Joe Henderson – Multiple (2025 Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series)

Description

Multiple finds saxophone virtuoso Joe Henderson operating in the sonic space between Fusion and Free Jazz, joined by a world-class ensemble featuring Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Larry Willis, and James Blood Ulmer, who all heavily contribute to the momentum that makes the album a meeting of giants.

This Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf reissue of Multiple was cut from the original analog tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, and comes packaged in a gatefold tip-on jacket. (via Label)

Multipleis a bellwether album for jazz fans. You can tell a lot about listeners’ ear and where their tastes reside based on whether they’re big fans of Multiple, indifferent toward it, or don’t like it at all. Joe Henderson’s career arc has three major nodes — his hard bopping ’60s era, his ’70s fusion stint, and his later reincarnation as a Grammy-winning, critically acclaimed, standard-blowing sage. Of these three, Henderson’s ’70s run is often underappreciated or, in some cases, dismissed and even mildly maligned. The detractors are usually those with more traditional and, at times, stodgy ears. Hip cats — “with-it cats,” as they said in the ’70s — loved Multiple Joe, Afrocentric Joe, semi-militant Joe, grooving Joe, burnin’ Joe. Multiple is probably Henderson’s greatest album from this era and its fans share a cult-kinship. Whereas most fusion artists of the day were spiking their jazz with rock guitar and “elements” of funk, there was a certain set (Gary Bartz, for example) who offered concentrated, pungent funk.

You won’t find a bassline likeDave Holland‘s “Turned Around” on aReturn to Foreveralbum. It’s the Multiple rhythm section (Holland, a maniacally drummingJack DeJohnette, and pianistLarry Willis) that makes it such a nasty set. The album’s classic cut, “Tress-Cum-Deo-La,” doesn’t walk or bop; it struts with a pronounced limp, like the fellas who swaggered up urban avenues with tilted fedoras. And then there’s Henderson, blowing some of the most impassioned solos of his career. There’s an activism to his phrasing; you could hear it onSly Stonerecords, but you could feel it here. That songs as majestic as “Bwaata” almost feel like afterthoughts is a tribute to this album’s thorough mean streak. Those ignorant to the import of Henderson’s Milestone albums especiallyMultiple might scoff at such high praise for what is viewed by some as a nonessential album thrown into the Henderson discography. Such is life for the unhip. (via AllMusic)

Label: Milestone, Jazz Dispensary
Series: Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 180g
Reissued: 2025 / Original Release: 1973
Genre: Jazz, Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk
Style: Afro-Cuban Jazz, Modal, Fusion

File under: Jazz // Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk