This Is For Albert is a Wayne Shorter composition written for Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, first performed in 1962 and released on the 1963 album Caravan. The tune sits in the hard bop realm and showcases Shorter's advanced harmonic language, with a distinctive horn-led arrangement. The A section moves through a cycle in Eb with a III-VI-II-V-I feel, and Ab7 often leads back to Gmaj7, giving a sense of directional harmony rather than a fixed key. The B section uses richer altered extensions and centers more around G, while Cedar Walton’s piano accompaniment colors the solos and supports the band. The full arrangement features three horns with a rhythm section and is noted as demanding to play. Some sources describe the piece as a tribute to Bud Powell (sometimes linked to the name Albert), while others recall a tribute to Clifford Brown; the core story is that Shorter wrote it for Blakey’s group and it appears on Caravan.
