JuJu cover
Released

Wayne Shorter’s second Blue Note album was recorded just four months after his first, and featured the same backing band: pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones. It’s a significantly more aggro date than Night Dreamer, though, possibly because he has no second horn to play off. The title piece is one of his most impassioned performances, driven by Jones’ thunderous drumming, and even gentler pieces like “Mahjong” and “House Of Jade” have an inner tension. The wittily titled blues “Twelve More Bars To Go” shows that Shorter could find a way to do something new within even the most traditional forms.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Mama Too Tight cover

Mama Too Tight

Archie Shepp
Hagar’s Song cover

Hagar’s Song

Jason Moran, Charles Lloyd
The Dark Tree cover

The Dark Tree

Horace Tapscott
Hamba Khale! cover

Hamba Khale!

Abdullah Ibrahim, Gato Barbieri
In Baltimore cover

In Baltimore

George Coleman Quintet
Mutima cover

Mutima

Cecil McBee
Trioism cover

Trioism

Paul Motian
Night Train cover

Night Train

Oscar Peterson
The Lost Chords cover

The Lost Chords

Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow, Billy Drummond