Joe Henderson

[BlueNote]

Especially for the tenorists on this site, I would highly encourage y'all to put the Coltrane albums aside for a while and check out Joe Henderson, particularly State of the Tenor. He's a cat who doesn't get as much attention as he deserves... a titan of the tenor, in my opinion. Joe is in his own school, and can play.

[cleger]

I'll second that!!

He also has a lot of dates with guys like Art Blakey, Andrew Hill etc that are well worth checking out.

[tdeane]

State of the Tenor wouldn't be one of my first recommendations for Joe. Live in Japan, Power to the People, In Pursuit of Blackness, Inner Urge are albums I would start with.

[danarsenault]

Joe shouldn't be recommended listening for just beginners, though. EVERYONE should listen to Joe.

[JS]

State of the Tenor wouldn't be one of my first recommendations for Joe. Live in Japan, Power to the People, In Pursuit of Blackness, Inner Urge are albums I would start with.

My thoughts exactly! I'm a huge Joe Henderson fan, and the first record I got was "State of the Tenor" back when I was a freshman in high school - I hated it (I just wasn't READY for it at the time). A few years later, it became my favorite recording. A better option to get into Joe's playing would not only be the stuff that tdeane mentioned, but also some of the early Horace Silver stuff ("Song For My Father"), "Una Mas" from Kenny Dorham, and Joe's first solo recording, "Page One". Also, if you're into early Joe Henderson, check out some Junior Cook from the same time period...

[jsjazz]

No need to put Trane aside as they are totally different players but Joe IS a monster! I was listening to Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder" as I read this post. Joe is in top form there!
Jeff

[jabcool52]

Hmm, I haven't heard State of the Tenor, but I have Song for My Father which he plays on, Page One, and a CD by McCoy Tyner that he also plays on (Passion dance?).

[KingHarvest22]

Joe I highly recommend for anyone, no matter how skilled you are. I wouldn't recommend him for a first transcription or anything and state of the tenor is a bit out, but just because he's a bit complex rythmically and harmonically, doesn't mean he can't be appreciated. "Page One" is definately a great accessible starting place, and i think he intended the pun. also, the mccoy record jabcool52's referring to is "The Real McCoy"

[tjontheroad]

Joe shouldn't be recommended listening for just beginners, though. EVERYONE should listen to Joe.

ABSOLUTELY :thumbrig: :thumbrig:

[DukeCity]

Lately I've been checking out two albums by Joe with the Wynton Kelly Trio (Wynton, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb) called "Four" and "Straight, No Chaser". They were recorded live, and the guys are just playing some jazz standards, and swingin' like crazy. You get to hear Joe at his stream-of-consciousness best!

[Saxland]

Live in Japan. WOW. Listen to him on Round Midnight. HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!!!! That should send any mortal back to the woodshed to long tone central.

As a sideman to Grant Green, it is another thing. The CD's Idle Moments, Solid, and the CD (run out a get a copy right now....) , Am I Blue, are just amazing recordings of Henderson.

[vik21il]

Look what I found under Joe Henderson on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1y31AbzkhQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdA-afK15Zo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqwmDNPegnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8rPhPAzmB8

Amazing !!!!!:D

[Agent27]

An interesting note: Although Joe has a "big" sound, he played pretty softly (or so I've heard). A friend of mine saw him at the Blue Note in NYC and said when he wasn't playing directly into the mic, you couldn't hear him at all. I've talked to other who have confirmed this. Of course this was latter period Joe (Lush Life, So Near/So Far). Although his tone hasn't changed that much, when you compare those albums to the early stuff (Inner Urge, In 'N Out) you can hear him being much more agressive when he was younger.

[whaler]

One of the last times I saw Joe play the sound man put two microphones on him, one low, one higher,and cranked them up so you could hear the nuances of Joe's sound.

[asaxman]

Especially for the tenorists on this site, I would highly encourage y'all to put the Coltrane albums aside for a while and check out Joe Henderson, particularly State of the Tenor. He's a cat who doesn't get as much attention as he deserves... a titan of the tenor, in my opinion. Joe is in his own school, and can play.
BlueNote, Check out: Page One, In'n Out, Inner Irge,Mode for Joe- all on the, BLUE NOTE LABEL! These were recorded 1963-1966. Every one is a classic!

[Claudio Marcolino]

Hi...

Someone has mentioned his participation in Real McCoy (a great McCoy Tyner record)... Pay atention in Joe´s solo in Contemplation...

Yours,

Claudio
Brazil

[Pinnman]

I like Double Rainbow with the Joabim music and Porgy and Bess. Joe was very much one for themes in his later records and these are both well worth getting.

[Chris Mickel]

With Joe Henderson you can go with almost any recording he was great.

Everyone has mentioned lots of great recordings but I have recently found one live at the montreal Jazz fest with Charlie Hayden and Al Foster some amazing playing.

Another great one is a DVD sith Chick Corea called a very special concert. It it Chick and Joe with Lenny White and Stanley Clark really great stuff.

Also check out So Near So Far and Horace Silver's the Cape Verdian Blues his solo on Nutville is great.

As a great aside there is a cd called Thank You Joe. It's tribute to Joe with Randy Brecker, Terrell Stafford, Javon Jackson, Carl Allen and Steve Nelson among others. They do all tunes written by Joe's it's great recording worth checking out. Especially if you dig Joe.

Chris

[bigtiny]

State of the Tenor wouldn't be one of my first recommendations for Joe. Live in Japan, Power to the People, In Pursuit of Blackness, Inner Urge are albums I would start with.

Page One.....

bigtiny

[dstack79]

I'll add that "Page One" and "Mode for Joe" are probably the most accessible albums.

After listening to Joe Henderson, one can see where Lovano got like 90% of his material IMHO. Brecker also cited him as a huge influence...i can hear it in the way they broke up the time feel, but definitely not tone-wise.

Also check out his work as a sideman on Herbie Hancock's "Fat Albert Rotunda"...good stuff

[hakukani]

An interesting note: Although Joe has a "big" sound, he played pretty softly (or so I've heard). A friend of mine saw him at the Blue Note in NYC and said when he wasn't playing directly into the mic, you couldn't hear him at all. I've talked to other who have confirmed this. Of course this was latter period Joe (Lush Life, So Near/So Far). Although his tone hasn't changed that much, when you compare those albums to the early stuff (Inner Urge, In 'N Out) you can hear him being much more agressive when he was younger.

I first saw Joe at the Amazing Grace in Chicago in 1975. He used a mic on a stand, but walked all over stage. I had absolutely no trouble hearing him.