1964 was a momentous year in the musical life of Wayne Shorter. At the start of the year the saxophonist was still a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, appearing on classic Blue Note albums like Free for All and Indestructible. Shorter made his own auspicious label debut that spring with Night Dreamer and that summer he joined the Miles Davis Quintet cementing a line-up that would become one of the seminal bands in jazz history. When he returned to the studio for Blue Note in August it was in the company of three musicians with strong ties to John Coltrane: pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones. The resulting album JuJu is a marvel in Shorter’s formidable discography which presents six of his evocative original compositions including the churning title track, the mesmerizing “House of Jade,” and the brightly swinging “Yes Or No.”
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.