If Hard Bop musicians wanted to loosen their tie in the late 1960s there were three popular ways of doing so; first, they could go all funky and get back in touch with the urban roots of the music (think Lee Morgan); secondly they might head steadily towards the avant-garde or, if so motivated, begin to cover Bacharach and Motown. All this was nothing new to tenorist Joe Henderson, who by the middle of the decade had proven his worth in settings ranging from down-home R&B to the trickiest of post-bop.

The year before this album was cut – Henderson’s third session for the Milestone after quitting Blue Note – the saxophonist had declared himself in one interview to be a ‘moderate’ player, an assessment that was as accurate as it was modest. Indeed, at a time when many of his tenor playing colleagues were floundering in the great post-Trane freak-out, Henderson was making great music full of melody, careful musicianship and craft, taking only the bits of the new wave he could pattern as he wished.

Witness Power To The People, an album the contents of which don’t quite match the polemic marketing. True, Henderson plays as ‘out’ as he ever did on the title track, and has a truly ear-grabbing free outburst in the closing ‘Foresight and Afterthought’, but elsewhere this is highly considered almost introspective stuff.

There’s a shimmering reading of a Broadway ballad in ‘Lazy Afternoon’, and two lyrical originals in ‘Opus One-Point-Five’ and, making its debut here, the waltzing ‘Black Narcissus’ (later lyricised by the much missed Tina May), all a far cry from the sort of free-for-all blow-out the title might suggest. Along with the leader’s gripping playing – its gravitas close to Rollinsesque in places – there’s a starry Miles-made rhythm section and the obscure but very-far-from-overshadowed Lawrence, one of jazz brass’s great ‘what ifs’ who was to die young leaving virtually his whole recorded legacy in the company of Henderson.

A record then of considerable subtlety rather than the politicised punch promised on the cover. It sounds astonishing in this Kevin Gray-cut new pressing too, which comes complete with a luxuriously heavy gatefold sleeve and a lovely period sleeve note. In fact, if you only know Joe from those mellow latter-day Verve projects, this is a great place to dip into his past. Most highly recommended.