Schizophreniais one of Wayne Shorters most beautiful and lesser known Blue Note albums. The music travelled fast in the late 1960s.Schizophreniawas recorded in early 1967 between Miles DavisMiles SmilesandSorcereron which Shorter was the principal composer, but it was not released until 1968, afterFilles de Kilimanjarowas released, Miles Davis first electric album.

Schizophreniaalso became Shorters last acoustic Blue Note 1960s album. The instrumentation, a sextet with a three-horn frontline, even reminds of the Art Blakey Jazz Messengers for which Shorter was the musical director in the early 1960s. Not only Shorter was member of that band but also trombonist Curtis Fuller, while alto saxophonist and flautist James Spaulding was a previous member of the Sun Ra band before he became a member of trumpeter Freddie Hubbards band.

The rhythm section is largely the Miles Davis second great quintet with pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter, but Joe Chambers is the drummer. The music also sounds a lot like the material onMiles SmilesandSorcerer. The opening track Tom Thumb is one of Shorters funky songs in the spirit of Footprints, while Go is more in the melancholic mysterious vein of Masqualero. Most of the other songs falls somewhere between these two in mood and tempo. The exception is the ballad Miyako which like his earlier Infant Eyes is dedicated to his daughter Miyako.

Shorters overlooked sextet and septet albums

Shorter himself is the most featured soloist, playing his typical, more relaxed Coltrane influenced style. Hancock is sparse and elegant in his solos and yet showing real dexterity, as on Kryptonite by Spaulding which is the only song on the album which is not a Shorter original. Spaulding also gets a lot of solos, both on flute and on alto saxophone. They are really good and interesting, and he really colors the albums with these. Spaulding recorded on all three of Shorters large ensemble albums for Blue Note. The other two were The Soothsayer (1979) and The All-Seeing Eye (1966). Both were recorded in 1965.

Shorters sextet and septet recordings for Blue Note have been more overlooked than his quartet and quintet work for the label, which is strange since they point towards the orchestral sounds that Shorter has returned to again and again with his band Weather Report, and on later albums likeHigh Life(1995) orEmanon(2018). ButSchizophreniais not only a road towards Shorters later works, it is also a beautiful place in its on right with lots of interesting things to stop by to study. Jazz Desk