Eddie Henderson: "Inside Out"

Finding this album in Kailua felt a bit like the end of an era for me, as it’s the last LP of Eddie Henderson’s classic ‘70’s output that I didn’t have in my collection.  Once upon a time, Eddie Henderson records were the tip of the iceberg, long before I delved into digging for deeper obscurities…they had a mysterious sound and were not necessarily easy to find, so they took on a life of their own, each one popping up in unlikely places, each one filled with Henderson’s unique desire to mix Miles-esque free melodic trumpet with grinding funk grooves.  “Inside Out” is one of Eddie’s early solo outings, made before his eventual cultivation of a more commercial, accessible sonority in the mid- to late-‘70’s.  This is from the period where Herbie Hancock’s Sextant group was still relatively intact; though the collective had stopped making albums under that name they soldiered on under the leadership of Henderson.  The Sextant band had always pursued a unique vision, pushing the boundaries of free jazz while still rooting their rhythms in highly percussive funk vamping.  The music on “Inside Out,” recorded in ’74, represents their swan song, as Henderson and company all began to veer off into drastically different territory once Hancock launched the heavy funk bomb of his first Headhunters album later that same year.  Here the band is still exploring the cosmos with a noted obliviousness towards platinum-selling aspirations, playing expansive, layered grooves that range from the African-influenced “Moussaka” to the 7/8 time, fractured funk of the title track.  This music may not appeal to everybody, as its multidirectional perspective can be distracting at times, but for those interested in the fusion movement’s timid look at R&B before the all-encompassing guidance of the funk era took hold, this is for you.