Joe Henderson

[AllenLowe]

yes - Al Cohn.

[JSngry]

Don Schlitten is our benchmark for sane and sensible behavior?

Some pf you all seem to think that "drug user" is one single type of person.

GUESS AGAIN!

[AllenLowe]

I assume you know Don. He was the most ethical person I ever met in the music business.

And, actually, each drug user that I have known was a nice bunch of guys.

but let us not romanticize the long paths of destruction that so many of these people left behind.

Edited September 3, 2010 by AllenLowe

[John Tapscott]

I guess I'm naive, but I still find it a bit of a shock when someone I thought was clean turns out to be a user. In my really innocent days (30+ years ago), I still remember the let-down I felt when I found out that Bill Evans was one of the biggest users of all. Now it doesn't affect my enjoyment and appreciation of their music, but I wish that somewhere, sometime, we could read of someone who has risen above it and not succumbed to the temptation (there are a few, I know).

Look, I'm not judging and most of these guys hide it pretty well, but when they start blowing gigs and leaving Japan before the tour begins, then I'm sorry, but that really crosses the line. If I had paid good money to see musician X one night, and he was out scoring while he should have been playing the gig, I would be a little ticked off (really ticked off I was the the club owner or the promoter).

Edited September 3, 2010 by John Tapscott

[AllenLowe]

this is an old argument - and while I agree that the music is primary, IF we are going to talk about the life we should talk about the life honestly. You mention Evans, and I remember reading an interview with him in Downbeat about how clean and drug-free he was at the same time that I knew, from pesonal observation, that he was extremely strung out. Now, one could make the argument that this was nobody else's business, but I have seen at first hand how management and friends become enablers in such situations, and how part of the enabling process is tied up in image and in just plain lying to the media.

I'm actually going to back out of this conversation given some of my personal history here and prior disagreements, and my own desire not to get into the name game. But Schlitten knew exactly what he was talking about and it was an early lesson in keeping my guard up.

Edited September 3, 2010 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

No need to back out. I'm not at all questioning the validity of Schlitten's ethics or observation, both of which seem fine to me. I just wonder how sane and sensible anybody in this business really is... I'm sure there out there, law of averages dictates that there must be at least a few, but...wtf is up with the Xanadu catalog?

[sidewinder]

I didn't know about this but thinking about Joe's music, these two sides to his character don't suprise at all. His solos structurally are usually meticulous - with great inner logic. Usually in his solos there comes a point though when he goes left field apeshit before returning to the logic - a very attractive aspect of his playing.

[MartyJazz]

I didn't know about this but thinking about Joe's music, these two sides to his character don't suprise at all. His solos structurally are usually meticulous - with great inner logic. Usually in his solos there comes a point though when he goes left field apeshit before returning to the logic - a very attractive aspect of his playing.

I don't know about "left field apesh*t", but definitely his ability to take it out and come right back in is most indicative of quite a few of his great solos. I'm running over in my head now a couple of pieces of his that have always killed me, "Jinrikisha" from his very first Blue Note-led session, PAGE ONE, and the version of "Blue Bossa" from LIVE IN JAPAN. He was great, and I think despite all the recognition he received during his later Verve period, still somewhat under-rated.

[John Tapscott]

I didn't know about this but thinking about Joe's music, these two sides to his character don't suprise at all. His solos structurally are usually meticulous - with great inner logic. Usually in his solos there comes a point though when he goes left field apeshit before returning to the logic - a very attractive aspect of his playing.

I don't know about "left field apesh*t", but definitely his ability to take it out and come right back in is most indicative of quite a few of his great solos. I'm running over in my head now a couple of pieces of his that have always killed me, "Jinrikisha" from his very first Blue Note-led session, PAGE ONE, and the version of "Blue Bossa" from LIVE IN JAPAN. He was great, and I think despite all the recognition he received during his later Verve period, still somewhat under-rated.

While it may be true that Joe is somewhat under-rated, I think he is quite influential among young up and coming tenor players. I consider his Verve CD's for all their popularity, to be rather over-rated and among his least interesting. Right now I'm listening to Discs 5-8 of the Milestone box, and while I find the music on these discs less than totally satisfying, Joe's playing is EXCELLENT, some of his strongest (and best recorded) I think, and much better than on the later Verve sides.

Edited September 3, 2010 by John Tapscott

[Tom Storer]

I guess I'm naive, but I still find it a bit of a shock when someone I thought was clean turns out to be a user. In my really innocent days (30+ years ago), I still remember the let-down I felt when I found out that Bill Evans was one of the biggest users of all.

This is curious to me--you seem to think that musicians owe it to fans to be upstanding in their personal lives. If I bought a ticket to a concert and the musician didn't show because of irresponsibility brought on by addiction, sure, I'd be pissed off. But in the abstract I don't see why we should have any expectations that they should be "clean" or honest or kind or thrifty or whatever, and therefore I don't see why a musician's private failures should leave us disappointed. It's none of our business, really.

