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In Reply to: RE: Joe Henderson.... posted by andy evans on March 28, 2021 at 01:09:13
....I was amazed to hear how soft and gentle his sound actually was. His sound is quite variable and yes, mostly "hard" on the 60's BN sides, but I suspect this is the product of BN's house sonics more than anything else. His real sound, at least by the time I heard him, was more like what you hear on his Lush Life album--almost a whisper of a sound. The State of the Tenor records capture this sound pretty well too, as do some of the 70's era sides I've heard. In the video here I hear all of the above. The sound is more on the hard side when he's overblowing the horn, but there's a lot of the softer sound in evidence too.I'm curious what our resident saxmen might have to say....did Joe consciously change his approach at some point or was he sonically misrepresented more than other tenor players typically were on record? The small sound I heard in concert would seem to foster that kind of thing, and the super close-up, almost unreal recorded sound on Lush Life seems to me a hint as to why that may be.
Whatever the case, I've never ever been prone to avoiding listening to Joe Henderson. :-)
dh
Edits: 03/28/21 03/28/21Follow Ups:
That was his last great album! Loved it. So Near, So Far was excellent too.
Edits: 03/28/21
Joe was a Microphone Player.
Had his own Vintage Mic at the Big Band Gigs I played in SF.
Most of us overblew the Mics with our bigger sounds when soloing, but Joe sounded Fantastic.
His sound was tailored for the Actual Scene in Clubs!
He played a Selmer Hard Rubber Mpc, and on his older recordings got a rather gritty and edgy sound due to the nature of the Mpc, that's how they play.
He did sound mellower later, probably change Mpcs along the way, ( to a different Selmer Mpc ) and changed his style as he got older.
But when I heard him, he sounded absolutely great, ideas coming from right out of the air!!!
His sound was perfectly tailored for his Mic, and he knew how to Work It!
Edits: 03/28/21
Saw him at Milestones in a scarce Hometown Gig many moons ago.
He had more "bite" to his sound than I thought he might, but it weren't hardly hard.
Good set.
Knew someone that lived near him in Forrest Hills that siad he was a great guy and neighbor.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
and is still on KCSM Saturdays was the Manager.
I have a photo of me playing a Jam Session there, just as many moons ago...
The Big Band Gigs I played with his Band.
I saw him on a 1985 Video with Herbie and Freddie Hubbard.
Joe seemed to be playing a shiny new Mark VII (!!), and wasn't getting his best sound.
At one point, he didn't even seem to be playing on the Head, kind of ghosting it!
I know he was happy to get his horn back,
don't know about whether his Mpc was stolen too.
Charlie Mariano's Mark VI and Meyer Mpc he recorded on in the early 60's also was stolen.
It's tough getting a new set-up to replace a much older, comfortable, tried and true Horn
and Mpc!
/Users/jim/Desktop/Screen Shot 2021-03-28 at 5.13.10 pm.pn
Joe was known to play a Selmer Soloist D hard rubber mouthpiece, which has a small chamber (as you know). The mouthpiece in the video does not "appear" to be a Selmer Soloist. But probably a shall chamber piece anyway.
I believe I did actually see him live once, which would have been late in his career. His tone was indeed softer and he played beautifully for course.
Those early BN and other recordings, like with Horace Silver, seemed to project a much harder tone.
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