first time.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Adam��s Apple; 502 Blues (Drinkin�� And Drivin��); El Gaucho; Footprints; Teru; Chief Crazy Horse; Super Nova; Swee-Pea; Dindi; Water Babies; Capricorn; More Than Human.

Personnel

Wayne Shorter

saxophone

Additional Instrumentation

Wayne Shorter: tenor saxophone (1-6), soprano saxophone (7-12); Herbie Hancock: piano (1-6); Reginald Workman: double bass (1-6); Joe Chambers: drums (1-6); John McLaughlin: guitar (7-12); Sonny Sharrock: guitar (7-12); Walter Booker: guitar (9); Miroslav Vitous: double bass (7-12); Jack DeJohnette: drums and African thumb piano (7-12); Chick Corea: drums and vibraphone (7-12); Airto Moreira: percussion (7-12); Mario Booker: vocals (9).

Album information

Title: Adam's Apple To Super Nova Revisited | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Ezz-thetics

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Satoko Fujii: One Hundred And Count...
< Previous

Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.