Inner Urge

There are a number of albums on the Blue Note label, but few of them mean as much to me as Inner Urge, by Joe Henderson.

It's easy to see why: it has McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, with Bob Cranshaw on bass.  You've basically got the Coltrane Quartet rhythm section with some genius alterations for good measure.  And it's Joe blowing his best.

It's funny, but back in my CD craze days I bought tons of Blue Notes, but somehow missed Inner Urge.  Only when Tower Records was going out of business did I nab it up.  Now it's among my "lesser known favorites."

Is it blasphemy to like Joe Henderson more than John Coltrane?  I don't think so.  Coltrane was his own unique thing, for sure.  But Joe is everything--speed, tone, overblowing, ballads--all of it beautiful.  I'll even listen to some of his lesser known stuff in awe.

I "discovered" Joe originally through his playing with the other Blue Note musicians--Horace Silver, Pete La Roca (Sims), Grant Green, Bobby Hutcherson, Andrew Hill, Eric Dolphy.  It didn't take long to realize he was the secret ingredient that made all of those albums great.