Wayne Shorter - The Soothsayer

The Soothsayer is a striking document of Newark-born sax overlord Wayne Shorter's mid-60s creative peak, recorded in 1965 during the same fertile period that produced Speak No Evil and Et Cetera, but shelved until 1979. Its delayed release does little to dim its light; the silhouette of a corked flask on the front cover conjures ideas of a treasured, golden essence, similar in colour to Shorter's main instrument, which buzzes like a bluebottle over the course of the suite. The eight notes of the bebop scale are traversed with gale force over six pieces, ending on a note of fidelity with a nonstandard version of Jean Sibelius' 'Valse Triste'.