Joe Henderson - In 'n Out

Every single album produced by the team of Joe Henderson and Kenny Dorham has become a Blue Note classic. "In 'N Out", propelled by the rhythm section of McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones is particularly memorable for Henderson's "Punjab" and "Serenity", both of which have become jazz standards. An alternate take of the title tune has been added to the album.

JOE HENDERSON, tenor sax; KENNY DORHAM, trumpet; McCOY TYNER, piano; RICHARD DAVIS, bass; ELVIN JONES, drums

* bonus track, not part of original LP.
Recorded on April 10, 1964 at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Album Description

Joe Henderons Burns

In'n out is extremely top quality jazz that deserves the highest of ratings. Right here you have the greatest rhythmn section in the world of McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis, and Elvin Jones. The horns are of course Joe who is just smokin' and Kenny dorham who was one of the uncredited but most influential trumpeters and in some ways created the basis of hardbop trumpet playing. Dorham was constantly being overlooked, in the forties and fifties he was in the shadow of Dizzy and Miles and in the sixties Lee Morgan, Freddie hubbard and Woody Shaw came along. Blakey once defined Dorham as the uncrowned king of the trumpet, but enough about Kenny. The title track opens with a complicated theme and Elvin really gets into the groove, his intense drive will never be matched by any drummer. McCoy has incredible fingers I don't think there is a better pianist in the world. Kenny's solo kind of cools things off a bit but Joe takes another and the burner is on high again! "Punjab", by henderson, reseambles the kind of compositions that people like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter were writing. Kenny contributes two obscure but unique sounding compositions "Short Story" and "Browns Town." "In 'n out" is Joe's finest album. It's brother album is tyners "The Real McCoy" with henderson, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones. March 28, 2005

Brilliant, sophisticated hard bop

This was my first album of Henderson as a leader, believe it or not. After running over my list of 60's jazz, especially Blue Note albums, I was astonished to see that my only cd at all with Henderson was Horace Silver's Song for My Father.

I went to the bookstore and had to choose between In n' Out, Inner Urge and Page One. I eventually chose the first (obviously) because it had one of my favorite piano/drums combination in McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, and also had Kenny Dorham. I was glad of my choice, as this album is superb. Compositionally it's nothing exciting, but as is often said in the liner-notes, the tunes are used as springboards for soloing, which is just fine with me. Henderson is the emobidiment of creative fire throughout, at once reminiscent of Coltrane and yet with an approach wholly his own. The tracks are all exciting from start to finish, especially Punjab and Serenity, and retains the brawniness of hard bop combined with enough freedom and originality to tie it into the more overt modernism of Coltrane and Shorter's works of the same period. Sophisticated hard bop, then.

As for the rest of the band, I can only say that McCoy Tyner matches Henderson note for note; his solos are just as exciting and interesting, just as I always expect him to be. Elvin Jones is one of my 3 favorite drummers, and this cd is one more example of his stunning talent. Richard Davis is extremely solid on bass. My one complaint is Dorham, who though I wouldn't say sounds uncomfortable (like Bob Blumenthal does in the liner-notes) nevertheless is not on par with the rest of the band. His solos are all good, but never brilliant. But the album is about Henderson, and he delivers the goods in spades. It's a wonderful bonus when Tyner and Jones deliver them too. Now I'm going to go buy Inner Urge.

September 27, 2004

"In 'N Out" Needs To Be In Your Collection

Among the latest batch of Blue Note RVG titles (8/10/04), is a reissue of Joe Henderson's classic "In 'N Out." This album has been available on CD before (it was originally released in 1994), but it had drifted out-of-print within the past few years. With this new edition, lovingly remastered by original engineer Rudy Van Gelder, hopefully "In 'N Out" will find a permanent place "in" the EMI catalog.

It was a risky endeavor for Alfred Lion to partner three of his stars -- Grant Green, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson -- with half of the John Coltrane Quartet (pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones) at the height of that group's powers in 1964. But that is exactly what he did, and it was a bet that paid off with six amazing albums, two of which were Henderson's -- "Inner Urge" (see my review) and this title "In 'N Out." And while Joe sounds his most 'Trane-like (to excellent results I might add) on the former, this April 10, 1964 session simply yields a thoroughly creative exploration of modern jazz. Additionally joined by frequent collaborator Kenny Dorham on trumpet and Richard Davis on bass, this quintet tackles five original compositions (three by JH, two by KD) that can hold their own with anything in the Blue Note canon, or anything made in the watershed jazz year of 1964 for that matter. Jazz fans, if you don't have "In 'N Out" in your collection, you need to get out and buy it! September 14, 2004

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