The shuffling “Afro-Centric,” another Henderson original, again has Hancock on electric piano and here he provides a thoughtful solo. Starting with the delicate waltz “Black Narcissus,” Joe Henderson employs a gentle touch on the tenor while Hancock provides pastel figures on the Rhodes and Carter flutters to the upper register of his acoustic bass in his trademark style. And why not? He was equally capable of handling it all. Instead, Henderson treats us to a wide palette ranging from proto-fusion to bop to free jazz. This isn’t the full plunge into fusion taken in recording sessions for Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way, which Hancock participated in just four months earlier. In truth, however, Henderson only cautiously dipped his toes in the waters of contemporary music. This came in the form of Herbie Hancock’s Fender Rhodes and Ron Carter’s electric bass. Likewise, the music itself was updated: Electronic instruments were used on some tracks, marking a first on a Henderson album. Rather, the distinguishing feature of Power to the People is that Joe Henderson began to deviate from the hard-bop formula that served as the template for all his prior releases.īeing that this was the late ’60s, the times were rapidly changing, and songs titles like “Power to the People” and “Afro Centric” were indicative of the shifting attitudes of that time – especially with the younger generation, though Henderson was already over 30 at the time of these recording sessions. Top-notch support, however, was already a given on Henderson records. It had been two years since Henderson released his own record, and he was complemented here by a full array of top-tier musicians: The appearance of Ron Carter (bass), Jack deJohnette (drums) and Mike Lawrence (trumpet), Joe Henderson assured that Power to the People wouldn’t be wanting for musicianship. Joe was particularly active in 1969, recording Power to the People with Herbie Hancock in May and then later appearing on Fat Albert Rotunda as a member of Hancock’s sextet. As succinctly put elsewhere by Nick DeRiso, Henderson’s horn was “a dash of Coltrane and Rollins, but with a heavy dose of welcome romanticism.” He was there on pivotal releases like Larry Young’s Unity and Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay, while his Page One debut album as a leader landed a spot on my Five Fantastic Debut Albums of Jazz list. It’s hard to delve too much into 1960s jazz without coming across tenorman’s Joe Henderson’s name both as a leader and a sideman.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |