Blue Observe Information has set their Basic Vinyl Collection picks for August 2025, and certainly one of them can be Wayne Shorter’s The Soothsayer. Initially launched in 1965, The Soothsayer sees the saxophonist lead his sextet over six tracks. Blue Observe’s The Soothsayer vinyl launch is scheduled for August 15.
Within the early and mid-Sixties, Shorter was particularly prolific. In 1964 alone, the saxophonist launched Evening Dreamer, JuJu, and Communicate No Evil, the latter of which is commonly thought-about his masterpiece. Even so, he was again within the studio simply two months later to start out laying down what would turn out to be The Soothsayer. “If you’re not on the road, you were preparing to record to maintain yourself, whether you’re single or married,” Shorter recalled of this productive period in an interview with Jazz Weekly years later. “But that was where income came from. It was, like you did it all in one move. You came home from the road and you thought about recording and then you would do it. You would record so you could stand on your own feet at that time.”
The Soothsayer options Shorter on lead tenor saxophone, with assist from Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, James Spaulding on alto saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. Of the six tracks on the album, 5 are Shorter compositions whereas the ultimate monitor, “Valse Triste,” is Shorter’s association of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ unique.
Over the course of his profession, Shorter received 11 Grammy Awards, and was nominated for 11 extra. In 1996, the Montreal Jazz Pageant awarded Shorter the Miles Davis Award for lifetime achievement, and he obtained a non-competitive Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2014. Shorter stayed lively up till the top of his life in 2023, collaborating with one of many subsequent era’s nice jazz musicians, Esperanza Spaulding, on his ultimate recording.
Order Wayne Shorter’s The Soothsayer on vinyl now.
