• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Joe Henderson: "State of the Tenor" w/ Ron Carter

Sam Sherry

Sam Sherry

Inadvertent Microtonalist
Supporting Member
Sep 26, 2001
2,815
2,785
Portland, ME
#1
Wow! I picked this 1985 double-CD up ten days ago and it hasn't stopped playing since! This is a trio of Hen, RC and Al Foster -- masters all and in top form, live at the Vanguard.

Mr. Carter, in mature voice, just tells the truth about how to play modern jazz with no piano or guitar. There's a lot going on -- many double-stops -- but it's all incredibly musical, "full" not "frantic."

Robin & BML, thanks for the recommendation. I can't believe I didn't hear this 20 years ago.
 
#3
Yeah, I had a gig at a blues club in San Jose, Ca, with Joe right after "State.....Tenor I" came out.
On the break, I made a comment on how great the recording was and Joe asked me, "Do you have the cassette in your car? I have'nt heard it yet."
This is 20 years ago but I remember it like yesterday.
I said I did, so we listened to it in my car.
He seemed very interested.
I said, "You're touching All the basses, Joe."
He said, "Uh, right."

These two CD's are brilliant! Recorded live at the Village Vanguard over a one week period, Ron's performance is a lesson in well-seasoned taste. His time and intonation is impeccable. Both Mr Carter and Mr Foster lay a stellar foundation for Joe's teeming creativity.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oliebrice
#7
Interesting you'd mention Charlie because the week before Joe was to play Village Vanguard, we had breakfast and he said he would be gone next week to NYC. I could swear he said he had a record date at the V.V. with Al Foster and Charlie Haden. When the recording came out, it was Ron. I never asked him why the change. He did say this session was the 'big' one that would put him back in the game-Blue Note label.
I had a trio gig with him the Monday after he came back from NYC, but we played Joe's list of tunes, not what he did on the recordings.
 
#10
:rolleyes: Joe was a good friend. We kept in touch over the years.
I flew back around Thanksgiving 2000, right before my first son was born, from Thailand to see friends in Bay Area. We had a long conversation at his home. He was so sick with emphysema-pretty sad. He asked me to come back the next day but when I arrived, the family had taken him to Stanford Hospital where he stayed until he died in 2001.
Yeah, I've got many 'Joe' stories. He was a fine conversationalist and spent most of his time in the abstract. As Jimmy Heath said, "Joe's got a serious wig."

At the time, Larry Grenadier lived in the Bay Area, so other bassists like me were thrown a bone occasionally. At the time, I was fortunate enough to have solid groups with Brian Melvin, Calvin Keys and John Handy, so those made me a living.

Anyway, this is a bit out of context, so......
 
#12
Well, thanks for piquing my curiosity, Bruce; I just went and checked out Tim Hauff (aka Bass_Means_Low)'s very informative website.

Tim, I noticed that the Brian Melvin CD you recorded also featured my old pal Wayne DeSilva, surely one of the greatest saxophonists to come out of Hawaii. I love that guy; very cool with a great vibe.

Those saxophone trios are fun to do, especially if you have someone who can pull it off as well as Wayne can.
 
#15
My buddy Jeff Silverbush just loaned me a handful of JoHen recordings (since my own collection is dreadfully lacking).
So far I've listened to BASRA (really under Pete LaRoca's name), INNER URGE and one of two live records recorded in Baltimore with the Wynton Kelly Trio (PC and Jimmy Cobb).
The live thang is really killer, standards with Joe really stretching over a swinging rhythm section. It sounds pretty modern in a lot of ways.

INNER URGE I haven't sent much time with yet, but I gotta say I don't dig Bob Cranshaw's playing on the title cut. It sounds like me, just hanging on by the skin of my teeth. And I really dig his playing on THE BRIDGE.

BASRA - whoo eee. NICE record. Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow on upright and Pete on drums. EVERYBODY sounds great on this record, Swallow has an open intro to the title tune and sounds like what would happen if you put Scotty and Charlie in the same head. GREAT sound out of the bass. And LAZY AFTERNOON! whoo ee. HIGHLY recommended.
 
#16
Ed Fuqua said:
The live thang is really killer, standards with Joe really stretching over a swinging rhythm section. It sounds pretty modern in a lot of ways.
Click to expand...
I remember that being the talk of the town (literally) when it came out a few years back. The gig itself was around 1968, no? One of if not THE last recording PC was on.

Also I heard there are a couple other discs released from that Left Bank series, which were secretly recorded and stashed away all these years.
 
#19
Joe did several sax/bass/drum projects. The "Barcelona" CD with Ed Soph and Wayne Darling presents very strong playing by all three. The standards CD with Rufus is right in there. I haven't heard "The Montreal Tapes" or "An Evening With Joe Henderson" with Haden and Foster, nor have I heard the drummer-less trio with Friesen, Chick and Joe called "Voices". I'll get to those soon. The "State of the Tenor" project brought out some of Ron, Al and Joe's finest playing, but more importantly, the unity among the three is amazing.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back