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Joe Henderson on Milestone
This week we feature a trio of Joe Henderson cuts from the late '60s-early '70s, showing his transition from the mainstream to the electric, plus another teaser from the Rubberband album by Miles Davis and a mixed bag of new and old releases. Playlist Miles Davis “Paradise (feat. Medina Johnson)" from Rubberband (Warner Brothers) 00:00 Joe Henderson “Black Narcissus" from Power to the People (Milestone) 07:00 Roger Rota, Matthias Bauer & Maria Lucchese “Incontro 1 to 4" ...
read moreJoe Henderson: The State Of The Tenor • Live At The Village Vanguard • Volume 2
If any jazz performance from the 1980s could be thought of as a landmark statement, Joe Henderson's live State of the Tenor sessions would surely float to the top of the list. Recorded at the Village Vanguard over three nights in November 1985 and originally released on Blue Note Records two years later, State of the Tenor -Live at the Village Vanguard -Volume 2 has now received a high-quality vinyl reissue treatment courtesy of the label's Tone Poet series, curated ...
read moreJoe Henderson: The Elements
Whatever era Henderson you champion or pine for--his dazzling side work with Horace Silver and Lee Morgan or, as a leader, the 60's defiant Inner Urge or Page One, the 70's fusion/funk explorer of Multiple or the revered elder statesman of his later years--The Elements delivers some damn fine head music. With its shifting atmospheres, dynamics, world music palette --harp, horn, piano, percussion; bass, violin; and all the bells and whistles of studio wizardry circa '73, Henderson and company presciently ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Mirror, Mirror
As anticipated, Germany-based MPS' famed audio engineering expertise--besides its tenure as a prominent jazz record label-- lives up to expectations with a superb remastering effort of the 1980 LP led by tenor sax great John Henderson and a band featuring jazz giants, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Ron Carter and drummer, Billy Higgins. The packaging includes the original liners and a photo of the original master tape box. The 180-gram vinyl offering boasts a detailed soundstage, but more importantly ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Page One – 1963
Joe Henderson is one of those jazz guys who made such a spectacular comeback late in life that you tend to forget how good he was in the beginning. Page One is all the evidence you need of Henderson's early heroics. Let's start at the end. The last four albums of Henderson's long, outstanding career were arguably his very best. Each was a tribute to music's past and each was amazing. In 1992, there was So ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Mode for Joe
Recorded and released in 1966, Mode for Joe was Joe Henderson's last session as a leader for Blue Note Records until 1985's State of the Tenor.True to form for the period, the recording features a cast of legendary players in peak form. In this case Henderson shares front line duties with a fiery Lee Morgan on trumpet and a young Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. Curtis Fuller's trombone adds low-end heft to the melodic statements. Forget that ...
read moreJoe Henderson: In 'N Out
Music Matters is extending its reissue run of classic Blue Note records, which has led them to tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson's 1964 session In 'N Out. His third album as a leader for the label, In 'N Out mixes aggressive hard bop with more searching ballads on its way to turning into a musically diverse, first-rate performance. The rhythm section of the opening title track has John Coltrane written all over it, and with drummer Elvin Jones and ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Power to the People
Joe Henderson enjoyed widespread popularity only late in his career, when his cover albums for Verve achieved high (for jazz) sales figures, but since the early '60s he had been making excellent records, both as a sideman and a leader. Here at last is 1969's Power to the People, one of his best recordings made for Orrin Keepnews' Milestone label, previously available only as part of the boxed set The Milestone Years. Power to the People features ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Power To the People
The late sixties were an exciting time for jazz, although not a lucrative one. Faced with a declining market share due to the popularity of rock music, jazz musicians were forced to find an audience by pursuing new avenues in composition and instrumentation. Joe Henderson, a much beloved player for the Blue Note label was dropped in the late sixties. Orrin Keepnews, who certainly could recognize great talent when he saw it, signed him to his newly ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Inner Urge
This brilliant remastering of saxophonist Joe Henderson's most emotionally urgent album also raises the possibity that it is the ultimate showcase of his distinguished career. The deference to Coltrane is obvious: pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones are on board on every selection, although shifting their styles to mesh with Henderson. The deference to Getz is more subtle, coming clear on Henderson's stingingly lyric ballad feature, “You Know I Care," and his melodic recasting of Cole Porter's “Night and ...
read moreJoe Henderson: Joe Henderson In Japan
Certain things happen on stage in front of an audience that can’t be captured in a studio. This maxim is particularly true in the case of jazz music and this disc makes the fact abundantly clear. “Joe Henderson in Japan,” a straight forward, no-frills title that gives an indication of the artist and the place, but little more. The cover and liners are equally esoteric- the former picturing a shirtless Joe, afro in full bloom, scratching his jowl in cross-legged ...
read moreJoe Henderson: In Pursuit of Blackness / Black is the Color
Rather famously, Joe Henderson released a series of albums for Milestone in the early Seventies that courted popular acceptance in a variety of ways: most notably, he played modal proto-world music with Alice Coltrane and added an electric piano and other frou-frou to his ensembles in order to catch the fusion crowd. Nothing worked, and these albums are generally regarded as inferior both to the series of Blue Notes that preceded them and the Grand-Old-Man Verve releases of the present ...
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