''Black Is the Color'' is an album by the American saxophonist

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

, released in 1972 on Milestone. The original idea for the album was "to approach it entirely from the standpoint of having no pre-conceived ideas (i.e., melodies, themes, bar lines, etc.) for the musicians to relate to."Original liner notes by Joe Henderson However, after listening to a tape copy of one segment of the original session, the saxophonist "became aware of further possibilities. Making full use of 16-track tape, we could add to and improve upon what had already been recorded by multiple

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

of new parts, by myself and others, that would become permanent additions to the track." The players include keyboardist

George Cables George Andrew Cables (born November 14, 1944) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Cables was born in New York City, United States. He was initially taught piano by his mother. He then studied at the High School of Performing Ar ...

, bassists

Dave Holland David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years. His extensive discography r ...

and

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded nu ...

, drummer

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, ...

and percussionist

Airto Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the B ...

Track listing

''All pieces by Joe Henderson.'' #"Terra Firma" - 12:12 #"Vis-a-Vis" - 6:49 #"Foregone Conclusion" - 4:57 #"Black Is the Color (Of My True Love's Mind)" - 7:03 #"Current Events" - 5:36

Personnel

- tenor sax, soprano (3, 4), percussion (1, 3), flute (1, 4), alto flute (1, 3, 4) *

- piano (4), electric piano (1-3, 5) *David Horowitz -

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(1, 3, 5) *

Georg Wadenius Georg "Jojje" Wadenius (born 4 May 1945) is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was particularly active during the 1970s and 1980s as a studio and session guitarist and bassist, as well as for a series of albums of childre ...

- guitar (1, 2, 4, 5) *

- bass *

- electric bass (1, 5) *

- electric piano (4), drums *

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the ...

- congas (3), percussion (3, 4) *

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian American, Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan virtuoso and philanthropist. His compositions ...

- congas (1), percussion (1, 4)

References

{{Authority control Milestone Records albums Joe Henderson albums Jazz-funk albums 1972 albums