Isotope is a jazz composition by the tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, who is its sole writer. Henderson first recorded it for his Blue Note album Inner Urge, made on 30 November 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums and Bob Cranshaw on bass. The album was released in 1966 (BST 84189). It is an instrumental in the post-bop and modal jazz style and runs about nine minutes on the album. In the liner notes, written by Nat Hentoff, Henderson described the tune as a tribute to Thelonious Monk and to Monk's use of musical humour, and its opening figure is Monk-like. Later versions include those by Jack Wilkins, Craig Handy, Phil Woods and Gordon Beck, the Stanley Clarke Trio with Hiromi and Lenny White, and Eric Reed.
