JOE HENDERSON — Canyon Lady (review)

JOE HENDERSON — Canyon Lady album cover Album · 1975 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sean Trane
By the time Canyon Lady was out, Henderson was now fully in the 70’s, and his Milestones label albums were clearly attesting this. Of course, JH’s move away from the Big Apple proved to be a breath of fresh air, but it also allowed him to renew his supporting cast, thus the appearance of George Duke, Eric Gravatt or conga-man Aguabella, but most importantly pianist Marl Levine, who would compose the two tracks on the flipside of Canyon, the first even giving the album its name.

The opening Tres Palabra offers a slightly Latin conversation with a small Gil Evans-type of big band. Henderson’s only composition on the album is certainly the highlight of the album as Las Palmas features some red-hot steamy fusion that started very softly and settles into a bedevilled groove. Over the flipside, the title track is a mid-tempo filled with congallero (yup, I like to make up some names too) rhythms with George Duke’s excellent Rhodes tapestry as a woven sonic fabric. The closing All Things Considered is more or less in the same line, thus inducing a certain déjà-entendu (without Duke, though), though Aguabella’s conga solo (possibly a duet with Pantoja) will certainly dispel that feeling.

With this kind of album, Henderson moved in the proximity of his label-mate Tyner (though masterpieces like Sahara were still rather unreachable), and he would even go on to better things with Multiple. While purist will hail his 60’s works on Blue Note (like Mode For Joe), this fusionhead will likely go with Henderson’s Milestones era.

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