Inner Urge (Joe Henderson album)

Inner Urge
Studio album by Joe Henderson
Released	End of March 1966 [1]
Recorded	November 30, 1964
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Genre	Post-bop hard bop modal jazz
Length	43:14
Label	Blue Note BST 84189
Producer	Alfred Lion
Joe Henderson chronology
In 'n Out (1964) Inner Urge (1966) Mode for Joe (1966)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	(very favorable) [2]
AllMusic	[3]
DownBeat	[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[6]

Inner Urge is an album by the jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson, released in 1966 via Blue Note Records, his fourth recorded as a leader. It was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on November 30, 1964. Featuring Henderson along with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones (both members of the John Coltrane quartet at this time), and bassist Bob Cranshaw (a member of Sonny Rollins' band). ^{[7] [8]}

Compositions

Jazz critic Nat Hentoff interviewed Henderson for the album's original liner notes essay, and Henderson described the creative impulses behind several of the songs to Hentoff. The title track, "Inner Urge," which has since become a jazz standard, was a reflection of a time in his life when Henderson was "coping with the anger and frustration that can come of trying to find your way in the maze of New York, and of trying to adjust the pace you have to set in hacking your way in that city in order to just exist." Henderson also told Hentoff that "Isotope" is a tribute to Thelonious Monk and Monk's use of musical humor. Hentoff writes elsewhere in the liner notes that "El Barrio" represents Henderson's attachment to the "Spanish musical ethos", and that the piece was inspired by Henderson reflecting on his childhood in Lima, Ohio. Henderson is quoted as saying that he gave the other musicians "two simple chords, B minor and C major 7 (B phrygian)", and asked them "to play something with a Spanish feeling" while he improvised a melody for the piece. ^[9]

Reception

In a review on All About Jazz, Norman Weinstein calls Inner Urge Henderson's, "most emotionally urgent album" and the "ultimate showcase of his distinguished career . . . . The album seems like an apotheosis of hard bop, a ruthlessly probing amplification of a typical, hard-blowing, Blue Note bop session, pushing bop formulas as far as they could be pushed. As such, I consider it not only one of the best dozen Blue Note sessions ever released, I hear it as one of the major statements of jazz in the '60s, actually recreating the political, economic, and social realities of the turbulent times more precisely than most recorded music of the '60s in any style. An absolutely essential listen and a major masterpiece." ^[10]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the music as "dark and intense". ^[5] Heavy metal guitarist Alex Skolnick described Inner Urge as one of his favorite albums. ^[11]

Track listing

All compositions by Joe Henderson, except where noted.

1. "Inner Urge" – 11:58
2. "Isotope" – 9:15
3. "El Barrio" – 7:15
4. "You Know I Care" (Duke Pearson) – 7:22
5. "Night and Day" (Cole Porter) – 7:24

Personnel

Musicians

• Joe Henderson – tenor saxophone
• McCoy Tyner – piano
• Bob Cranshaw – bass
• Elvin Jones – drums

Recording personnel

• Alfred Lion – producer
• Francis Wolff – cover photograph
• Rudy Van Gelder – engineer

Charts

Chart performance for Inner Urge

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [12]	194
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [13]	189
Scottish Albums (OCC) [14]	73

References

1. Billboard Apr 9, 1966
2. Weinstein, Norman (July 2, 2004). "Joe Henderson: Inner Urge". allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
3. Gioffre, Daniel. "Inner Urge – Joe Henderson | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
4. Down Beat: June 2, 1966 vol. 33, no. 11
5. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). New York: Penguin. p.  627. ISBN   0-14-102327-9.
6. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.  100. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
7. James Beaudreau. "Review at PopMatters" . Retrieved July 29, 2007. On November 30, 1964, nine days before John Coltrane would record A Love Supreme in the same room, late tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson brought two-thirds of Coltrane's rhythm section (and bassist Bob Cranshaw) into Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio and recorded an under-recognized masterpiece.
8. James Beaudreau. "Review at Allmusic" . Retrieved July 29, 2007. He is joined on Inner Urge by veterans of other combos: McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones from John Coltrane's unit and Sonny Rollins sideman Bob Cranshaw
9. Original liner notes by Nat Hentoff
10. Jazz, All About. "Joe Henderson: Inner Urge album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
11. Joe Bosso (2025). Alex Skolnick on five jazz albums every rock and metal guitarist needs to hear. Guitar Player via MSN.com
12. "Ultratop.be – Joe Henderson – Inner Urge" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
13. "Ultratop.be – Joe Henderson – Inner Urge" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
14. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 26, 2022.