Joe Henderson - Mode For Joe (1960)

The second track on side Henderson's original Mode For Joe album. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on January 27, 1966 and released on Blue Note records.
Given the date of this release and the band lineup, one might assume that this is a straight-up hard-bop album. However this composition, featuring trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Joe Chambers is a great example of modern jazz at its best. The album was recorded during a time of sweeping musical changes due to developments in free jazz, soul jazz, and even early experiments with fusion. It was a time when the bluesy and funky leanings of hard-boppers were giving way to more individualized contemporary approaches. One of the best examples of this shift, Mode For Joe sounds more like the experimental work of Branford Marsalis than the groovy musings of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
Cedar Walton is no minor composer, but he may have reached the pinnacle with Mode for Joe. Chords gracefully ascend and descend, and optimal use is made of spacing and timing. The expanded horn ensemble along with Hutcherson's vibes gives the song the elegant heft it demands, without being too large to play nimbly.
But this song isn't perfect just because Walton scored it flawlessly, though. Mode For Joe is a signature Joe Henderson performance as well. In the midst of the call and response between Henderson and the rest of the front line, the leader shocks the listener by inserting some rough, dissonant lines that he repeats precisely as played the first time. His solo that follows is likewise a mixture of cool, precise phrasing with loosely conceived statements punctuated by coarse honks. Like the great painter Picasso, Joe Henderson combines the odd with the beautiful to create something oddly beautiful.
The last track on Mode For Joe, Free Wheelin’, is the only dyed-in-the-wool hard-bop tune heard here. Other than that, this outing’s mostly up-tempo songs serve as vehicles for solos. Henderson himself proves that the template for players such as Marsalis, Joe Lovano, and Joshua Redman was invented a generation earlier, as evidenced on A Shade of Jade, Black, and others, making this one of the sax legend’s most intriguing albums.