The Wayback

New Perspectives on Old(ish) Sounds

New Perspectives on Old(ish) Sounds

Joe Henderson: In Japan (1971)

It’s possible that simple jazz snobbery explains why this live album, recorded in 1971 at Tokyo’s small Junk Club, has been somewhat underappreciated. It features tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson with a Japanese rhythm section; only the drummer, Motohiko Hino, had any kind of profile in the U.S.

Tours like this were common (and economically necessary) for American musicians visiting jazz-crazed Japan in the 1960s and 70s. Audiences did not seem to mind that the marquee name was not playing with his running partners from the Blue Note days or any of the American musicians he hired for recording sessions.

Henderson’s presence during this particularly fruitful period was evidently enough for live patrons. But for album buyers, who were notably astute liner-note readers in 1971, the chance to hear the husky-toned tenorman accompanied by a group of unknown musicians might have been a tough sell.

Their loss. It only takes a chorus or two of the opening tune, Thelonious Monk’s “Round About Midnight,” to sense that Henderson has arrived with the intention to explore at great leisurely length. He begins unaccompanied, and after a circular stroll through the theme, is joined by pianist Hideo Ichikawa on electric piano and the others. Henderson sounds intrigued by the chiming, pastel chords; he responds with stairstepping arpeggios up and down the horn, approximating a cat-and-mouse chase. There’s even more sparring on his oft-played original “Blue Bossa,” and Ichikawa’s piano solo is a marvel of what might be called “aggressive lyricism” — intricate, high-density phrases that eventually coalesce into deceptively sweet melodies.

The highlight of the well-recorded set is a freeform drone-based excursion called “Junk Blues.” Some have described the piece as avant-garde, saying it has no form at all. In fact, though the harmony remains the same throughout, there are two distinct “sections” — one built on an agitated rhythmic figure, the other on uptempo swing. This minimal “structure” proves an ideal platform for Henderson, whose extended lines cultivate a feeling of on-the-edge, never-quite-resolving tension. At the time of this recording, Henderson was among the elite masters of improvisation; this solo shows precisely why.

FURTHER EXPLORATION

FROM THE SAME ERA: Johnny Griffin: Live In France 1971; Elvin Jones: Live at the Lighthouse 1973.

SUBSEQUENT RELATED RELEASE: The State of the Tenor (Vol. 1 and 2). 1985.

INFLUENCED: Steve Grossman: Love is the Thing (1985).