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A few days ago i was interviewing an artist over FaceTime for some liner notes I’m writing, and a bird in their background kept singing this descending melody G-G-G-G-E-C. After a while I had to say something… I knew it was reminding me of a Blakey tune, but couldn’t remember which one. We listened together for it and I hummed the tune it reminded me of. “UNITED!” he said. That’s it!
I have been listening to it all afternoon. It’s a Wayne Shorter piece that they recorded in 1961, but this album that it’s from, Roots & Herbs (Blue Note), didn’t get released until 1970. Shorter, who really cut his teeth as a composer during his time as a Jazz Messenger, writes all the tunes on the album. This one is among my favorites. Harmonically it’s so much fun and the band is cooking their asses off. Blakey takes this fantastic solo mid way that teleports you throughout the diaspora before they come back to the head of the tune and head out. It’s really incredible because you hear the head totally differently after that diasporic tour. At least I know I do. It’s a rather brilliant moment on and something signature to Blakey’s creative approach, I find.
Birds have been talking to me a lot lately. It doesn’t surprise me that a bird would be singing “United” to close out the week we’ve had. A call to action, ancestral instruction, a sweet salve. I’ll take them all. 🖤