Every time I listen to Joe Henderson I think, “Why haven’t I listened to this cat more often?” Joe Henderson was a superb tenor sax player. He was admired by many of the jazz greats but didn’t really get the attention he deserved until he signed with Verve in the early 80s. By then he’d already recorded several albums, composed, and appeared as a sideman on some huge albums. For example, Horace Silver’s Song for My Father would not be what is now: pure magic, without Henderson’s ever-present strength and virtuosity.

I chose Isotope from Henderson’s classic State of the Tenor 1&2 for you to hear. This album, recorded 35 years ago is still so hot it will burn your hands. I honestly believe Ron Carter sounds better and sharper here than almost any recording before or since Tenor. He is always on with such insistence and almost clairvoyant about where Henderson is going.  And Al Foster on drums is as he always was and is: strong, unflagging, demanding, ahead of the beat just enough to keep Carter and Henderson reaching for more. He is the jazz drummer par excellence…

When you listen to this 10 minute cut, hold onto your seat: it moves and moves hard. Listening to it I feel like a cartoon character grasping the back of a fire truck as it goes around curves in the road, up and down hills, about to crash but turning at the last minute. At the end I am breathless…

Sometimes the sound of a trio can be too spare, too austere; I’m left looking to make it a quartet. But on Tenor I forget it’s just 3 guys making music. The sound is so full, so dynamic. Henderson plays wise music that is deep and sincere. Make no mistake: this is not jazz 101. Henderson is mature post-bop music. Listen and go for the ride.