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A never-before-issued live recording of jazz legends McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson leading a stellar quartet with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Jack DeJohnette at the hallowed lost jazz shrine Slugs' Saloon in New York City in 1966. Originally recorded by the legendary engineer Orville O’Brien — who recorded classic 1960s jazz albums such as Freddie Hubbard’s The Night of the Cookers and Alice Coltrane's Journey to Satchidananda — the tape has been in DeJohnette's personal archives for nearly 60 years. 

Spotlighting a fiery evening at the storied New York club, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' captures McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson in a kinetic 1966 live performance. The pianist and tenor saxophonist had already been close associates by the time they convened, along with drummer Jack Dejohnette and bassist Henry Grimes, at Slugs' Saloon in Manhattan's East Village. They had both recorded with Lee Morgan the same year, appearing on Delightfulee. Tyner had also played on Henderson's classic 1964 date In 'n Out. For Tyner, this was a crucial transitional period, right after he left John Coltrane's group and before his run of classic Blue Note albums; one that would begin the following year with The Real McCoy featuring Henderson. They kick the night off with a truly epic 27-minute take of Henderson's "In 'n Out," featuring a god-like multi-chorus solo from the saxophonist. Although the performance certainly echoes Coltrane, Henderson dances on the razor's edge of atonality, deftly showcasing a spiraling, motivic tension all his own. Tyner responds in kind, spitting out a cascading solo that drives the group to their crashing end. From there, they offer a bit of a respite, settling into a luxuriously candlelit reading of the ballad "We'll Be Together Again," before diving into Tyner's "Taking Off." They also debut a soulful 6/8 blues, "The Believer," and finish with an equally groove-oriented take of Henderson's "Isotope."

Both Grimes and DeJohnette play with a robust energy throughout. Along with supplying plenty of woody bass grit on the uptempo tunes, Grimes' beautiful solo "We'll Be Together Again" displays the way he had already begun incorporating more free-leaning harmonies into his style. Similarly, DeJohnette's machine gun-blast drum accents, especially on "Taking Off," underscore how impactful his presence would be on both the avant-garde and rock-fusion movements to come. While this quartet would remain a one-off alliance, their sound has the unified cohesion of a road-tested ensemble, and Forces of Nature is the kind of sonically overwhelming album that leaves you grappling with what you just experienced in the best way. — via AllMusic

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Label: Blue Note
Series: DeJohnette Legacy Series
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Released: 2024
Genre: Jazz
Style: Post Bop

File under: Blue Note Records
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