Joe Henderson - Lush Life: The Music Of Billy Strayhorn CD

 Soulful and Explorative
This is a great collection of Strayhorn tunes. From the opening notes of "Isfahan", a excellent duet with bassist Christian McBride, you can tell it is something special. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis guests on two tracks and his solos are nothing short of inspired. The core quintet are all extremely good players. There is the crisp drumming of Gregory Hutchinson throughout, especially in the fittingly locomotive-style groove he sets in his duet with Joe on "Take the 'A' Train". Christian McBride shows his maturity on this record with thoughtful solos especially the bowed solo on "Johnny Come Lately". The piano from Stephen Scott is at times swinging and tight like for the "Drawing Room Blues" and at others more experimental especially in "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing". Of course, the standout throughout is Joe Henderson. His remarkably clear tone has plenty of warmth as well as intensity. His improvisation here is inspirational...overall his playing has been a great influence on me personally as well as I play tenor saxophone. If you want to check out his playing a little further try his 60's Blue Note albums and for a more experimental bop pick up McCoy Tyner's "The Real McCoy", where he plays tenor on all tracks. But I think on here he is both accessible while he is able to explore and take his playing to a high level. This may be as much Strayhorn's doing as it is Joe's.
Submitted by Jeff (ON, Canada)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  0 of 1 found this helpful.
This review is for a different format.

Have you heard this album?