Wayne Shorter- Water Babies, Capricorn, Sweet Pea

[Morganized]

I recently purchased Water Babies by Miles Davis. The liner notes indicated that three of the tunes written by Wayne Shorter, had also appeared on his own Blue Note release Super Nova,recorded a short time later. Out of curiosity I pulled that one out to compare and was quite surprised to note the significant differences in the two performances. I don't know if it was Miles' influence or if the tunes merely evolved by the time Wayne recorded Super Nova, but differences are interesting.

Which do you prefer?

Edited September 3, 2003 by Morganized

[JSngry]

Super Nova.

[jazzbo]

Water Babies.

[sidewinder]

'Water Babies' - or at least the first part of this album recorded around the time of 'Nefertiti' and 'Sorcerer'. There's almost magic in the air at each of these sessions. The whole thing seems to be centred on Tony William's drumming (remarkably well recorded) with Wayne and Miles working superbly in tandem on the thematic material (it sounds like Wayne's reading Miles' mind at times - just a little bit behind him on the themes). Wonderful stuff! (Columbia 2-eye or Mosaic recommended).

As you say, very different feel to 'Super Nova', although I like this one too. Much more of an early world-music/fusion feel to this session.

Edited September 4, 2003 by sidewinder

[Morganized]

The whole thing seems to be centred on Tony William's drumming (remarkably well recorded) with Wayne and Miles working superbly in tandem on the thematic material (it sounds like Wayne's reading Miles' mind at times - just a little bit behind him on the themes). Wonderful stuff!

Sidewinder,

I agree 100% about Tony Williams. In fact what you said was almost a direct quote to what I told a friend of mine just the other day when I was discussing the Water Babies CD with him. I said, I think Tony Williams holds the thing together. Not to say he could do it alone, but he is so instrumental to the overall sound IMO.

It's nice to hear the views of others, especially when they agree with your own!

[mikeweil]

Two different concepts to use the same thematic material, two different approaches. Of course it was played in the basic style of the quintet with its unlimited possibilities when Miles recorded them, while Wayne - that's the impression I get - wanted to achieve a somewhat different sound on each of his Blue Note dates. No need to replicate something that's already been recorded that way.

I like 'em both, so I couldn't vote - always remember to include this third alternative when starting such a poll.

Edited September 6, 2003 by mikeweil

[Morganized]

Excellent point mikeweil. I should have included a place to vote for Both, or Neither. I assumed that those familar with these CDs might have a preference.

I was particularly interested to see if anyone had specific knowledge to something you alluded to in your post. I was curious just how much influence Miles exerted in the earlier recording. Was Wayne in essence telling Miles how he thought the tunes were meant to be played when he recorded Super Nova.

In essence I agree with you that it is no need to record the piece exactly as it had previously been recorded. A lot of folks have recorded Polka Dots and Moonbeams but you can usually still tell that it is Polka Dots and Moonbeams, if you know what I mean. Drastic rendering of these tunes. Just interesting to me.

Edited September 6, 2003 by Morganized

[jazzbo]

I like them both, but I like the cohesion of Water Babies' versions best.

I think that Wayne was likely thinking very differently about music in general, perhaps these compositions in particular, between and during these sessions. . . .

[alankin]

"Sweet Pea"