Though groundbreaking pianist McCoy Tyner was best known in the mid-sixties for his tenure with John Coltrane, he’d long been a regular with other musicians, as well as a leader in his own right. One of those frequent flyers was saxophonist Joe Henderson, a bop star himself. Recorded in 1966 and resting in drummer Jack DeJohnette’s archive for nearly sixty years, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs’ captures an explosive gig co-led by the two old friends that must’ve ripped the late Slugs’ Saloon a new one. The set begins, appropriately enough, with Henderson’s “In ‘N Out,” the saxophonist’s contribution to the burgeoning post bop catalog. For twenty-six mesmerizing minutes, Henderson, Tyner, DeJohnette, and bassist Henry Grimes blast through the changes like they’re one step ahead of a screaming missile, weaving in and out of each other’s trajectories in a beautifully realized evocation of the title. A luxurious take on the Frankie Laine ballad “We’ll Be Together Again” provides some respite, but then it’s off into the stratosphere again with the near-thirty minute improvisation “Taking Off,” a blazing companion to “In ‘N Out.” After that breathless excursion, the merely quick tempos of Tyner’s swinging “The Believer” and Henderson’s shuffling “Isotope” feel like the musicians are easing us back into the real world. Luckily for us, we can go back to the Forces of Nature dimension whenever we please. A real find.
