HERITAGE

4.5 stars. It seems like everyone wants to compare this to Henderson's debut "Realization" which is one of those "Mwandishi" offshoots and a challenging masterpiece to say the least. This is Eddie's fourth studio album from 1976 and it's melodic and often very Miles-like. I love how samey the music is here, it's not in a hurry and there is so much going on most of the time. Julian Priester adds his trombones to the proceedings. We also get soprano sax, bass clarinet and flute. Add some tasty electric piano, clavinet and synths. Mike Clark does most of the drumming but Billy Hart plays on the closer. Congas and percussions and how about Paul Jackson on bass. I just can't get enough of this album.

I love the chilled sounds on the funky opener "Inside You" with those spacey synths and upfront bass as Henderson plays over top. "Nostalgia" is another highlight. That bass intro that actually continues throughout is so cool. Some sparse horns and electric piano as beats and cymbals help out. "Dr.Mganga" is an interesting title but Mganga is the name Eddie took when with Herbie's bunch and of course Henderson is a Doctor hence the title. What a song though. So much going on and I can't get enough of that electric piano. How about that trumpet! "Dark Shadow" ends it and it opens with bass clarinet as percussion sounds and atmosphere help out. Trumpet joins in too as this plods along and that bass clarinet continues almost non stop.

For me this album is all about the mood and "sound". Interesting to have so much going on at often a mid to slow pace. I'm just fascinated with this one.

Co-opting the "Oakland sound" of Paul Jackson-Mike Clark--the rhythm section that Herbie Hancock had been using on his post Head Hunters Headhunters albums (Thrust and Man-Child)--is an indisputably brilliant idea. Add Patrice Rushen, Julian Priester, and Mtume and you have the formula for instant magic.

1. "Inside You" (4:49) reminds me quite a little of FREDDIE HUBBARD's wonderful version of The Stylistics' "People Make the World Go Round" from Polar AC, his final album for Creed Taylor's CTI production team. Like Hubbard's song, this is soothingly hypnotic with some nice ARP synth strings work from Patrice Rushen throughout. (8.875/10)

2. "Acuphuncture" (3:42) there is no mistaking the Smooth Jazz influence of GEORGE BENSON's recent MONSTER hit, Breezin' on this one. Nicely melodic and funky in an early Smooth Jazz kind of way. (8.875/10)

3. "Time & Space" (5:16) a beautiful and contemplative opening to this one opens the door for some great play from Eddie and Patrice. I feel a bit sad for the constrictive restraints spirited bass player Paul Jackson finds himself under. Great soprano sax work from Hadley Caliman. Still, this is an eminently enjoyable Smooth Jazz tune. A top three song for me. Patrice Rushen's multiple instrument contributions should not go without appropriate praise. (9.3333/10)

4. "Nostalgia" (4:10) Yes, sometimes you just can't help but go back to reminisce--which, of course, conjures up inspiration for new songs from the spirit of 1917-73 and the Mwandishi-Crossroads-Sextant-Realization sessions with Herbie and the gang. I love this though it's not very dynamic or fresh. (8.875/10)

5. "Kudu" (6:07) a slow sustained intro leading into a very funky motif started by Paul Jackson's bass at the one-minute mark reveals a song that is very fitting to the Miles Davis school of jazz-rock fusion. Nice clavinet and trumpet accents and flourishes during the next 90 seconds before there is a James Brown-like R&B bridge that shifts the band into support for an even-wilder Miles-like performace from Eddie. Patrice Rushen's electric piano work beneath is so lively that it threatens to distract from Eddie's superlative outbursts. Then Paul Jackson seems to take over at the end of the fifth minute with Patrice amplifying her rhythm guitar-like clavinet play to take us out. Despite the similarities in sound and style to those of 1970s Miles Davis, this is a great Jazz-Funk tune! (9.75/10)

6. "Dr. Mganga" (7:29) the Swahili name that Eddie self-adopted while living in the Mwandishi world, the band pull together a very full, very active, very funky motif that feels as if it's incorporating a variation on Eumir Deodato's "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" My other top three song. (14/15)

7. "Dark Shadow" (6:54) opens with Hadley Caliman playing bass clarinet sounding like a cross between Herbie's "Hidden Shadows" and Weather Report's "Birdland." Eddie throws in a "Nature Boy"-like melody with his muted trumpet to add to the mut-like mélange feeling of this tune. Julian Priester's contributions on trombone in the second and third minutes is awesome. (I've always loved trumpet and trombone way more than that of any saxophone or clarinet.) Patrice Rushen is also doing some very clever and interesting things beneath the horn soloists. The main bass-and-bass clarinet "Birdland" melody playing beneath it all, however, begins to feel a bit worn out: by the time we're approaching the end (which is, thankfully, quite dynamic) I've about had enough of it. Even Patrice and drummer Billy Hart seem to go to sleep around this point--and then, in the middle of the sixth minute, they do! They crash! Everything falls apart: rubbernecks before popping back to action. Unfortunately, they choose to just pick up the same parts they were all playing--the very ones that brought on the group narcoleptic fit! Not my favorite--and a sad way to close an album (cuz it leaves me with a sour feeling of disappointment). (13/15)

Total Time 38:27

Despite Eddie's tendency to "borrow" themes from other songs/artists in order to start/build his own songs, I cannot ignore the contributions to the progression of Jazz-Rock Fusion that Eddie Henderson and his collaborators have made.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Jazz-Rock Fusion that falls into the category of early Smooth Jazz.