Recorded at Village Recorders, Los Angeles, Ca., on October 15, 16, 17, 1973
Remixed at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, Ca.
℗ © 1974 Concord Music Group, Inc.

Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series

1970 began a decade of discovery for Joe Henderson, a time to set aside the post-bop instrumentation and repertoire he was identified with and branch out into other realms. One of the most successful and challenging of these efforts that the Milestone label documented was the present four-part improvisation on the basic themes of "Fire", "Air", "Water" and "Earth". Assisting the tenor saxophonist was a group of sympathetic explorers--Alice Coltrane on piano and harp, violin original Michael White, bass giant Charlie Haden, and the multifaceted percussionist Kenneth Nash. Latin American, Indian, and Native American strains enter the mix as Henderson applies the heat and mercurial invention of his more conventional work to these open-ended settings. While the music is enhanced with overdubbing in spots, the true magic of The Elements emanates from the musicians' collective genius at listening and responding to each other.

Tracklist

A1 Fire 11:07
A2 Air 9:53
B1 Water 7:33
B2 Earth 13:15