Wayning Moments is Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader, recorded in December 1961 for Vee-Jay Records. At the time, Shorter was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, where he already stood out as a tenor saxophonist and composer.
The album features a quintet lineup including Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eddie Higgins on piano, Jymie Merritt on bass, and Marshall Thompson on drums. All compositions are original works by Shorter, showcasing his early mastery of hard bop and his growing interest in more complex harmonic structures.
Although not an immediate commercial success, Wayning Moments is considered an important document of Shorter's transition toward a more personal style, culminating a few years later in his masterpieces for Blue Note. The album title is a pun on his surname and the concept of 'waning moments' or 'waiting moments'.