Thursday, July 1, 2010

More Big Band with Joe Henderson

I did a little calculation tonight.  The Penguin Guide to Jazz, may it be praised, claims 14,000 reviews.  Here's the thing: if you listened to each reviewed disc for five minutes, about the average length of a single number, that would add up to 70,000 minutes, or 1167 hours.  At eight hours a day, that would be 146 days.  I trust that the authors of the Guide have nothing else to do.  

I have more than 900 jazz albums, according to my iTunes program.  Of course, that includes every single disc in my three Bill Evans box sets.  No wonder I am behind in my listening.  

But tonight (it's payday!) I added another gem: Joe Henderson's Big Band.  I have a very warm spot in my heart for Joe.  His deep heart dredge has gotten me through more than one funk.  I listed his State of the Tenor as one of the ten best jazz recordings.  Maybe Sonny Rollins is "greater".  I would rather spend my time with Joe.  

As I said in my previous post, jazz big band albums are frequently concertos: a dialogue between an instrumentalist and an orchestra.  It kinda reminds me of baseball.  Joe, with his sax, squares off against a field of horns and mallets.  Anyway, Henderson's Big Band is a marvelous album.  Everything you want in a Henderson album is there, with that lush sound behind him.  I got it from Amazon for a song.  Here's a sample:
Joe Henderson/Inner Urge/Big Band

2 comments:

  1. Love that record cover! I'll listen to the tune now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ravel: I like the cover as well. The music is even better.

    ReplyDelete