This was a pleasantly unexpected concept when it appeared in the mid-1980s, and seems to have had very few follow-ups. Historically, along with the interest shown by pianist Jimmy Rowles, it was one of the earliest acknowledgements from the mainstream of the high quality (and quantity) of Wayne Shorter’s output as a composer. The treatments vary from being fairly close to the mood of the original, as on ‘Dance Cadaverous’, to the quasi-boogie style adopted for ‘Lester Left Town’, and most surprising of all perhaps is the brief, floating rhapsody based on ‘Nefertiti’. The reissue note by Eugene Holley suggests it was a deliberate decision not to have wide stereo separation between the pianos – which makes sense as this was a collaboration, not a cutting contest – but it does perhaps underline the lack of major individuality in their playing. Nevertheless, the collective enterprise was well worthwhile, and will make you look at these 11 Shorter tunes in a different way.