Product Description

TRACK LIST: Mamacita Kicker, The Chelsea Bridge If Nardis Without A Song Mo' Joe O Amor Em Paz :: Once I Loved Tetragon First Trip I've Got You Under My Skin Invitation R.J. Waltz For Zweetie Bead Game, The You Don't Know What Love Is Unilateral Scavenger, The But Not For Me Power To The People Afro-Centric Black Narcissus Isotope Opus One-Point-Five Lazy Afternoon Foresight And Afterthought Caribbean Fire Dance Recorda-Me - (previously unreleased) Shade Of Jade, A - (previously unreleased) Isotope - (previously unreleased) Round Midnight Mode For Joe If You're Not Part Of The Solution You're Part Of The Problem Blue Bossa Closing Theme Gazelle Invitation Mind Over Matter No Me Esqueca Shade Of Jade, A Round Midnight Out 'N In Blue Bossa Junk Blues Terra Firma Vis-A-Vis Foregone Conclusion Black Is The Color (Of My True Love's Mind) Current Events Tress-Cun-Deo-La Turned Around Song For Sinners Me Among Others Bwaata Tres Palabras All Things Considered Canyon Lady Las Palmas In The Beginning There Was Africa - (previously unreleased) Air Water Fire Earth Butterfly Dreams Light As A Feather Love Reborn Summer Nights Black Narcissus Hindsight And Forethought Power To The People Other Side Of Right, The Good Morning, Heartache Amoeba Gazelle My Cherie Amour Old Slippers Immaculate Deception Soulution Black Miracle Black Narcissus What Can I Say? Windows ALBUM REVIEWS: Q (12/94, p.165) - 3 Stars - Good - "...[A] fan's dream....The package itself deserves fulsome praise: assiduous remastering, information-packed liner notes and intelligent track selection including influential appearances as a sideman..." Down Beat (12/94, p.60) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...inspired solo and collective blowing--on hard-bop lines, standard songs, funk vamps, freely intuited forms, diverse East and West Coast and Brazilian themes, nominally political, meditative and/or programmatic suites....Joe's reach stretches out and on..." Vibe (2/95, p.92) - "...The sense of mission, discipline, and passion jazz musicians brought to their work in the '70s is always in evidence..." Jazziz (2/95, p.91) - "...his "overnight success" should have occured 25 years ago..." ALBUM NOTES: Personnel includes: Joe Henderson, Nat Adderley, Lee Konitz, Flora Purim, Herbie Hancock, Alice Coltrane, Woody Shaw, Joe Zawinul, Kenny Barron, George Cables, George Duke, Larry Willis, MIke Lawrence, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Stanley Clarke, J.F. Jenny Clark, Louis Hayes, Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White, Harvey Mason, Airto, Grachan Moncur, Jeremy Steig, Ichikawa-Inaba-Hino, James "Blood" Ulmer, Luis Gasca, Michael White, Patrick Gleeson, Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts. Recorded between 1967 and 1976.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Mamacita
2. Kicker
3. Chelsea Bridge
4. If
5. Nardis
6. Without a Song
7. Mo' Joe
8. O Amor Em Paz (Once I Loved)
9. Tetragon
10. First Trip
11. I've Got You Under My Skin
12. Invitation
13. R.J.
14. Waltz for Zweetie

Disc 2:

1. Bead Game
2. You Don't Know What Love Is
3. Unilateral
4. Scavenger
5. But Not for Me
6. Power to the People
7. Afro Centric
8. Black Narcissus
9. Isotope
10. Opus One Point Five
11. Lazy Afternoon
12. Foresight and Afterthought

Disc 3:

1. Caribbean Fire Dance
2. Recorda Me [#]
3. Shade of Jade [#]
4. Isotope [#]
5. 'Round Midnight
6. Mode for Joe
7. If You're Not Part of the Solution, You're a Part of the Problem
8. Blue Bossa
9. Closing Theme

Disc 4:

1. Gazelle
2. Invitation
3. Mind over Matter
4. No Me Esqueca
5. Shade of Jade
6. 'Round Midnight
7. Out 'N' In
8. Blue Bossa

Disc 5:

1. Junk Blues
2. Terra Firma
3. Vis � Vis
4. Foregone Conclusion
5. Black Is the Color (Of My True Love's Mind)
6. Current Events
7. Tress-Cun-Deo-La
8. Turned Around
9. Song for Sinners

Disc 6:

1. Me, Among Others
2. Bwaata
3. Tres Palabras
4. All Things Considered
5. Canyon Lady
6. Palmas
7. In the Beginning There Was Africe [#]
8. Air

Disc 7:

1. Water
2. Fire
3. Earth
4. Butterfly Dreams
5. Light as a Feather
6. Love Reborn
7. Summer Night
8. Black Narcissus
9. Hindsight and Forethought
10. Power to the People

Disc 8:

1. Other Side of Right
2. Good Morning Heartache
3. Amoeba
4. Gazelle
5. My Cherie Amour
6. Old Slippers
7. Immaculate Deception
8. Soulution
9. Black Miracle
10. Black Narcissus
11. What Can I Say?
12. Windows

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16025 in Music
• Released on: 1994-09-01
• Number of discs: 8
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: 1.57 pounds

