Armageddon is a hard bop composition by Wayne Shorter, who is its sole writer. It was recorded on 29 April 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. It first appeared on the Blue Note album Night Dreamer, released in November 1964, where it closes side B at about six minutes and twenty seconds. Shorter regarded the piece as the focal point of the album. The writing is simpler than in his earlier work, with fewer chord changes.
The piece is instrumental. In an interview with Nat Hentoff, Shorter said he sensed a sense of judgment approaching. Later versions include a 1983 recording by Kirk Lightsey and Harold Danko and a 1990 recording by Eddie Henderson with Laurent De Wilde, Ira Coleman and Lewis Nash.
