Henderson Trio Finds Its Focus in Pure Inspiration

Joe Henderson’s latest album features the veteran tenor saxophonist surrounded by the brassy textures and driving rhythms of a big jazz band.

So, did he bring a similar ensemble to the Jazz Bakery Tuesday night for the opening performance of a weeklong run? Hardly. In fact, Henderson, ever intent upon traveling his own road, went almost completely to the opposite extreme, showing up with only two musical associates, bassist George Mraz and drummer Al Foster.

It’s hard to go wrong with partners like that, of course. And if the performance didn’t do much to plug the new Henderson recording (“Joe Henderson Big Band,� Verve Records), it did confirm, as most of his appearances do, that Henderson is one of the four or five finest jazz saxophonists in the world.

A trio of tenor saxophone, bass and drums is the jazz equivalent of basic classical chamber ensembles--a string trio, perhaps, or a string quartet. In each case, a great deal of creative inspiration is condensed into a spare, no-frills form of expression, the irreducible essence of the music.

For the Henderson unit, it meant a program in which composition, organization and structure were set aside in favor of probing, individual improvisations and spontaneous group interaction. The set, which included selections from Henderson’s previous album tributes to Antonio Carlos Jobim and Billy Strayhorn, as well as a bop tune and an original or two, unfolded with virtually no pauses between numbers, and no announcements at all--a pure focus upon the music.

Henderson has always been a fascinating improviser, capable of pulling listeners into his most complex musical explorations. But Mraz’s surging bass lines and Foster’s sympathetic drumming made him sound even better, his fertile imagination seemingly liberated by their urgently swinging support. And this time, unlike earlier Henderson appearances in which the accompanists seemed to serve as a backdrop, the Czechoslovakia-born Mraz, a constantly in-demand sideman, stepped forward as an equal creative partner. Mraz’s solos, brilliantly virtuosic, were played with an articulateness that--even in this era of fast-fingered bassists--was astounding.

It was improvisational jazz at its best--jazz that insisted upon (and got) an attentive hearing from the audience. But the rewards, from this gifted trio of players, were more than worth the effort.

* The Joe Henderson Trio at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., (310) 271-9039. $25 admission today through Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8 p.m. $20 tonight through Saturday at 10:15 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Ends Sunday.