By the point Joe Henderson arrived at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey recording facility in April 1964 to document his third Blue Be aware album, In ‘N Out, the 27-year-old saxophonist – who only twelve months earlier had made his debut as a sideman on trumpeter Kenny Dorham’s Una Mas LP – was often known as an achieved studio musician. The quite a few classes he logged throughout his first yr with the enduring Large Apple jazz label – starting from Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder to Andrew Hill’s Level Of Departure – confirmed him to be equally at residence with onerous bop and extra exploratory jazz, and made him a helpful asset for Blue Be aware producer Alfred Lion.
Henderson had been dropped at Lion’s consideration by Dorham, who performed on and contributed materials to the saxophonist’s earlier Blue Be aware albums, Web page One and Our Factor. He grew to become pals when Henderson, 13 years the trumpeter’s junior, arrived in New York in 1962. The older musician quickly grew to become Henderson’s trusted mentor and shut collaborator. And, as In ‘N Out’s outstandingly blended horn preparations reveal, the 2 musicians developed a deep musical rapport. “We have some kind of vibration going,” Henderson defined in 1963. “Even when we play unison lines, it seems we breathe at the same time.”
Hearken to Joe Henderson’s In ‘N Out now.
Becoming a member of Dorham alongside Henderson on In ‘N Out were two highly regarded members of the John Coltrane Quartet, pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, who injected the session with a pulsating synergy. Gluing the rhythm section together was the imaginative double bassist Richard Davis, who – three weeks before – had played with Henderson and Dorham on Andrew Hill’s avant-garde masterpiece, Level Of Departure.
Pushed by a frantic, high-octane depth, the album’s title observe is a progressive hard-bop piece teetering getting ready to avant-garde music. The Henderson-penned quantity stands as a forceful declaration of intent, encapsulating the saxophonist’s talent at having the ability to play each “inside” and “outside” of what jazz musicians name “the changes”: in jazz-speak, “Inside” refers to working inside a standard jazz framework, whereas “Outside” is the flexibility to stretch past the accepted parameters of melody, concord, and kind.
Whereas “In ‘N Out” pushed onerous bop to breaking level, in placing distinction, the infectiously melodic “Punjab” pulls again from the precipice of free jazz. It presents a launch from stress, as does the aptly titled “Serenity,” a sweetly swinging groove that finally grew to become a jazz commonplace.
The Latin-flavored “Short Story” is the primary of two Dorham-penned numbers; the second, the swinging nearer “Brown’s Town,” is notable as a result of it’s the one observe the place Henderson isn’t a featured soloist.
Jacketed in an archetypal Blue Be aware entrance cowl with daring, eye-catching typography designed by Reid Miles, In ‘N Out landed in record stores in early 1965. By then, Henderson was working in pianist Horace Silver’s band – it was his memorable solo that lit up Silver’s basic hit tune “Song For My Father” – however he would keep at Blue Be aware as a solo artist, recording two extra albums for the label (Interior Urge and Mode For Joe) earlier than leaving in 1967.
Displaying Henderson’s rising maturity as a composer and a saxophone participant, In ‘N Out affirmed Kenny Dorham’s assertion that “Joe is full of ideas and he avoids cliches.” Although schooled within the methods of bebop – Charlie Parker was his major affect – Henderson strove to push past the music’s limits into unchartered territory. By turns strident and lyrical, In ‘N Out skilfully navigated a tightrope between the jazz custom and extra progressive music. It was a top quality that marked him as one of many foremost tenor saxophonists of the Sixties.
Hearken to Joe Henderson’s In ‘N Out now.
