Power to the People

Henderson, Joe

album cover

Power, in All Its Forms

If it were music, what would a slogan like "Power to the people" sound like? Would it be a flash of anger demanding an end to oppression? Or would it be a ringing melody, affirming the highest ideals of equality and democracy, gently inducing reflection? Would it be the rock singer Patti Smith braying "People Have the Power" or Marvin Gaye lamenting "Make Me Wanna Holler"?

The phrase was heard often during the civil rights movement, and by the time the wily tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson seized it, in 1969, it was probably headed to the rhetorical graveyard. Yet this isn't one of those "topical" album titles jazz musicians slapped on instrumental works in hopes of instant relevance. Henderson (1937–2001) had thought about what "power" is, and his originals focus on quintessential jazz manifestations of it—what happens when five musicians unite in pursuit of one goal, and then what happens when, as on the boogaloo "Afro-Centric," a lone renegade splinters away off on an individual power grab.

Although never a "name" like Sonny Rollins, Henderson had a huge impact on saxophone jazz in the late '60s—because of both his angular compositions ("Isotope," a geometry problem in blues form) and his musing, idiosyncratic playing style. On Power, Henderson improvises like a sculptor, patiently chipping at the block while envisioning the final form. His solos are mazelike knots borne out of a highly developed sense of order. When he gets going, Henderson suggests that an individual's power is less about brute force than elasticity, the ability to reshape difficult circumstances on the fly.

Genre: Jazz
Released: 1969, Milestone
Key Tracks: "Black Narcissus," "Isotope," "Power to the People."
Catalog Choice: Inner Urge; Double Rainbow
Next Stop: Herbie Hancock: Speak like a Child
Book Page: 355

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