The same year as Pharoah Sanders’ Elevation (1974), saxophonist Joe Henderson enlisted that record’s violinist (Michael White) and percussionist (Kenneth Nash) for an ambitious, conceptual collaboration with the great Alice Coltrane.
Henderson was a rare jazz performer who could fit into any musical environment. From a family of 15 siblings, he found inspiration in Charlie Parker and studied in Detroit where he met Donald Byrd and Yusef Lateef. Soon he was lending his sophisticated horn playing to some of the finest Blue Note sessions ever recorded.
From hard bop (Horace Silver’s Song for My Father (1964)) to the avant-garde (Andrew Hill‘s Point of Departure (1964)); the funky (Herbie Hancock‘s Fat Albert Rotunda (1969)) and the spiritual (Alice Coltrane’s Ptah, the El Daoud (1970)); Henderson always seemed at home.
At the end of the 1960s the versatile tenor man moved from Blue Note to Milestone and turned his attention to world music and political expression. Meanwhile Alice Coltrane (also from Detroit) had been exploring the outer reaches of jazz since her husband’s death in 1967, making her partnership with Henderson a gratifying cosmic alignment.
The result was The Elements (1973), four Henderson compositions based on each element (the classical ones, not the chemical ones; see Tom Lehrer for a song about those) that also feature Charlie Haden on bass, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler on drums and Baba Duru Oshun on tabla.
With Henderson doubling on flutes and playing the saxophone with a fiery, Trane-like intensity, the effect is that of one moving whole, music that appears to rotate like the Earth, rooted in the circular, motoring sound of Detroit. Aided by echo and overdubbing, the album has a cavernous, natural sound that traverses Indian, Latin and Native American influences.
‘Fire’ is the explosive opener, a volcanic, Latin-tinged groove heated by Haden’s bubbling bassline and Henderson’s echoing horn. Coltrane switches between piano and harp, adding the transcendent touch elemental to her work; the quality of reaching into space while grounded to the streets.
Hear more from Henderson on our ‘Sax Machines’ playlist, or alternatively, meditate on the celestial tones of Alice Coltrane in our ‘Harpin’ On’ playlist.
If you enjoyed this post and want to stay updated, make sure to subscribe to our Spotify playlist and follow us on Instagram and Twitter!
