Power To The People - Joe Henderson

Jun

10

Power To The People - Joe Henderson

≡ Category: 1960s, Free Jazz, Hard Bop, Highly Recommended, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

Power To The People is one of those releases that tend to fall through the cracks. Like much of Joe Henderson’s solo work, it is not overtly innovative, but instead works through already established forms. It also lacks the simplicity and clarity that would endear it to the small jazz audience.

What it does have is musical variety, a damned near perfect rhythm section, a never-failing sense of form in the solos, and a refusal to traffic in cliches.

On a casual listen, Power To The People isn’t all that impressive. I mean, it’s very pleasant, but it doesn’t announce it’s greatness. You have sit down and really take the time to listen to realize how good it is.

Instrumentally, Power To The People can be divided into four sections: an acoustic quartet; the same quartet with Herbie Hancock playing electric piano and Ron Carter playing electric bass; an electric quintet, with Mike Lawrence on trumpet; and a trio, with no chordal instrument.

Black Narcissus isn’t quite a ballad. It has a pretty, attractive theme, which widens into an explosion of color. It would be accurate to describe Black Narcissus as brooding. The rhythm section keeps things simple, going for lyricism, which is what this tune is really all about. Herbie Hancock has a light touch on electric piano, using wide voicings and suspended chords. Ron Carter uses mostly notes from the triad of whatever chord is being played at the time, focusing on subtle rhythmic variations and changes in timbre to get his point across. I don’t think drummer Jack DeJohnette is using brushes, but he might as well be, his playing is so delicate. Joe Henderson follows the form of the tune for his solo, using scalar patterns, which get more abstract as the natural momentum of the form builds. Hancock takes a different approach for his solo — he starts out with one basic idea and simply increases the density of it’s expression. The way the quartet (trumpeter Mike Lawrence sits out this tune) constructs the mood is a master class in musical empathy. Great tune, great performance.

On Afro-Centric, we’ve got the full quintet, this time with both Hancock and Carter playing electric instruments. The enigmatic head is played over a busy and dance-like, but not quite identifiable rhythm. The melodies don’t utilize strange scales or modes, and the chords aren’t that difficult either, but somehow the combination of the all of the compositional elements winds up having an elusive quality. The front line of trumpet and tenor alternates between unison and fourths, which is pretty typical for post bop of the time. Henderson builds his solo from intervals, occasionally throwing in more typically boppish scalar ideas. He also throws in some minor vocalizing, but nothing too threatening. Mike Lawrence takes a modal approach, taking care to intersperse melodies to keep the listener grounded. Hancock takes an interesting approach on electric piano. He starts with subterranean trills, which bubble up into melody. Then he gets into a combination of pentatonic lines and closely voiced comps utilizing an interval of seconds, and then intertwines the two.

Ron Carter’s Opus One-Point-Five, one of two compositions in the set not written by Joe Henderson, is a slowly unraveling, through composed not-quite-a-ballad. It’s hard to tell where the melody ends and the improvisation begins. The performance is characterized by extreme sensitivity by the quartet (Mike Lawrence sits out again). They feel their way through, sometimes venturing ideas, but always reacting to what’s around them.

Isotope is a kind of mutated 12 bar blues, with Henderson and Hancock doubling the melody. Hancock takes the first solo in a type of loose swing, utilizing his classic single note lines. Ron Carter is walking behind him, but Jack DeJohnette doesn’t sound fully committed to a traditional swing. Sure enough, during the turnaround, Hancock drops out and Carter takes over, briefly superimposing a 3/4 feel over the form before heading back into swing time. Disorienting and very cool. Henderson constructs his solo from the implied harmonies from the head. He uses a lot of ideas: swift arpeggiations, scalar runs, he’ll even drop in a blues lick from time to time.

Power To The People is built on a dance-like bass ostinato built on the tonic, fifth, and an octave above the tonic. The bridge departs from this static, dance-like character and has the effect of increasing the forward momentum until the form is exhausted and repeats. The harmony is modal. This kind of locks in Ron Carter, but leaves everyone else to invent. Harmonically, Hancock is all over the place, while at the same time contributing to the groove.

The quartet finally tackles a conventional tune on the Roross/Latouche penned Lazy Afternoon, taken at an ambling swing. It’s telling that the way Joe Henderson has arranged it, it’s not clear where the head leaves off and the improvisation begins. It seems like Henderson believed at this point in his career that this sort of organic conception was desirable. I agree — too bad it wasn’t more marketable.

For the final tune of the date, Foresight and Afterthough (an impromptu suite), Henderson decided to go with a trio, leaving out Hancock. The result is the most furious swing of the date. Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette just explode. The first episode quietly fades away. The second half of the suite is more exploratory, with Carter playing measured tones in the lower register while Henderson alternates between wistful cries and anguished screams. As if on a signal, the trio once again roars goes from zero to sixty into killer swing.

Power To The People is not an easy recording to pin down. It’s characterized by relentless invention from all of the players, awesome sensitivity and empathy between the members of the band, and the organic conception of the leader. Most of all, Power To The People is about communication in different contexts. This is brainy, intellectual, elusive stuff. Mind you, there’s plenty of emotional content, too, but it’s not homogenized for easy consumption.