âITâS A PARADOX, IN A WAY, LIKE YOUâD HAVE IN A DREAM â SOMETHING THATâS BOTH LIGHT AND HEAVY,â Wayne Shorter muses, speaking to Nat Hentoff for the liner notes of Night Dreamer, his 1964 album and first for Blue Note as a leader.
Night Dreamer takes its name from this album, and retains something of the essence of what he was trying to convey.
Working with Artone Studio, and located above Record Industry pressing plant in Haarlem, Netherlands, Night Dreamer specialises in direct-to-disc recordings â the process by which music is cut onto acetate from single-take live performances, without interference: Neumann microphone to Neumann lathe. From there, it is simply âwalked downstairsâ to the pressing plant.
For musicians recording at Artone, the process speaks to Shorterâs paradox. The levity of liberation vs. the weight of expectation; trust in raw musicianship vs. vulnerability of exposure. It is in such alchemical moments of contrast that the essence of expression can emerge.