Adams Apple

Wayne Shorter was well into his historic tenure as tenor saxophonist in the Miles Davis Quintet when he made a slew of important Blue Note albums as a leader. Not uncommonly, he’d have his Davis bandmate Herbie Hancock on piano, as is the case with *Adam’s Apple*, recorded in February 1966. Some of Shorter’s Blue Note releases featured larger lineups with three or four horns, but *Adam’s Apple* returned to the intimate yet hard-driving quartet format of *JuJu*, recorded in ’64. Reggie Workman, the bassist on *JuJu*, was on hand again for *Adam’s Apple*, joining Hancock and drummer Joe Chambers in a set of exquisitely wrought Shorter originals (and a gem of a Jimmy Rowles tune, “502 Blues \[Drinkin’ and Drivin’\]”). One of these, “Footprints,” is Shorter’s most famous and widely played song, heard here roughly seven months before the Davis quintet recorded it (much faster) on *Miles Smiles*. There’s also a bonus track, “The Collector,” a Hancock original taken up by Davis as well and renamed “Teo’s Bag” (Davis’ version appears on *Circle in the Round*). Interestingly, Shorter recorded *Et Cetera* in mid-’65 with nearly the same *Adam’s Apple* personnel, but that album remained in the vaults until 1980. The melodic similarity of “Penelope” and “El Gaucho” bears remarking—Shorter seems to have reused the same motif, framing it in a wholly different compositional context. Untangling all these details gives a clearer sense of Shorter’s journey as a composer and leader. But above all, *Adam’s Apple* is simply a great listen on its own terms—spilling over with melody, tight and focused band chemistry, and improvisation at the highest level.