Joe Henderson was born on April 24, 1937, and passed away on June 30, 2001. He was an American jazz musician who played the tenor saxophone and sometimes played the flute. His career lasted over 40 years, during which he worked with many top American musicians. He recorded music for several well-known record companies, including Blue Note, Milestone, Contemporary Records, and Verve.
Biography
Joe Henderson was born in Lima, Ohio, and was one of 14 children. His parents, Dennis and Irene (born Farley), and his older brother James T. encouraged him to study music. He dedicated his first album to them, saying they were understanding and tolerant during his early years. As a young person, he was interested in playing drums, piano, saxophone, and writing music. Two local piano teachers, Richard Patterson and Don Hurless, who were friends with Henderson’s brothers and sisters, taught him piano. He was especially interested in his brother’s record collection.
A local drummer named John Jarette told Henderson to listen to musicians like Lester Young, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, and Charlie Parker. He also enjoyed listening to Flip Phillips, Lee Konitz, and recordings from Jazz at the Philharmonic. Parker became his greatest inspiration. Henderson first learned to play the saxophone in high school under the guidance of Herbert Murphy. During this time, he wrote music for the school band.
By age 18, Henderson was playing in the Detroit jazz scene of the 1950s, performing with visiting musicians from New York City. While studying flute and bass at Wayne State University, he improved his saxophone and composition skills with teacher Larry Teal at the Teal School of Music. In late 1959, he formed his first group. By the time he arrived at Wayne State, he had memorized so many saxophone solos by Lester Young that his professors thought he had perfect pitch. His classmates at Wayne State included Yusef Lateef, Barry Harris, and Donald Byrd. He also studied music at Kentucky State College.
Before joining the army in 1960, Henderson was asked by UNAC to write music for the suite "Swings and Strings," which was later performed by an orchestra and a local dance band.
Henderson served in the U.S. Army from 1960 to 1962. He first trained at Fort Benning, where he won first place in an Army talent show. Later, he was sent to Fort Belvoir, where he performed on a world tour to entertain soldiers. In Paris, he met musicians Kenny Drew and Kenny Clarke. He finished his service in Maryland and was discharged in 1962. He moved to New York City soon after. There, he met trumpeter Kenny Dorham, who gave him helpful advice. That night, they listened to Dexter Gordon at Birdland. Gordon asked Henderson to play with his band, and Henderson agreed.
Henderson’s early recordings showed a strong influence from hard-bop music, but he also played bebop, R&B, Latin, and avant-garde styles. He joined Horace Silver’s band and played a famous solo on the song "Song for My Father." After leaving Silver’s band in 1966, he worked as a freelancer and co-led a big band with Dorham. His band’s music was not recorded until 1996, when the album Joe Henderson Big Band was released.
From 1963 to 1968, Henderson appeared on nearly 30 albums for Blue Note Records, including five released under his own name. His recordings included both traditional hard-bop styles and more experimental music. He played on important albums by other musicians, such as Horace Silver’s Song for My Father, Grant Green’s Idle Moments, Herbie Hancock’s The Prisoner, Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder, and albums by Andrew Hill and Pete La Roca.
In 1967, Henderson briefly joined Miles Davis’s band, which included Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. Though the band was never recorded, Henderson’s musical style became more varied over time.
In 1967, Henderson signed with Orrin Keepnews’s Milestone label, starting a new phase in his career. He co-led the Jazz Communicators with Freddie Hubbard from 1967 to 1968. He also played on Herbie Hancock’s Fat Albert Rotunda for Warner Bros. During this time, he experimented with jazz-funk fusion and electronic effects. His album titles, such as Power to the People and In Pursuit of Blackness, showed his growing interest in social issues.
After briefly working with Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1971, Henderson moved to San Francisco. He stayed there for the rest of his life and taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1978 to 1982. A performance space at the San Francisco Jazz Center is named after him.
Throughout the 1980s, Henderson worked as a leader and focused on reinterpreting classic songs and his own earlier compositions. Blue Note Records helped reintroduce him to the public in 1986 with the two-volume album State of the Tenor, recorded at the Village Vanguard. He later signed with the Italian label Red Records, where he recorded more albums in the piano-less trio format.
In 1991, Verve Records signed Henderson. He made a guest appearance on Stephen Scott’s album Something to Consider and worked with producer Richard Seidel. Verve helped promote Henderson’s music, leading to his 1992 album Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, which was both successful and well-received. He also recorded tribute albums to Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and others, as well as a big band album and a jazz version of Porgy and Bess. In 1998, he played on five tracks for Terence Blanchard’s Jazz in Film, which included music from movies like Taxi Driver.
Joe Henderson died on June 30, 2001, in San Francisco, California, after a long illness with emphysema. He was a chain smoker.