Interestingly, in the original liner notes to the first volume, Crouch likens Henderson’s Village Vanguard concerts to “saxophone lessons”, on account of the number of horn players that were in the audience that night. The reason why its six tracks were omitted from Volume 1 seems more to do with the taste of the album’s producer (and noted US jazz critic) Stanley Crouch. Yet State Of The Tenor, Volume 2 cannot be dismissed as a collection of leftovers. While the first volume of State Of The Tenor confirmed that Joe Henderson was still a force to be reckoned with in jazz, the second volume served to underline that impression while also satisfying the need of those who wanted to hear more material from the concerts.

The recordings from those Village Vanguard concerts in 1985 showed that Henderson was at the peak of his creative powers. The first volume of State Of The Tenor not only reunited Henderson with Blue Note (which at that point in its history had been spectacularly revived under the stewardship of Bruce Lundvall) but was also the first album released under Henderson’s own name after a four-year recording drought. After that, Henderson enjoyed a long sting at Milestone Records, though the late 70s found him freelancing for several different smaller companies. Renowned for combining a husky growling tone with soulful sophistication, Henderson had made his debut as a leader with Blue Note back in 1963, with the album Page One, which began a fertile four-year spell with Alfred Lion’s label, culminating with 1966’s classic Mode For Joe.

Listen to both volumes of State Of The Tenor: Live At The Village Vanguard on Apple Music and Spotify.īy the mid-80s, Joe Henderson, originally from Lima, Ohio, was 42 years old but already assured of a place in the pantheon of great jazz saxophonists.

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