Wayne Shorter

Juju

First released1964

Juju was recorded by saxophonist Wayne Shorter in 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with producer Alfred Lion overseeing the sessions for Blue Note Records. The album featured Shorter's compositional work alongside his tenor saxophone performances, with accompaniment from pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones. The recording sessions took place during a period when Shorter was establishing himself as a leading voice in modern jazz composition and performance, prior to his later work with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Van Gelder's engineering contributed to the warm, balanced sound characteristic of Blue Note recordings from this era. The album is considered an important example of hard bop and modal jazz from the mid-1960s.