The tenor sax-trumpet duo of Joe Henderson and Kenny Dorham is a joy to listen to over and over again, especially on tunes penned by them. On this re-release of two albums under Henderson's leadership, with Dorham as essential collaborator, we get to hear sessions released on the Blue Note label in 1963 and '64 featuring Henderson and Dorham originals, including gems like the saxophonist's "Our Thing," "Punjab," and "Serenity," and Dorham's "Pedro's Tune," and "Short Story," to name but a few of the 10 tracks.

The rhythm section personnel is notably quite different on the two sessions: The line-up on Our Thing is pianist Andrew Hill, bassist Eddie Khan and drummer Pete La Roca, while on In 'N Out we hear McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones. The sessions' aesthetics are not dramatically incompatible, however, as the sensitive rhythm section players play to the tunes and make for a smooth continuity from one session to the other. Pianists as different as Hill and Tyner color the accompaniment in their own ways but the strong voices of the leader and his frequent collaborator shine through and dominate the sessions.

The 1960s were a time of experimentation in modern jazz, and Henderson, in particular, alludes to this in his outside playing and in tunes that stretch beyond the usual forms and melodic and harmonic formulae. The title tracks for the sessions make this abundantly clear, but the "New Thing" which was in the air is also more subtly evident in the other Henderson tunes, in "Punjab," in particular, with its exotic rhythms and unusual melodic material.

As for Dorham's compositional contributions, we get a lot of Latin elements and some wild blowing that is, nonetheless, grounded in the bedrock of bebop phrasing, even while the trumpeter pushes the boundaries of the familiar and explores the freedom playing whose spirit these sessions sought to celebrate.