Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia (2023 Blue Note Tone Poet Series LP Gatefold)

Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia | Vinyl LP - 2023 Blue Note Tone Poet Series (B0036692-01, 180g, Kevin Gray/Cohearent Audio, RTI)

Wayne Shorter recorded Schizophrenia on March 10, 1967, two years into his tenure with the Miles Davis Second Great Quintet and twelve months after Adam's Apple. The session used the same rhythm section as The All Seeing Eye — Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Joe Chambers on drums — and added Curtis Fuller on trombone and James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute to extend the front line into a sextet. Rudy Van Gelder recorded; Francis Wolff produced.

Five of the six tracks are Shorter originals. "Tom Thumb" opens Side A brash and angular; "Go" and the title track push toward harder freedom; "Miyako," named for Shorter's daughter, moves slower and more openly. "Playground" closes the album with controlled urgency. The sixth piece, "Kryptonite," is Spaulding's. The recording was done but not released until May 1969, held back as Blue Note went through its Liberty Records transition. By then Shorter had already recorded Super Nova with a completely different ensemble and a different conception of what jazz could do. Schizophrenia arrived after the fact, documenting a moment that had already moved on. This Tone Poet reissue was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Incorporated and packaged in a gatefold tip-on jacket.