Joe Henderson. I prefer his Milestone material to his Blue Note stuff. any comments or concerns that you have?

Question

Joe Henderson. I prefer his Milestone material to his Blue Note stuff. any comments or concerns that you have?

Answer 1

I like the Milestone albums because they are adventurous, but some of them were not so good, in my opinion. I like Joe when he gets "outside" and as an avant garde player, like he was for Milestone.

I like the Blue Note session because they are so well done.

I have to comment on the Mode For Joe album...

Mode For Joe was recorded in 1966, most of my favorite albums are from around that time. It was a time when the traditional players were going beyond their be bop cages.

I think Mode For Joe is the transition album for Joe Henderson. The band itself is a mix of traditional players and the more adventurous, searching players, who were on other albums that were out of tradition...

the traditional. ...

Cedar Walton

Lee Morgan (most of the time, traditional)

Curtis Fuller

the (becoming) nontraditional...

Joe Henderson

Ron Carter

Joe Chambers

These guys were sidemen in lots of adventurous, nontraditional albums of the mid 1960's.

With a band like this, its no surprise that your going to come up with a transitional sound. I think that Mode For Joe was a sign of the times for Joe, and what was happening in jazz. The song, Caribbean Fire Dance is the best example from this album. The playing its both traditional and beyond tradition.

I could be totally wrong about what I have said. My only source of knowledge is the albums I listen to, and listening to the great DJ' at WKCR. I once heard them do a 3 hour program of Henderson's 1970's music, the Milestone years. That was my introduction ot his stuff after Blue Note.

PS-My favorite albums with Joe as a sideman, in order...

Alice Coltrane's Phat the El Daud (great, great album. With Pharaoh Sanders and Ron Carter too.)

Andrew Hill's Point of Departure (another album that was a sign of the times, a perfect title.It really was a point of departure. To me, Joe sounds a bit out of place during s few parts. That was early 1964).

Charlie Haden's The Montreal Tapes (the linear notes say that Henderson went to Haden before the show and suggested they do a more avant garde show then was expected. Holland agreed).

McCoy Tyner's The Real McCoy.