20/05/2021 Joe Henderson - Wikipedia

Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an
American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than Joe Henderson
four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading
American players of his day and recorded for several prominent
labels, including Blue Note, Milestone, and Verve.

Contents
Biography
Early life Henderson with Neil Swainson and
Early career Jon Ballantyne

Blue Note recordings Background information

Milestone Records recordings Born April 24, 1937
Later career and death Lima, Ohio, U.S.
Discography Died June 30, 2001
References (aged 64)
San Francisco,
External links
California, U.S.
Genres Jazz · jazz fusion
Biography · soul jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Saxophone
Early life
Years active 1955–1998
Born in Lima, Ohio, Henderson was one of five sisters and nine Labels Blue Note · Verve
brothers. He was encouraged by his parents Dennis and Irene · Milestone
(née Farley)[1] and older brother James T. to study music. He
Associated acts Wayne Shorter ·
dedicated his first album to them "for being so understanding and
tolerant" during his formative years. Early musical interests Kenny Dorham ·
included drums, piano, saxophone and composition. According to Andrew Hill ·
Kenny Dorham, two local piano teachers who went to school with Grant Green ·
Henderson's brothers and sisters, Richard Patterson and Don Freddie Hubbard
Hurless, gave him a knowledge of the piano.[2] He was · Woody Shaw ·
particularly enamored of his brother's record collection. It seems Herbie Hancock ·
that a hometown drummer, John Jarette, advised Henderson to McCoy Tyner ·
listen to musicians like Lester Young, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon Horace Silver ·
and Charlie Parker.[2] He also liked Flip Phillips, Lee Konitz and Charlie Haden ·
the Jazz at the Philharmonic recordings. However, Parker became
Ron Carter ·
his greatest inspiration. His first approach to the saxophone was
under the tutelage of Herbert Murphy in high school. In this Elvin Jones ·
period of time, he wrote several scores for the school band. Bobby
Hutcherson · Lee
By age 18, Henderson was active on the Detroit jazz scene of the Morgan · Richard
mid-1950s, playing in jam sessions with visiting New York City Davis · Chick
stars. While attending classes of flute and bass at Wayne State Corea · John
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University, he further developed his saxophone and Scofield · Flora

compositional skills under the guidance of renowned teacher Purim · Bob
Larry Teal at the Teal School of Music. In late 1959, he formed his Cranshaw ·
first group.[2] By the time he arrived at Wayne State University, Wynton Marsalis
he had transcribed and memorized so many Lester Young solos
that his professors believed he had perfect pitch. Henderson's college classmates included Yusef
Lateef, Barry Harris and Donald Byrd.[3] He also studied music at Kentucky State College.

Shortly prior to his army induction in 1960, Henderson was commissioned by UNAC to write some
arrangements for the suite "Swings and Strings", which was later performed by a ten-member
orchestra and the local dance band of Jimmy Wilkins.[2]

Early career

Henderson spent two years (1960–62) in the U.S. Army: first in Fort Benning, where he competed in
an Army talent show and won first place, then in Fort Belvoir, where he was chosen for a world tour,
with a show to entertain soldiers. While in Paris, he met Kenny Drew and Kenny Clarke. Then he was
sent to Maryland to conclude his enlistment. In 1962, he was finally discharged and promptly moved
to New York. He first met trumpeter Kenny Dorham, an invaluable guidance for him, at saxophonist
Junior Cook's place. That very evening, they went to see Dexter Gordon playing at Birdland.
Henderson was asked by Gordon himself to play something with his rhythm section; needless to say,
he happily accepted.[2]

Although Henderson's earliest recordings were marked by a strong hard-bop influence, his playing
encompassed not only the bebop tradition, but R&B, Latin and avant-garde as well. He soon joined
Horace Silver's band and provided a seminal solo on the jukebox hit "Song for My Father". After
leaving Silver's band in 1966, Henderson resumed freelancing and also co-led a big band with
Dorham. His arrangements for the band went unrecorded until the release of Joe Henderson Big
Band (Verve) in 1996.

