“Speak No Evil” is the title track of Wayne Shorter’s 1964 Blue Note album, featuring Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones. Its dark, mysterious mood reflects the album’s themes of folklore and the supernatural.
The tune is built on minor harmony and modal sections that shift in unusual ways, typical of Shorter’s writing. The melody is haunting and memorable.
For improvisation, focus on modal sounds over each section and use motifs. Shorter’s own approach is economical and thoughtful.
Practice slowly, learning each section’s sound.
Section by section: the opening section has a brooding, minor quality, so start your solo low and sparse, using the Dorian mode and long tones. When the harmony shifts, mark the change with a new note that belongs only to the new chord, such as its third or a characteristic tension. Shorter’s melodies are built from small intervals and repeated shapes, so take a three-note fragment from the head and develop it through the form by changing its rhythm, register and starting note. Elvin Jones’s drumming on the original is very interactive, so leave space for the rhythm section to respond to your ideas.
Practice tip: learn the head well enough to sing it, then practice improvising by alternating two bars of melody quotes with two bars of your own ideas. This keeps your solo connected to the composition, which is exactly how Shorter approached his own tunes.
Practice checklist for the Speak No Evil Lead Sheet PDF: play the melody from memory, play roots through the form, play guide tones, improvise one chorus of chord tones only, and finally record yourself soloing over a play-along. Listening back is the fastest way to spot what to fix next.
Is it hard to play? It’s intermediate to advanced. Recordings to study: Speak No Evil (1964). Learn more about the composer on Wayne Shorter’s Wikipedia page, and find more post-bop lead sheets on Minedit.