(Fusion, Post-Bop) Eddie Henderson Quintet - Phantoms - 1989, WavPack (image+.cue) lossless

This is a Steeplechase album from 1989, so it is quite "old" to do a fresh review, but I saw that there was only one brief comment here on Amazon about this spectacular album, so I thought to fill the gap and to put here some more words about it to let you know how good is this Henderson album. It is truly great. Great! First of all Steeplechase is a very serious label, I keep this label in the highest consideration because they are dedicated to great music and to true artistic projects, without paying too much attention to marketing things. A true substance label. In this album the combo is formed by Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Joe Locke (vibes), Kenny Barron (piano), Wayne Dockery (bass), Victor Lewis (drums). Generally speaking I really love the combos with vibes and piano, to my ears they sound really modern and sophisticated, vibes and piano mix very well. In particular here, Locke and Barron did a fantastic job. Around the net, some people consider Henderson to be a Miles Davis high influenced player, but I don't agree. He's more an modern hard bopper musician, at least to what I can hear in "Phantoms". His lines are very fluid and melodic and not so minimalistic as Miles' ones. He's more in the Tom Harrell league to me. Fluid legato lines with high melodic value. Eddie's sound is VERY beautiful, it seems more a flugelhorn than a trumpet. The program is quite modern, it has some originals by Locke and Barron, some tunes by jazz giants like Milestones by Miles, Trane's Naima or "Dolphin dance" by Hancock and more traditional ones like the "old" Little girl blue (this is the version that put the tune on my map) and even Jitterbug waltz by Waller. I point out the very beautiful interpretation of Little girl blue, highly lyrical and the bebop blues "In walked Lila" by Handy that has a modern melodic line that I have loved since I bought this album, many years ago. In the end a truly satisfying listening experience if you love jazz in the post modern post-bebop vein. I have loved this one for yeeeears!