Blue Note recordings

From 1963 to 1968, Henderson appeared on nearly 30 albums for Blue Note, including five released
under his name. The recordings ranged from relatively conservative hard-bop sessions (Page One,
1963) to more explorative sessions (Inner Urge and Mode for Joe, 1966). He played a prominent role
in many landmark albums under other leaders for the label, including most of Horace Silver's Song
for My Father, Herbie Hancock's dark and densely orchestrated The Prisoner, Lee Morgan's hit
album The Sidewinder and "out" albums with pianist Andrew Hill (Black Fire, 1963 and Point of
Departure, 1964) and drummer Pete La Roca (Basra, 1965).

In 1967, there was a brief association with Miles Davis's quintet featuring Hancock, Wayne Shorter,
Ron Carter and Tony Williams, although the band was never recorded. Henderson's adaptability and
eclecticism would become even more apparent in the years to follow.

Milestone Records recordings

Signing with Orrin Keepnews's fledgling Milestone label in 1967 marked a new phase in Henderson's
career. He co-led the Jazz Communicators with Freddie Hubbard from 1967 to 1968. Henderson was
also featured on Hancock's Fat Albert Rotunda for Warner Bros. It was during this time that
Henderson began to experiment with jazz-funk fusion, studio overdubbing, and other electronic
effects. Song and album titles such as Power to the People, In Pursuit of Blackness, and Black
Narcissus reflected his growing political awareness and social consciousness, although the last album
was named after the Powell and Pressburger film of 1947.
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After a brief association with Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1971, Henderson moved to San Francisco and
added teaching to his résumé.

Later career and death

Though he occasionally worked with Echoes of an Era, the Griffith Park Band and Chick Corea,
Henderson remained primarily a leader throughout the 1980s. An accomplished and prolific
composer, he began to focus more on reinterpreting standards and his own earlier compositions. Blue
Note attempted to position the artist at the forefront of a resurgent jazz scene in 1986 with the release
of the two-volume State of the Tenor recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York City. The albums
(with Ron Carter on bass and Al Foster on drums) revisited the tenor trio form used by Sonny Rollins
in 1957 on his own live Vanguard albums for the same label. Henderson established his basic
repertoire for the next seven or eight years, with Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now" becoming a
signature ballad feature.

It was only after the release of An Evening with Joe Henderson, a live trio set (featuring Charlie
Haden and Foster) for the Italian independent label Red Records that Henderson underwent a major
career change: Verve took notice of him and in the early 1990s signed him. That label adopted a
'songbook' approach to recording him, coupling it with a considerable marketing and publicity
campaign, which more successfully positioned Henderson at the forefront of the contemporary jazz
scene. His 1992 'comeback' album Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn was a commercial and
critical success and followed by tribute albums to Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim and a rendition
of the George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess.

A chain smoker,[4] on June 30, 2001, after a long battle with emphysema, Henderson died, in San
Francisco, California, as a result of heart failure. He was 64 years of age.[5]

Discography

References
1. Jazz great Henderson gets musical start in Lima the419 | Our Founders (http://the419.com/jazz-gr
eat-henderson-gets-musical-start-lima/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150206001644/h
ttp://the419.com/jazz-great-henderson-gets-musical-start-lima/) February 6, 2015, at the Wayback
Machine
2. Original liner notes to Page One by Kenny Dorham
3. Mel Martin, Interview with Joe Henderson (http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/hend
erson.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070705082133/http://www.melmartin.com/ht
ml_pages/Interviews/henderson.html) July 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, in The Saxophone
Journal, March/April 1991. Retrieved April 24, 2007.
4. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/60925-joe-henderson/
5. Scott Yanow, Allmusic Biography (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p6716/biography) Retrieved
June 25, 2009.

External links
The Joe Henderson Discography (http://www.jazzdisco.org/joe-henderson/discography/)
Joe Henderson Discography & Chronology (http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Henderson/Jo
eHenderson.php). Retrieved November 25, 2012
Twelve Essential Joe Henderson Tracks (https://web.archive.org/web/20090123222931/http://jaz
z.com/dozens/the-dozens-essential-joe-henderson) by S. Victor Aaron

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Javier Arau. "Joe Henderson "Lush Life" solo: Transcription and analysis" (http://www.javierarau.c
om/lessons-blog/joe-henderson-lush-life-solo-transcription-and-analysis). Retrieved
September 17, 2015.

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