Recording of May 2025: Joe Henderson: Multiple

Recording of May 2025: Joe Henderson: Multiple

Joe Henderson: Multiple
Milestone/Craft CR 00845 (LP). 1973/2025. Orrin Keepnews, prod.; Elvin Campbell, Al Vanderbilt, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½

The essence of jazz is meant to be the free-flowing exploration of concepts and expressions. Yet hardcore followers of the music have the unnerving behavior of supporting and denigrating the work of the identical participant from document to document. Artistic progress is commonly seen as a unfavorable. Even devoted followers may not comply with an artist who veers off right into a stylistic course they abhor. The traditional instance is Miles Davis, who went via a number of creative reinventions throughout his lengthy profession. Many of those that love Kind of Blue recoil from Dark Magus, On the Corner, or You’re Under Arrest. So-called fusion—including influences from rock and/or funk—is most frequently the villain in these judgments.

After beginning out as a hard-bop devotee within the early Sixties, with such traditional Blue Note periods as Page One, Our Thing, and Inner Urge, Joe Henderson grew inquisitive about funk, about including it to his jazz combine. In 1973, on Orrin Keepnews’s Milestone label (now owned by the Concord Music Group), Henderson reduce Multiple, one of many highlights of his discography.

At this level within the ongoing vinyl reissue increase, it is secure to imagine that almost all the whole lot that was as soon as prohibitively costly to amass in its unique kind has now been unearthed, remastered, and reissued, or ultimately can be. Multiple was till now one of many rarest and costliest vinyl will get headlined by the inestimable tenorist. Multiple was solely launched as soon as on LP, in 1973, within the US, Japan, and Germany, and even less-than-perfect copies go for upwards of $200.

Happily, Multiple has now been reissued on LP by Craft Records’ fusion-focused Jazz Dispensary reissue program (footnote 1). Multiple was recorded in New York City at Mercury Sound Studios on January 30 and 31, 1973, with further recording completed in February and April of that very same 12 months. Originally produced by Keepnews and engineered by Elvin Campbell and Al Vanderbilt, the sound, which was all the time exemplary, has been brightened and given contemporary edges by this new remastering. With new lacquers reduce from an analog tape supply by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio, the 180gm disc was pressed at RTI.

A big a part of the success of this five-track assortment is because of the personnel. While there isn’t any such factor as a band that may’t miss, Henderson (or Keepnews) made some very savvy personnel selections for these periods, beginning with the rhythm part of bassist Dave Holland (enjoying each electrical and acoustic) and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Both had been part of probably the most well-known fusion session of all of them, Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew. Added to which might be the ever-underestimated skills of pianist Larry Willis, who performs electrical piano, ring modulator, and Echoplex. James "Blood" Ulmer and John Thomas play guitar, and Arthur Jenkins provides conga drum and further percussion. Beyond tenor sax, Henderson provides flute, soprano saxophone, and vocals.

While rock is the affect most despised by jazz purists, it is funk that powers these periods. The epic first monitor, "Tress-Cun-Deo-La," opens with Holland’s bassline establishing the groove, over which Henderson contributes wordless vocals and energetic solo statements that fluctuate from brief squiggles to forthright blowing. Willis is superbly impressed all through, nimbly comping, darting out and in on electrical piano, ultimately including a tinkling, funky solo applicable to the groove. Ulmer provides his guitar to the combo. By the tip, Henderson’s chanting is dubbed in over his horn, earlier than the monitor winds right down to chanting and handclaps. It is a traditional efficiency, the rationale to personal the album and certainly one of Henderson’s most interesting moments on document.

"Tress-Cun-Deo-La" is adopted by a number of the tenorist’s most accessible enjoying, on the DeJohnette composition "Bwaata." Henderson is at his most relaxed and lyrical right here, repeatedly returning to a melodic phrase that is so hooky that it (artfully) verges on pop music or clean jazz. A burst of excessive skronking close to the center of its 10:54 run time precedes one other dexterous solo from Holland. A subdued DeJohnette is at his textural finest right here, notably in his nimble cymbal work. A Henderson flutter brings one other traditional monitor to its finish.

"Song for Sinners," which opens facet 2, has wordless chanting all through, which is why many individuals consider Multiple as a religious jazz landmark. Lots of creative enjoying from Willis, the key weapon of those periods, enlivens the background. Driven by a gradual beat—some may name it a rock beat—Holland’s "Turned Around" returns to a extra acquainted straight-ahead session, with propulsive drumming and splashy cymbals from DeJohnette.

The album closes with Henderson’s spacey, jam-feeling "Me, Among Others," which is organized round a theme on tenor and once more options Willis, the attain of his electrical piano multiplied this time with reverb. It’s a fab, becoming ending, full with its ultimate run up the keyboard, to a massively entertaining session from one of many giants, lastly reissued. This session’s timelessness confirms the knowledge of Henderson’s choice to let the funk in.—Robert Baird

Footnote 1: Last 12 months, Craft/Jazz Dispensary reissued Henderson’s Power to the People. See my take right here. Stereophile has written about different Jazz Dispensary releases; see right here and right here.

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April 17, 2025 at 02:43PM