The All Seeing Eye

By the time Wayne Shorter recorded The All Seeing Eye, his 6th session for Blue Note, he had softened his tone and relaxed into a sort of Coltrane style mysticism in his playing and his demeanor. Always considered an innovative arranger and an all around strange guy, Shorter's The All Seeing Eye is a massive and challenging work that threatened to push Jazz beyond the usual forms and figures. Of course and undertaking of his magnitude required a top notch band, Shorter looked to Freddie Hubbard, Grachan Moncur III, James Spaulding, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Joe Chambers, as well as Wayne's weird brother, Al. In interviews Wayne would explain the linear narrative of the album starting with the god ("The All Seeing Eye"), creation ("Genesis"), ensuing war and discord ("Chaos"), god's reflection on his creation ("Face of the Deep"), and the triumph of evil ("Mephistopheles"). The better Jazz albums from his period had real trajectory in the sequencing of the tracks, The All Seeing Eye perfectly displays the care and thought put into recording a band playing an album rather than a cobbled together collection of pieces. Shorter is still considered one the greatest composers and arrangers that the Jazz world ever knew, and while all of his work reflects this rare genius, this record is extraordinary even for Shorter.

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