FEEL THE FORCE

Joe Henderson never enjoyed the super heavyweight status of John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins but Forces Of Nature: Live At Slugs', a previously unheard live recording with pianist McCoy Tyner from 1966, reveals he was a serious contender. Speaking to some of Henderson's closest collaborators and most avid cheerleaders, Charles Waring shines a light on the often-overlooked jazz genius dubbed “The Phantom”.

- Charles Waring

“I thought, ‘Fuck, man, this is so powerful!’”

Blue Note boss, Don Was, is recalling the epiphany he experienced when he first heard tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. It was a Sunday in Detroit circa 1966. The future Grammy-winning producer was 14 and playing with the radio dial in his mom’s car. He serendipitously landed on a local jazz station. What came out of the speaker changed his life.

“I heard these wailing saxophone cries,” he recalls. “It was not about notes or saxophone technique: I could feel this guy’s anguish and it was compelling.”

Was learned he was listening to the title track from Henderson’s latest Blue Note LP, Mode For Joe. His discovery would begin a life-long love affair with the saxophonist’s music and Blue Note Records, then a small, independent New York jazz label.

The same year, Mode For Joe hit the record stores, Henderson played New York’s Slugs’ Saloon alongside co-leader pianist McCoy Tyner (who had recently quit John Coltrane’s band), bassist Henry Grimes, and Jack DeJohnette, a rising young drummer who had just moved from Chicago to the Big Apple. Noted audio engineer, Orville O’Brien, recorded their set and gave DeJohnette a copy to take home. A few years ago, the drummer, who kept the tape secreted for 58 years, alerted producer Zev Feldman, who teamed up with Was and Blue Note to release the long-unheard performance as Forces Of Nature: Live At Slugs'.

Offering a masterclass in raw, incendiary post-bop synergy, Forces Of Nature captures two titans at the top of their game. Tyner, a familiar name even to casual jazz fans, played a pivotal role in Coltrane’s musical explorations during the first half of the 60s. Henderson, however, who died 24 years ago, remains largely underappreciated outside the jazz world. Today, he’s mostly remembered for his big, blustery tenor solos on two iconic Blue Note jazz tracks: Lee Morgan’s