Joe Henderson up to 31-Dec-69, incl. sideman dates

[Rooster_Ties]

Talk about Joe Henderson in the Sept. 2nd RVG thread got me thinking (which is often a dangerous thing!! ).

Are there any dates where Joe had an off day in the studio, from among the dozens and dozens of dates he's on in the 60's???

• (Let's keep the cut-off as Dec. 31st 1969 (so I mean everything he recorded before 1970), cuz I know some people have some issues with some of his later Milestone material, although many don't (including me!!).)
  

I'm not sure I own every date he ever recorded in the 60's, but I think I have damn near every one.

For example, as much as we all love Lee Morgan, we all know even he had a couple dates here and there, where Lee was certainly good, but maybe not quite as great as he usually was.

But then, to my mind, Joe almost never falls below a 4-star performance on anything he recorded between 1963-1969. (5-stars being the top of the scale.)

Edited August 29, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

OK, OK, there's maybe one date I can think of that I haven't warmed to all that much, and that's Freddie Roach's "Brown Sugar" with Joe. But I'm not sure if that's because of Joe's performance, or cuz of other factors (or maybe both).

[Guy Berger]

OK, OK, there's maybe one date I can think of that I haven't warmed to all that much, and that's Freddie Roach's "Brown Sugar" with Joe. But I'm not sure if that's because of Joe's performance, or cuz of other factors (or maybe both).

Grant Green's "Am I Blue" is pretty lame, but not because of Joe's presence.

Guy

[Rooster_Ties]

Yeah, I pretty much had the same thought. I know, some who really like "Am I Blue" - but like it or not, Joe's not the primary factor in whether "Am I Blue" works or not.

[mikeweil]

I too was disappointed by Am I Blue?. Pretty lame is the correct description, regrettably. But Joe is okay; Coles - he's the one I bought it for - is unspectacular, and the intention to make an organ combo ballad album is risky. Too subdued.

[Rooster_Ties]

So, back to the original thread topic...

Is there any Joe on record (before January 1st, 1970), that isn't top-drawer??? (In terms of Joe's playing.)

[danasgoodstuff]

I really like Brown Sugar and at least kinda like Am I Blue and think Joe adapts himself well to both situations, like a sideman oughta! In fact I may actually prefer his sideman work to his leader dates in this time period. The Real McCoy and Basra come immediately to mind in this connection. And I think I know what the Joe detractors in that other thread were talking 'bout and sorta agree up to a point, but I still concur with the point of this thread that Joe was remarkably consistant (even while being flexible for the sake of situation) in da '60s...

[JSngry]

If by "top drawer" you mean at the level of UNITY, THE REAL MCCOY, INNER URGE, etc., I'd say there's lots of stuff that isn't at that level. Most of it, in fact. That's Joe at his peak, and for me, that's "top-drawer".

OTOH, if you mean of a consistently high level that doesn't reach THAT level, well, no, off the top of my head I can't think of any. Even when he was not necessarily fully turned on, he remained interesting and distinctive. The guy was remarkably consistent that way.

Maybe it's the difference between "top-drawer" and "topperest-drawer".

[Rooster_Ties]

Well, I guess I probably meant top-drawer, or next-to-top-drawer. I mean, at least to me, I've never heard anything he recorded in the 60's that wasn't amazingly "on" - meaning every cut of every album.

But it's probably true that there are probably different degrees of "amazing" when it comes to Joe.

[JSngry]

Well, I guess I probably meant top-drawer, or next-to-top-drawer.  I mean, at least to me, I've never heard anything he recorded in the 60's that wasn't amazingly "on" - meaning every cut of every album.

But it's probably true that there are probably different degrees of "amazing" when it comes to Joe.

Well, yeah. The guy was a major pro in that he had the ability to adapt his basic vocabulary to any setting, any style, and any type of changes and give you "Joe Henderson". That's no small feat in and of itself. But there's times when he's, not really "going through the motions" or "coasting", but just making sure that he turns in a good performance for the record. That's just the nature of the beast (making records as part of a "repertory company", loosely speaking, as BN was in it's own way), and I don't mean that as a knock in the least. Hell, those performances of his that are that level are better than a lot of guys going all out. But when Joe was REALLY into it, magic happened.

The same's true of pretty much everybody. The idea of being "constantly inspired" is usually a fallacious one. Almost everybody's got their "bag o'tricks". You got to, or else you don't work, as a rule. And I can be perfectly satisfied, excited, even, by somebody working that bag really well without necessarily being maximally primed, because what's in that bag is pretty damn cool in and of itself, if you know what I mean. To have an "average" level that high is already winning the game, dig? But when the REAL magic occurs and the juju is ripe - THOSE are the moments that you realize that life isn't just great, it's F***ING great!

Hey, don't take my word for it, ask Tony the Tiger!

Edited December 8, 2003 by JSngry

[Trumpet Guy]

I'm not Tony the tiger...

But I did ask Joe once if he ever felt uninspired while playing.Joe gave me an emphatic "no".Wish I could say the same!