• Rating:
The albums of this quintet are an orgasm.
You can't go wrong, there isn't one that isn't an adventure for the mind and soul...
"Sorcerer" from '67, the third studio album by this dizzying lineup, represents a sort of stylistic link between the perfection of their peculiar language achieved in "Miles Smiles" and the further, subsequent change of direction documented in "Nefertiti".
The entire work is based on the extensive use of "formulas" they previously established: flexibility, interplay, original compositions of the highest quality, equal roles for participants, and finally an unprecedented and shocking way of understanding rhythm. A melodic and improvisational refinement yet unmatched is perfectly matched with an overwhelming, almost brutal physical charge.
This is the first album of this group where Wayne Shorter dictates the law in terms of compositional contributions; four out of six are pieces from his pen, and all of great merit!
It begins with his "Prince Of Darkness" (one of Miles' nicknames), a medium up-tempo similar in concept to "E.S.P." and "Orbits", the openers of their first two studio albums. Like the others, it's a perfect piece to get straight into the action, simple in its structure, revolving around a five-note motif elaborated in each bar. The rhythm marked by Tony Williams' drums is fresh and pulsating, out of the box and with some Latin influence, Ron Carter's bass, instead of walking, performs a continuous phrasal movement (often in hemiola), even with two and three-note chords, and Herbie Hancock, who remains silent during the frontline solos, restricts himself to detached piano chords, breaking and recomposing the pulsation. The mature and wise solo of Miles on trumpet begins, which by then had an unreachable and absolutely personal sound soaring into the stratosphere, followed by Shorter's tenor sax, virile and delicate at the same time. Hancock returns with a beautiful right-hand solo à la Lennie Tristano, serious and intellectual.
The second track is the mysterious "Pee Wee", a thoughtful and sophisticated ? "ballad" minimalist by Tony, in which Miles does not feature and the quartet is at its most intimate and rigorous.
The masterpiece of the entire album, the grand "Masqualero", a stunning composition by Shorter where moods, ghosts, shivers, events, sounds alternate in a free flow. Tension at its peak for nearly 9 minutes, you can feel it on your skin; this music breathes like a living being, energy builds up only to be released. An extraordinary moment during Miles' solo, raising his voice imperiously followed immediately in crescendo by Tony, Ron, and a brilliant intervention by Herbie with his signature clipped acidic chords. Miles passes the baton to Wayne, who is the protagonist of one of the most mature, structured, and profound tenor sax solos ever heard. Shorter's genius in the years '64-'68 was at its zenith even as improvisational subtlety, certain refinements were exclusively his domain, and in his solos, he was able to create things of such an emotional and "conceptual" level that could outshine even a Coltrane or a Rollins. After so much emotion, follows an inspired Hancock, with his expressionistic cascades of notes and his simple lines à la Satie, highlighted by the resonance pedal. The support all musicians receive here from Carter's bass is truly worthy of framing, and it has taught thousands of double bassists.
The B-side of the lp is more explosive, with "Sorcerer" (another nickname of Miles!) by Herbie and "Limbo" by Wayne in which the drums are more dominant and the volumes increase. The interplay is so astonishing that it seems unreal, listen to believe! The album closes in a more meditative manner with "Vonetta", a tonal poem dedicated by Wayne to one of his relatives.
In truth, in "Sorcerer", for unknown reasons, a disconcerting and curious "Nothing Like You" was included at the end of the album, recorded five years earlier and arranged by Gil Evans, which possesses documentary value because it was the first time that Miles and Wayne played together. Other musicians involved are the unknown Frank Rehak (on trombone) and Willie Bobo (on bongos), and the well-known Paul Chambers (bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums). It is two minutes of a song of good craftsmanship, in which attention is captured by the almost atonal and very amusing voice of one Bob Dorough, who sings a deliberately banal and hyperbolic love text that provokes laughter precisely due to the discrepancy between the text and the lack of emotion in the voice. A really successful mockery of the hypocrisy inherent in a certain courtship system.
Summing it all up, this is for me the most musically evolved lineup of all time, and giving less than 5 is impossible for me. To give a point of reference, compared to "E.S.P." and "Miles Smiles" it would be a 4.5.
Anyway, to be listened to without hesitation!
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