Trumpeter and flugelhorn player Eddie Henderson first caught the attention of jazz listeners as a dulcet Miles-esque presence within Herbie Hancock’s boldly progressive early ’70s Mwandishi band. Fusionist in the truest sense, that sextet merged probing improvisation, synths and heavy studio FX, and African and modern classical tonal sketches across three brilliant but commercially challenged albums. Hancock would disband the group and famously pivot his sound towards the earthier pocket and pulse of 1973’s Head Hunters. But neither he nor the rest of his old ensemble members’ subsequent solo recordings entirely abandoned the explorative spirit of Mwandishi. In Henderson’s case, those sensibilities were absorbed into albums that variously embraced lush electronic keyboards and groove-centric rhythms without sacrificing their harmonic sophistication and integrity – an aesthetic wonderfully exemplified by 1976’s Heritage.
Listen to Eddie Henderson’s Heritage now.
From the LP’s sepia-toned cover imagery – Henderson as a child playing trumpet backdropping Henderson as an adult holding his flugelhorn – a tangible sense of personal journey grounds its best moments. A practicing MD who undertook his residency in psychiatry before launching his music career, Henderson adopted the Swahili name Mganga (“Healer”) while with the Mwandishi band. His choice of material and collaborative players here feel perfectly in sync with this nom de plume. The lead track, “Inside You,” is a gorgeous Mtume composition that ripples like an indelible memory. Anchored by piano and crisp, proto-boom-bap drums, it provides an exquisite bed for Henderson’s alternately muted, elongated phrasing and unmuted, staccato stabs.
“Time and Place” and “Nostalgia” share this contemplative vibe. A Henderson original, the former finds the leader’s trumpet and his fellow former Mwandishi cohort Julian Priester’s trombone converging with Patrice Rushen’s electric keys and Hadley Caliman’s soprano sax over the poetic glide of a 6/8 waltz. The latter places Henderson’s melancholy long tones in conversation with Paul Jackson’s bass vamp and drummer Mike Clark’s cymbals (both from Hancock’s Headhunters band) with splashes of Mtume’s percussion and Rushen’s keys rounding out the dialogue.
Heritage also allows ample room for shifting moods. Rushen’s two compositional contributions, “Acuphuncture” and “Kudu,” most explicitly flirt with funk as reference points yet avoid repetition, staying faithful only to the next rhythmic or melodic progression. By the time Henderson and company reach the penultimate, climactic “Dr. Mganga” – a percolating brew of textures and polyrhythms – they’re well deep into the murkier spaces where the brooding meets the beautiful. Based around a repeated riff introduced by Caliman’s bass clarinet, “Dark Shadow” concludes the album on a moody note.
Henderson’s recorded repertoire has since encompassed jazz-funk dance floor favorites and acoustic post-bop traditional. However, Heritage – and “Inside You” in particular – would continue to find fans decades after its release via the hip-hop generation. If “Inside You’s” opening bars’ loop-ability inevitably attracted the ears of rap artists and producers in the ’90s, it’s the transcendent emotive quality of Henderson’s original that made it so ripe for repurposing for the likes of say, Jay-Z’s “Coming of Age” from his classic Reasonable Doubt. And speaks palpably to the broader connectivity inherent in Heritage.
