Joe Henderson: Consonance – Live At The Jazz Showcase
By now, the beyond-casual reassessment of a musician’s work ought to be second nature. The retrieval industry certainly affords us abundant chances for rigour, especially in terms of musicians who are no longer with us. This set is a prime example. Producer Zev Feldman (in this case co-producer with John Koenig) now has a solid track record in the retrieval field, and this 48-year-old music shows his shrewd judgement in this field.
By this point (1978) Henderson had made his mark with a run of albums under his own name and sideman work which was rarely anything other than memorable. His playing in 1978 was and is reflective of his wealth of experience and his ability to keep an eye relatively firmly fixed on both the moments and their implications for the musical future. Thus, not a second of almost 24 minutes on Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise is wasted on routine, as Henderson sets out his stall as an unusually distinctive post-bop improviser. Earlier in the same decade pianist Joanne Brackeen was recording with Stan Getz’s quartet, so this set is also an opportunity to compare and contrast a musician’s work with different leaders. Her playing in this performance is that of a pianist who thoroughly absorbed the influence of others (McCoy Tyner in this instance) to the point that it’s only passingly noticeable.
Good Morning Heartache is by turns wistful yet trenchant, the latter quality manifesting itself especially in Henderson’s willingness to take the song on melodically, but with a measure of enquiry that keeps sentiment, sickly or otherwise, at bay. The resulting impression of both the music and the group as works in progress gets close to the notion of jazz as ongoing art form in which every “definitive” recorded statement is equally transitory.
Discography
CD1: Mr. P.C.; Inner Urge; Invitation; Relaxin’ At Camarillo (79.58)
CD2: Recorda Me; ’Round Midnight; Good Morning, Heartache; Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise; Isotope (79.37)
Henderson (ts); Joanne Brackeen (p); Steve Rodby (b); Danny Spencer (d). The Jazz Showcase, Chicago, Illinois, February 1978.
Resonance Records HCD-2084
Laura J. Marras: Plays Joe Henderson
My appreciation for Henderson the composer has always been far outstripped by my appreciation of Joe Henderson the improvising, musically slightly restless tenor-sax player – at least until now. Not only is their compositional substance to be heard here but also the work of a group thoroughly steeped in contemporary (as in post-bop) jazz.
As far as I can hear Marras’s soprano-sax playing lacks the personality of her alto-sax work, but this might be down purely to my jaded ear and the fact that these days I find it hard to hear beyond the playing of the likes of Lol Coxhill, Steve Lacy and Evan Parker. That said, Marras’s work on the opening Serenity shies away from the wistful and instead flags her empathy with the composer.
Isotope was recorded by Henderson in November 1964 in the fast company of McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Elvin Jones on drums (thus with two stalwarts of the John Coltrane quartet back in that day). Undaunted by that, this new interpretation updates the piece as opposed to merely laying on the cold, bloodless hand of reverence – not least because of the contributions of the leader on alto sax and the scatting of vocalist and flautist Francesca Corrias. Such distinction is far from common in the overcrowded contemporary jazz world.
The titular remit is undermined by the inclusion of the Kenny Dorham composition La Mesha, but we could consider the closeness of Henderson’s musical relationship with the composer. Here Marras lays out her credentials as a balladic interpreter, her alto sax rich in colour and her ability at shaping notes coming as a welcome contrast to all those musicians in a hurry.
Discography
Serenity; Black Narcissus; Isotope; Power To The People; A Shade Of Jade; La Mesha; Fire; Jinriksha (47.59)
Laura J. Marras (ss, as); Francesca Corrias (v, f); Alessandro Di Liberto (p, arr.); Gabriele Loddo (elb); Alessio Cogotti (d). Soundream Studio, Selargius CA, Italy, 7 July 2025.
WoW Records WJ0120
Wartel, Wartel, Wartel Collins, Landæus: Celebrating Live
Here’s some free jazz from Scandinavia purveying one of the more uneasy listening strains of the music still holding out in this culturally conservative era. Inevitably, the music’s not unprecedented but the group’s mutual understanding is finely honed and this is no bad thing given how many precedents on record there are for the line-up of sax, piano, bass and drums. Just as importantly, if not more so, they deftly sidestep the risks of unfamiliarity.
Things develop at pace, with Intro ranging from pensive and ruminative sounds to the kind of animation that makes the group cohere on the following Off We Go, where an unusual level of self-awareness is marked by a piano solo of a distinctly post-Thelonious Monk persuasion. As feet are lifted from pedals, proceedings decelerate into Melancholy, a title which kind of undermines the commonly understood meaning of the term. Landaeus momentarily uses the piano strings to set a scene marked by restraint and limited dynamic range, as though the conversation is close and not meant for outside ears. Bass Solo is self-explanatory and marked by Wartel Collins’s willingness to exploit the options her instrument has outside of the plucking or bowing of strings. The intimacy prevails and precludes the possibility of big gestures. Proceedings draw to a close with Happy B-day, which suggests the classic John Coltrane quartet before a quote from the standard Happy Birthday (not Stevie Wonder’s song dedicated to Martin Luther King) is dropped and taken up, thus rendering the music resolutely earthbound.
Discography
Intro; Off We Go; Melancholy; Bass Solo; Happy; Journey; Trumsolo; Happy B-day (46.30)
Jonny Wartel (ts, ss); Mathias Landaeus (p); Georgia Wartel Collins (b); Henrik Wartel (d). Blow Out, Oslo, 21 May 2024.
BrOtz Records BRCD002
