Witch Hunt

Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums). From the album Speak No Evil (1966).

The witch hunt in the Middle Ages consisted of searching for witches or evidence of witchcraft to accuse the person in question of having direct contact with the devil, to bring him or her to trial and finally to convict. Between approximately 1450 and 1750, tens of thousands of people in Europe, mostly women, were arrested, tried, convicted and executed for practicing witchcraft. They were tortured and driven to the stake accused of using magical arts and denying the Christian religion.

The main institution instigating these persecutions was the Inquisition, which was created by the Catholic Church to convert heretics. In 1484, Innocent XVIII issued a bull condemning witchcraft and authorized two inquisitors to fight it. They wrote a book called The Witches’ Hammer which contained fantastic stories from popular tradition and offered advice for the identification and elimination of witches.

Shorter and Hubbard make a short introduction and after Carter starts playing walking, the group exposes a medium-fast tempo theme with a modern melody full of contrasts. Then Shorter makes a paused solo with some elaborated and well-conceived phrases. He is followed by Hubbard breaking molds with sharp passages and a lot of impulse. Then Hancock enters playing in a relaxed way, but accelerating his speech in between until the group re-exposes the theme as singularly as it was at the beginning.