Jeff Henderson: The Garrulous Sax (iii/digital outlets)

The title here might be a bit dismissive of this work from the enormously productive saxophonist Henderson: there's nothing trivial or long-winded about his music, certainly not on something as powerful as these solo pieces on various vintage saxophones recorded live in the Stella Maris Chapel in Wellington in May 2021.

The location may have inspired a kind of exorcism attack because the title track opener arrives with blasts of baritone sax like the warning horns of freighters in the fog.

Begone evil spirits!

A previous solo outing on clarinets, The Charming Clarinet, would be a challenge to any Benny Goodman fans as he explored the range of the instrument, taking it into areas of abstraction, repetition and manipulations of the sound by Daniel Beban.

This muscular collection finds Henderson wrestling with the instruments to get an aggressive, weave'n'jab (Birds Nest), long lines drawn out and bent (Wet Whistle) or exploring sound in a quizzical, quirky manner (the punctuations and squeaks of History Lesson which sounds like a gaggle of crazy birds clucking and peeping).

Aisle Toad sounds positively argumentative. 

This is both an exploration of possibilities and a surprisingly engaging collection of abstract music and sounds which won't be for the Lester Young fan but coming to it from the trickledown of Primitive Art Group, John Zorn and others who ran to the cliff edge and jumped, it's an impressive statement.

Accept the challenge.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here