Trumpeter Eddie Henderson has been around for decades, first making a name for himself with Herbie Hancocks Mwandishi band before putting out some hip albums of his own. Here, he makes a good case for proving the point that he’s the logical anchor leg from the trumpet baton of Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw. He’s still got an incredibly warm and buttermilk of a tone, and mixes tunes here from the aforementioned horn kings with some of his own as some mixers of post-bop and modals. The team here is first class, representing a mix of hip grooves and lyrical soloing a la the halcyon days of CTI, when funky beats mixed with expressive melodies. How can you argue with a team of Gary Bartz/as, George Cables/p-Rhodes, Doug Weiss/b and Carl Allen, and they do wonders with things like a burning “First Light” that has the horn players deliver lyrically memorable solos over the famously lyrically complex “B” section, while the smolder like a Montecristo on “Sunburst” and “Dreams.” Cables does wonders on “Together” and his own “Beyond Forever” and the band sounds like it has something to prove to the younger generations who have lost their way on the hard hitting “Zoltan.” These gents give portraits of music when lyricism, melody, tone, style and hard hitting swing don’t have to be incompatible cohorts. A gem!
Smoke Sessions Records