Mode for Joe: Resonance Records scores with another Jazz Showcase discovery

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 Joe Henderson came out of Lima, Ohio, with an evident curiosity and receptivity to anything he could do on his tenor saxophone. He went from the northwestern Ohio city to the regional jazz mecca of Detroit, where he studied music at Wayne State University and began honing his professional associations. He never drew in the artistic boundaries close to what he was used to. There was always some new way of reaching out beyond his hard-bop roots.

Joe Henderson in the '70s
In one of producer Zev Feldman's most illuminating presentations of live club dates by modern masters of the music, we get an extended exposure to what Henderson was like in the welcoming environment of Chicago's Jazz Showcase. The engagement came in February 1978 with a bassist (Steve Rodby) and drummer (Danny Spencer) well known in the venue. The quartet was boosted by the burgeoning eminence by a rising star at the piano, Joanne Brackeen. 

"Consonance" is the two-disc set available to the world now, whose release had the complementary LP release on Record Store Day last week. This review is of the CD set on Resonance Records, part of the unearthed archives at the late Joe Segal's club, given the attractive Feldman treatment of relevant words and pictures in the deluxe packaging. There's some 160 minutes of music (capacity for two discs) so there's quite a feast to take in. 

Within, it's fun to gaze at the dated style of the contemporary posters touting Henderson's appearances along with several other headliners, including the quaint misspelled praise of trombonist Curtis Fuller as "reknowned."  There's ample verbal testimony in the booklet as well, excerpts of interviews that Feldman conducted with Joe Segal's son Wayne, co-producer John Koenig and especially the insights of sidemen Brackeen and Rodby.

Three well-known original Henderson compositions make substantial appearances. "Inner Urge" has a tad too much note-spinning in the saxophonist's solo, but he displays good sense in knowing when to change phrase patterns when each threatens to become tedious. He's supported well by Rodby's walking bass and its occasional rhythmic variety. The leader found a good way of winding down his solo to prepare the way for Brackeen, whose lyrical right hand gives way to some heavy chordal playing at length.  Then, typical of Henderson's manner of giving space to sidemen, there are full-bore bass and drum solos.

In "Recorda Me," Brackeen displays an exploratory choice of chords, and Rodby solos freshly in the upper register before lowering the range and including quotes from Henderson's familiar theme. The third Henderson original, "Isotope," opens with no introduction — sax leaping in with just bass and drums at first. It's a compact rendition with a nervous, Mexican-jumping-bean feeling. The title has a meaning in physics I can't begin to understand, but the music comes across attractively. 

Otherwise, I was enthralled immediately with the opening number, John Coltrane's "Mr. P.C," which displays Henderson at the heights of  imaginative fervor. His tone is burly, his phrasing endlessly facile. Long soloing here shows him as a champ equal to Coltrane and Sonny Rollins when they can't stop.. 

Nonetheless, my attention was held more consistently by the Bronislaw Kaper evergreen "Invitation." It's got a real tune, not just a launching pad for solos.  Henderson is immediately engaging in his playful approach to the melody. Brackeen picks up on the boss' freedom in the groove, and I liked her frequent allusions to the theme.  After Rodby, Spencer takes a solo that extensively exploits his cymbals, thus reinforcing the invitational import of the song's title. 

As for other jazz standards, the quartet applies a fresh coat of paint to "'Round Midnight."  Henderson is puckish, and Brackeen is both whimsical and florid. The operetta song "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" (what other time of day do you have sunrise, I've always wondered) is taken quite fast, but isn't spoiled. From the Charlie Parker songbook comes "Relaxin' at Camarillo," also very fast, as the quartet acknowledging its comfort in the bebop language. A poised series of chords and trills makes for a stately conclusion, giving further evidence of how much at ease the four players must have been with one another and with the club. 

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