Joe Henderson: Our Thing

With its variable beats and hot bop lines, "Our Thing" could be considered something of a precursor to the better-known "The Kicker," which Joe Henderson would record the following year with the Horace Silver Quintet. But even more than with the song he lent to Silver, Henderson tests the limits of hard bop with "Our Thing."

The time signature changes from double-time to a leisurely gallop and back again. The main theme that rides on this rocky rhythm might be a gauntlet for most horn players to negotiate alone, much less in perfect unison with another musician as Henderson and Dorham do here. Henderson swings superbly on his solo, and Dorham lays down some Clifford Brown-type phrasing before turning matters over to Hill and his rhythmic precision.

"Our Thing" shows Henderson the composer constructing complex harmonics and tempos, even near the beginning of his career.