Customer Reviews

The Definitive Joe Henderson

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is obvious that, when presenting a selection of the recordings of a musician, there must be made difficult decisions. But in this case I'm not content with the outcome. The two by far best recordings are missing: 'Our Thing' and 'In 'n Out'.
That makes for only four stars in the rating, in combination with the inclusion of Hendersons 80- and 90-th recordings, that don't belong to his strongest performances. It seems that music-making became, in that phase of his career, too easy for this highly musical talented artist: the positive tension and originality faded away, in the same way as my concentration and fascination while listening.
May be there exists another compilation of Hendersons work that included his finest recordings as mentioned: in that case I must recall this review and refer to the alternative.

I bought this recording because I wanted to hear Joe Henderson play one of his own tunes, Recorda-Me, a song we were studying in one of my jazz music classes. And of course, the Recorda-Me track is excellent: a brilliant study in improvisation and creativity. But what really surprised and delighted me about this recording was the incredible depth and variety of the rest of the music. Oftentimes, a music buyer will pick up a recording that is called "definitive", only to find that it seems as if the artist (or record company) was merely chucking together a bunch of songs to make a few more dollars without doing any real work. This is not the case with this recording. Every track is a gem and every track breaks away in a different direction and carries a different feel from the previous tracks. The collection of backing musicians is awesome, with the likes of Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Christian McBride, and many other big names, all making an appearance (another advantage of having songs from two of the biggest labels in jazz assembled on one recording). And the collection of songs runs the gamut too, from the Latin style Recorda-Me, to the modal Milestones (a personal favorite), to some big band Strayhorn tunes, and on. This look at Joe Henderson really is definitive and has captured his diverse moods and talents in a way that few other recordings have. I recommend this work to any jazz fan, all saxophone fans, and any other music lover looking to add something soothing, warm, and satisfying to their music collection.