*** Joe Henderson

BIG BAND

(Verve)

Saxophonist Henderson maintains his streak of superior albums with his first big-band recording, a project that reunites him with pianist Chick Corea and a handful of members of a rehearsal group Henderson organized in the 1960s. Henderson's own arrangements are supplemented with others by Bob Belden, Slide Hampton, and Michael Philip Mossman; and all but two -- Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge" and the standard "Without a Song" -- are of classic Henderson tunes from his Blue Note heyday.

Despite the retrospective program, the music sounds fresh, a tribute to Henderson's continuing growth as an artist. "Inner Urge" loses its youthful brooding menace but gains from the now mature tenor's playfulness. "A Shade of Jade" is still forthright and bluesy, with Henderson throwing in queer twists and asides to keep it fresh. And Henderson packs a welterweight power. His tone is neither as heavy as Rollins's nor as light as Getz's, and the curling wisps of his lines on "Black Narcissus," "Chelsea Bridge," and "Recordame" stand up to the arrangements without losing their tenderness or their sly wit.

-- Ed Hazell

(The Joe Henderson trio, with George Mraz and Al Foster, will appear at the Verve Jazz Fest at Symphony Hall next Friday, January 24, with the Kansas City All-Star Band and Charlie Haden's Quartet West. Call 876-4275.)