Witch Hunt — Chord Changes & Harmonic Analysis
- Composer:
- Wayne Shorter
- Year:
- 1965
- Key:
- Eb minor
- Form:
- AB (36 bars)
- Style:
- Post-Bop
- Tempo:
- 130–200 BPM
An advanced Wayne Shorter composition with a haunting, mysterious quality. Features an unusual 36-bar form with modal sections and dramatic harmonic shifts. The composition showcases Shorter's gift for creating atmosphere through harmony.
About This Standard
Composed by Wayne Shorter and recorded on the Miles Davis Quintet album E.S.P. (1965), Witch Hunt exemplifies the "new thing" direction of the mid-1960s Davis Quintet — open, post-bop harmonic language with a minor-key modal feel. Shorter's compositions for the second great Miles Davis Quintet were characterized by their dark atmosphere and ambiguous harmonic centers.
Notable recordings:
- Miles Davis Quintet — E.S.P. (1965)
- Wayne Shorter — (various recordings)
Chord Changes
Notation
Harmonic Analysis
Witch Hunt is a minor-key composition in C minor with Wayne Shorter's characteristic post-bop harmonic language — suspended chords, ambiguous tonal centers, and non-functional progressions that create atmosphere rather than direct the ear through traditional ii-V-i resolution. The form alternates between static minor chord areas and more harmonically active passages. Improvising over it requires sensitivity to color and atmosphere rather than rapid chord-scale pattern execution.