In 2003 Eddie Henderson paid a tasteful tribute to Miles Davis on So What. Time & Spaces (Sirocco) also features some tunes associated with his peer, but this time they come from the songbooks of Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul. The former’s “Water Babies” starts the album in a tranquil mood, but the musicianship always remains at a driving level. The trumpeter chooses his notes wisely on his own “Spaces,” which he and pianist Dave Kikoski fill beautifully. The trumpeter and pianist duet on “Tender You,” a ballad written by Henderson’s wife, Natsuko, while Shorter’s “Angola” picks the mood up a bit, setting up the aggressive album closer, “Directions,” a Zawinul tune from the In a Silent Way sessions. This gives bassist Ed Howard and drummer Victor Lewis a chance to shift gears after playing in a more subdued mood on the earlier tracks.
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