Sometimes in appreciating music it’s just a case of catching the right piece in exactly the right circumstance and everything can fall into place. It was a hot evening in the summer and I was out walking, listening to this album on my headphones and that’s when the second tune here, ‘La Mesha’, came on and just knocked me out. I had heard it before but it passed by as nothing more than pleasant. Suddenly it was so much more, relaxed and slowburning its beauty into my mind. Just an amazing piece with Kenny Dorham’s trumpet and Henderson’s tenor sax gently rubbing against each other and in the process creating something magical. Oh yes, I had a moment there alright.
Kenny Dorham wrote ‘La Mesha’ and to give him his due credit he also wrote the other stand out track here ‘Blue Bossa’, regarded by many Blue Note buffs as a classic. That’s not to knock the remaining Henderson tunes which are all strong pieces but it’s that opening one-two punch, the bossanova sugar followed by a nine minute warm soaking of genius that really do it for me. Kenny Dorham is all over this record every bit as much as Henderson, his name up there on the front cover leading the five piece combo and I have to say that is one of the things I love about Jazz, the way everyone gets their credit. Rock and pop history is awash with unsung session heroes and people taking credit for things they haven’t actually played, you don’t get that here. Mind you the piano playing of McCoy Tyner, another strong presence throughout, was only noted with an ‘etc’ on the original album cover due to his being contracted to John Coltrane’s Impulse! Label. My CD remaster puts that right, especially in the sleevenotes which label this Jazz period as ‘Bop to-Free’. That being the case ‘Bop-to-Free’ could well be an era I need to listen to a lot more of.
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