[AllenLowe]

OT, as to Jim's question about the Xanadu catolog - from what I know it was first licensed to that French label who, however, violated the agreement somehow, which put Don off of further deals. I think Don just got fed up with the business at that point, though I think he could have made another deal if he was less, shall we say, assured of his own righteousness in all matters.

Edited September 3, 2010 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

Hey, that's all I'm saying, nothing more.

[flat5]

Hello Michael Weiss.

"Was that Laura Dreyer?"

She was in the band, I believe.

Back then I couldn't really hear her because I could not get beyond how "pretty" she was :-)

She may have been one of Joe's students. We were not friends.

Susie Lorraine was the band leader. She also plays sax and flute. She now does a lot of flute teaching I think.

[Peter Friedman]

OT, as to Jim's question about the Xanadu catolog - from what I know it was first licensed to that French label who, however, violated the agreement somehow, which put Don off of further deals. I think Don just got fed up with the business at that point, though I think he could have made another deal if he was less, shall we say, assured of his own righteousness in all matters.

I have quite a few CDs of Xanadu material reissued on at least five different labels.

1. The French EPM label

2. Xanadu records - Millburn, New Jersey

3. Xanadu (Japanese) TKCB

4. Prevue (A Division of Classic Records) "under license from Xanadu Records"

5. Jazz Lips Music

[sidewinder]

1. The French EPM label

2. Xanadu records - Millburn, New Jersey

3. Xanadu (Japanese) TKCB

4. Prevue (A Division of Classic Records) "under license from Xanadu Records"

5. Jazz Lips Music

Camden in the UK also released a lot of Muse/Xanadu material on very inexpensive 2CD sets. Many of those were gems !

Edited September 4, 2010 by sidewinder

[CJ Shearn]

I didn't know about this but thinking about Joe's music, these two sides to his character don't suprise at all. His solos structurally are usually meticulous - with great inner logic. Usually in his solos there comes a point though when he goes left field apeshit before returning to the logic - a very attractive aspect of his playing.

I don't know about "left field apesh*t", but definitely his ability to take it out and come right back in is most indicative of quite a few of his great solos. I'm running over in my head now a couple of pieces of his that have always killed me, "Jinrikisha" from his very first Blue Note-led session, PAGE ONE, and the version of "Blue Bossa" from LIVE IN JAPAN. He was great, and I think despite all the recognition he received during his later Verve period, still somewhat under-rated.

While it may be true that Joe is somewhat under-rated, I think he is quite influential among young up and coming tenor players. I consider his Verve CD's for all their popularity, to be rather over-rated and among his least interesting. Right now I'm listening to Discs 5-8 of the Milestone box, and while I find the music on these discs less than totally satisfying, Joe's playing is EXCELLENT, some of his strongest (and best recorded) I think, and much better than on the later Verve sides.

Yes, while not exactly up and coming tenor players anymore, Joe Lovano, David Sanchez and particularly Javon Jackson strike me as having a huge Henderson influence in their playing. As for a younger guy, I'd add Marcus Strickland to that list.

[Larry Kart]

Though he's his own man now IMO, when Rich Perry was with the Vanguard Orchestra, they called him "Little Joe."

[fkimbrough]

Rich Perry is still with the Vanguard Orchestra.

[Larry Kart]

Rich Perry is still with the Vanguard Orchestra.

Sorry -- I didn't put that right. When Rich was a member of the Thad Jones- Mel Lewis orchestra in the mid-1970s, they called him "Little Joe." Now, in the VJO, they call him for supper.

[Mark Stryker]

Not looking to revive this thread but only to pause for a moment to remember both Joe Henderson and Johnny Griffin on their birthday (April 24).

[Late]

One of Joe's finest solos, in my opinion, is on the track "Vis-A-Vis" from Black Is The Color (which is actually not one of my favorite JoeHen records). That solo blows me away every time I listen to it.

If you have a chance, listen to it today!

[clifford_thornton]

5. Jazz Lips Music

Maybe the worst name for a label that I've ever heard.

[Mark Stryker]

One of Joe's finest solos, in my opinion, is on the track "Vis-A-Vis" from Black Is The Color (which is actually not one of my favorite JoeHen records). That solo blows me away every time I listen to it.

If you have a chance, listen to it today!

Always loved this track -- especially with the studio chatter that immediately precedes it on the LP -- used to have it on my answering machine in college. More discussion here:

[Late]

One of Joe's finest solos, in my opinion, is on the track "Vis-A-Vis" from Black Is The Color (which is actually not one of my favorite JoeHen records). That solo blows me away every time I listen to it.

If you have a chance, listen to it today!

Always loved this track -- especially with the studio chatter that immediately precedes it on the LP -- used to have it on my answering machine in college.

Ah, just read your post from 2007. (Missed it the first time around.) I didn't know about the studio chatter; too bad it was left off the compact disc reissue. I wish the whole record was in the same vein as "Vis-A-Vis" — Joe could bring it, seemingly at the drop of a hat.

[Rooster_Ties]

Seems as good a place as any to post this nearly hour-long interview I found on Youtube...

Rare Conversation with John Scofield and Joe Henderson: 9/3/96

Edited June 27, 2012 by Rooster_Ties