1 Super Nova
2 Swee-Pea
3 Dindi (A.C. Jobim)
4 Water Babies
5 Capricorn
6 More Than Human

Wayne Shorter — soprano sax
John McLaughlin — electric & classical guitar
Sonny Sharrock — electric guitar
Miroslav Vitous — bass
Chick Corea — drums & vibes
Jack DeJohnette — drums & thumb piano
Airto Moreira — still more percussion

Plus on Dindi:
Maria Booker — vocals
Walter Booker — classical guitar

In August of 1969 the Great Sorcerer Miles called together many acolytes to form the legendary electro-psychedelic-groove-jazz orchestra which unleashed “Bitches Brew” unto the world.

The following week, four of those acolytes (Shorter, Corea, McLaughlin & DeJohnette) reconvened across town with Sonny Sharrock and others in tow to continue questing, the Holy Fire still burning brightly in their souls. Meanwhile in the outside world, men were walking on the moon and the hippie tribes were gathering at Woodstock — kozmik times indeed!

Hence Wayne Shorter’s “Super Nova” album was literally the first* fruit borne by the Bitches revBrewlution which really did knock jazz on it’s ass for most of the next decade. Though this album is far from a mini-“Brew”, for starters because Blue Note’s approach to recording was far different than the extravagances Miles was laying down over at Columbia. “Super Nova” and everything else on Blue Note in those days was cut live in the studio to two-track tape, and (perhaps with a little editing) that was pretty much it as far as “production” goes (in contrast, the extended pieces on “Bitches Brew” were multitracked & edited together from day-long jam sessions.)

“Super Nova” is also distinctive in that several of the musicians are not even playing their usual instruments! Starting with Wayne Shorter playing soprano instead of his usual tenor (the higher pitched soprano is often used for more “exotic eastern” sounds, exhibit A: Coltrane’s raga-delic version of “My Favorite Things.”) Also keyboardist Chick Corea plays percussion, bassist Walter Booker makes a guest appearance on classical guitar, and Booker’s wife sings (her only appearance on record as she was not a professional musician.) Furthermore, the rather strange seven-piece lineup doesn’t fit any usual mold in jazz or rock: a front line of only one horn accompanied by two electric guitars, a bass and three percussionists (no keyboards.)

The combination of all of these factors results in one uniquely organic, wooly & free-kadelic jazz record. Although this is technically a “fusion” record, it’s important to note that it is not the “funk/jazz” fusion usually associated with the term, but rather a “psychedelic/jazz” fusion. There is not really any discernible hint of “rocknroll” nor any electronics (aside from the guitar amps, which aren’t used for feedback or anything exotic like that.) Yet the record feels more akin to the galactic explorations of contemporary “rock groups” like Pink Floyd or the Grateful Dead than to anything else coming out on jazz labels like Blue Note in 1969.

Most songs are built upon cascading piles of percussion on top of which Shorter’s lone horn casts snake charmer spells. In between these layers my two all-time favorite “jazz guitarists” throw down: John McLaughlin provides relatively subdued jazzchord plunking, raga-ing and a bit of classical gasworks (he’s definitely not in “Go Ahead John” flamethrower mode here), while the late great Sonny Sharrock is in fine form indeed (these sessons provide an ideal context for his highly exploratory up-the-neck scrape & skronk style.)

Track by track:

“Super Nova” begins with it’s titular track very much in the Coltrane vein: the wailing sufi sax starts from a simple ascending riff (as in “blast off, man!”) then once having achieved escape velocity peels off into rippling “sheets of sound.” Underneath Wayne’s lead that distinctive space-squawk from Sharrock’s guitar interlaces with McLaughlin’s relatively subdued bloozraga noodlin’ while DeJohnette’s furious drum thrashing sounds like Tony Williams doing his best Elvin Jones impression (dig that!)

“Swee-Pea” is one of numerous tunes Shorter has penned dedicated to the original greats of jazz: in this case, an ode to Billy Strayhorn. And it does capture more than a glimmer of the elegant melodic sense and sweet melancholia of Strayhorn’s music, though heavily dosed with LSD and macrobiotic foods. Awash on a sea of bells & cymbals, Shorter blows the tune as McLaughlin plays something Spanish on classical guitar while Corea conjures subtle atmospheres out of the vibes and Sharrock applies mellow electricity to your spine with his ghostly trills. In my opinion, this is one of the most magical jazz tracks of 1969 and almost enough reason to aquire this album by itself.

Thumb piano & everyone jangling bells and shakers introduce the funky free-form trip down the Amazon river that is “Dindi.” Sharrock & Shorter make jungle animal noises like Martin Denny at a freak-out until eventually the bass & drums congeal around something hinting at the melodies & rhythms of Brazillian pop — but then it suddenly stops cold for a duet by Walter Booker on classical guitar and his Brazillian wife Maria, singing Jobim’s sad song in the original Portugeuse. Her performance is so impassioned that she literally break downs and starts sobbing on the final chorus! Then the jungle jam starts up again, this time featuring a rhythm straight out of a “Carnival” parade. File this one under “free jazz goes to Brazil” alongside Archie Shepp’s classic deconstruction of “The Girl From Ipanema.”

“Water Babies” is flowing and spritely with the playfulness of youth, Miles recorded this tune and one of his albums was even named for it (in fact on most of Miles’ 60’s quintet albums Shorter got more composition credits than Miles himself.) Again the guitars hide in the corners and work their distinctive majick, while the bass & drummers hold it down for the sax melody to float over the top.

“Capricorn” begins with bass & drums rumbling like distant thunder under another celestial melody of long floating soprano lines. No actual “beat” ever really develops, but the thunder gets louder and is joined by Sharrock’s lightening bolts.

“More Than Human” bookends the album along with the title track. Clanking & clumping, Sharrock’s guitar makes startling rattle sounds — quite like the electric banjo from “Black Monk Time” in fact! The sax loops and leaps and squawks, I can’t tell if there’s meant to be a melody line in there or not. Again, the riffage tends toward ascending scales, hence a feeling of upward momentum. “Lift off!” The track fades out (as jazz tunes rarely do), implying infinite continuation … 

After “Super Nova” was put to bed Miles took a quintet (including Shorter, Corea & DeJohnette) to Europe for some live dates**, then in January returned to the studio, adding “Super Nova” alums Moreiro & Sharrock to his rotating cast of players (the jazz scene is so incestuous, ain’t it?) In between gigs with Miles, Wayne Shorter led two more psych-jazz sessions before putting his solo career on hold to found Weather Report with fellow Davisista Joe Zawinul in 1971. These are also worth exploring if you wish to hear more from this brief but brilliant phase in Wayne Shorter’s long & storied career:

MOTO GROSSO FEIO — recorded in the spring of 1970 with much the same cast as “Super Nova” (though not Sonny Sharrock unfortunately.) When they handed in the tapes for this album, Blue Note rejected it! Which is to say they didn’t release it until 1974 when Shorter was long gone from the label (not reissued on CD yet.)

ODYSSEY OF ISKA — recorded later in 1970 with an entirely different cast of supporting characters, this was Wayne Shorter’s last Blue Note release and continues the “kozmik” vibe from the proceeding sessions.

* In fact “Super Nova” actually beat “Bitches Brew” into the stores by a few months!

** Imagine the “Bitches Brew” material played by a measely five musicians?!? And imagine seeing Miles on that tour, before “Bitches Brew” is even released yet!! I suspect it might have been one of those “Dylan goes electric and the crowd doesn’t know what to do” kind of events. There are some recordings from the late 1969 tour out there, I shall endeavor to track them down!