Joe Henderson, Inner Urge

Album of the Week, November 14, 2026 Between recording In ’N Out and stepping back into Rudy Van Gelder’s studios to record the follow-up, today’s record, Joe Henderson kept very busy. Between the April 1964 sessions for In ’N Out and the November 30 sessions for this one, he recorded albums with Grant Green, Horace Silver (that’s his saxophone on “Song for My Father”), Kenny Dorham, and Duke Pearson. But Inner Urge was distinctively Henderson, featuring a Dorham-less quartet with Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner returning, plus bassist Bob Cranshaw. Cranshaw was Blue Note house bassist who played on sessions for Grant Green, Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Criss, Bobby Hutchinson, Duke Pearson, and others, and was known for his long association with Sonny Rollins. Together the band allowed Henderson’s compositional flair and improvisational voice to bloom. Henderson has described “Inner Urge” as reflecting the challenges and emotions of working in New York following his upbringing in…

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