Amazon.com
This eight-CD package covers the period between 1967 and 1976 when tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson was under contract to Milestone records. Henderson made a dozen records under his own name during this period and appeared on many sessions as a sideman. The 84 tracks culled from the period offer an exhaustive account of Henderson's activities. The compilation begins with the complete sextet session that made up The Kicker, then goes on to cover the pared-down quartet version of the same band that cut Tetragon. Quintet and quartet sides with Herbie Hancock from Power to the People follow. Live material from a sextet featuring Woody Shaw on trumpet, recorded at the Lighthouse, includes some previously unreleased material. "Canyon Lady," "The Elements," "Black Narcissus," and "Black Miracle" complete the Henderson tracks, but he also appears as a sideman on material from The Lee Konitz Duets, Nat Adderley's The Scavenger, and several Flora Purim sessions. --John Swenson

Customer Reviews

A must for fans, but handle with care!
Take the star rating with a grain of salt; this box contains much of the best and some of the worst Henderson ever. - THE KICKER (Disc 1, tracks 1-8), an excellent recording (although is doesn't match the astounding quality of his best Blue Note albums), is easily surpassed by TETRAGON (Disc 1, tracks 9-14 / Disc 2, track 1) - similar, but more exciting and fully satisfying. - The LIGHTHOUSE concert with Woody Shaw on trumpet (Disc 3) is a revelation. The tunes range from old warhorses like 'Blue Bossa' to the almost-fusion 'If You're Not Part Of The Solution...'; superb playing by all involved, and the omnipresent and somewhat anticlimactic electric piano does no harm to the intensity of most of the music. - The IN JAPAN session (Disc 4, tracks 6-8 / Disc 5, track 1) is even better. The VERY Japanese rhythm section (if you know what I mean) provides for a hard driving background for some of Henderson's most outside and most inspired playing; 'Out 'n In' (the title says it all) and especially the scorching 'Junk Blues' scream for the replay button, and there's an interesting version of 'Round Midnight' which reaches a short climax in the middle of the performance. - On IN PURSUIT OF BLACKNESS (Disc 4, tracks 1-5) Henderson flirts with jazz rock again (he doesn't completely cross the line yet), but his hypnotic solos always make up for the change of pace. - BLACK IS THE COLOR (Disc 5, tracks 2-6) and MULTIPLE (Disc 5, tracks 7-9 / Disc 6, tracks 1-2), both featuring Jack de Johnette on drums, mark the real beginning of Henderson's fusion phase. The tunes are less challenging than before, but Henderson sounds absolutely comfortable with them, adapting his playing to the more simple chord changes (by using many arpeggios) but never really surrendering his familiar style. A glance at commercialization, yes, but, apart from some oddities (like some strange, pseudo-experimental soundscapes on BITC), very listenable and never lacking a spark of genius. - The tracks with Flora Purim (Disc 7, tracks 4-7 / Disc 8, tracks 10-12) are a different matter: If you like this kind of music, you'll love these tunes, but Henderson just acts as a session musician here (one of the highest order, though). - The rest of the program ranges from so-so (CANYON LADY: Disc 6, tracks 3-7) or kind of weird but rewarding (ELEMENTS, the encounter with Alice Coltrane: Disc 6, track 8 / Disc 7, tracks 1-3) to utterly unlistenable (BLACK MIRACLE: Disc 8, tracks 4-9). Henderson is let down by his rhythm sections (which were obviously not selected for their suitability but for marketing reasons) more and more; he's arguably the most adaptable saxophonist around, but even he cannot cope with a situation when he has to (?) play with uninspired or incompatible fellow musicians. - - All in all, about one or two of the CDs are seriously flawed, but the first and better half of the material is nothing short of breathtaking; much of the best stuff can't be found anywhere else, and for me much of the jazz rock was a very pleasant surprise. You'll have to decide by yourself whether you want to invest in a highly priced but somewhat uneven collection like this one, but if you want to hear the real apexes of Joe Henderson's output, it comes close to a necessity, at least for the time being.

Just another opinion...
Well, I must say that I am not really having much fun with this material. My main criticism regards the ominous presence of either the horrendous 'electric piano', played by not so great hands, or the equally dreadful 'electric bass', played by either Ron Carter or Dave Holland - a real waste of talent, in other words. Whereas Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and some very few others did record some great fusion albums, in my opinion this is not the case with Henderson. The 69-70 live sessions - Lighthouse/Japan - still very much within the jazz idiom, are particularly marred by the electric piano - they really deserved better...

As for the rest of the sessions, they sometimes have their 'bright moments', but in the average they are quite mediocre. Bad fusion, period.

So, if you ask me: was it worth paying U$30 for 8 cds full of Joe Henderson material? I'd have to scrath my head and say: well, not really. In a sense, it is a real bargain, but in another it is a real letdown. So let us remake the question: is it worth paying U$30 for 8 cds ful of Joe Henderson SEVENTIES material? Place your bets, my friends.

Great box set includes all of Joe's Milestone recordings
Any fan of tenor great Joe Henderson should enjoy this large box set that collects all of Joe's recordings (1967-1976) for the Milestone label. The music is more wide-ranging in style than his earlier work for Blue Note (mostly 1960s) and his later work on Verve (mostly 1990s). Treasures abound: Chelsea Bridge, Nardis, Isotope, Canyon Lady, live material with Woody Shaw, another live date in Japan, and much more. The collected works of Joe Henderson over the last 35 years are a national musical treasure.