| Joe Henderson has been called a supreme melodist | | | | a big band with Dorham. His arrangements for this |
| by one music writer, a musical astronaut by another | | | | band would not get recorded until 1996 with the |
| jazz musician, and by a lucky few he has been called | | | | release of the album Joe Henderson Big Band. |
| teacher. Two of my saxophone teachers took | | | | Joe also performed as a freelancer during this time |
| lessons from him in San Francisco and I hear some | | | | and played on several great albums, including Herbie |
| cool stories about him. | | | | Hancock's The Prisoner and Andrew Hills albums Black |
| Joe Henderson truly personified musical greatness; he | | | | Fire and Point of Departure. In 1967, he played briefly |
| played the saxophone, drums, piano, flute, and bass as | | | | with Miles Davis, however, none of those shows were |
| well as excelling at composition. It was by listening to | | | | recorded. Also in 1967, he signed with Milestone |
| jazz sax greats like Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Stan | | | | records and began experimenting more with |
| Getz, Lee Konitz, and Charlie Parker on his brothers | | | | avant-garde techniques, electronic effects, and studio |
| record player that Henderson found his greatest | | | | overdubbing. During this new phase in his career his |
| inspiration. | | | | song and album titles showed an increasing social |
| In the mid-fifties, before he was even old enough to | | | | awareness. |
| start college, Henderson was active in the Detroit jazz | | | | Joe Henderson had a brief stint with Blood Sweat and |
| scene and played with many visiting stars from New | | | | Tears in 1971 before moving to San Francisco and |
| York. By the time he did get to college, he had | | | | focusing on teaching. He continued to perform into the |
| transcribed and memorized an impressive number of | | | | 1980s, mostly as a leader, but occasionally as a |
| Lester Young solos. Such an impressive amount, in | | | | sidemen for Chick Corea and the Griffith Park Band. In |
| fact, that his professors believed him to have that | | | | the eighties, he focused more of re-interpreting existing |
| elusive skill known as perfect pitch. | | | | jazz standards and his older work than writing new |
| Joe entered the U.S. Army in 1960 and entered an | | | | music. In 1986, when jazz was facing a resurgence, |
| Army talent show with a four piece combo. The group | | | | Henderson released a two volume album, State of the |
| took first place, and the victory gave Henderson a | | | | Tenor. It featured Ron Carter on bass and Al Foster |
| chance to tour around the world entertaining troops. | | | | on drums. |
| He stayed in the army for two years, getting out in | | | | Verve Records took notice of him in the early 1990s |
| 1962. That same year he would record the biggest hit | | | | and produced his 1992 comeback album Lush Life: The |
| of his career, with the help of trumpeter Kenny | | | | Music of Billy Strayhorn. The album, along with an |
| Dorham. The song was called Snap Your Fingers and | | | | extensive marketing campaign on behalf of Verve, |
| would hit #8 on the pop charts and #5 on the easy | | | | positioned Henderson firmly at the forefront of the |
| listening charts. | | | | jazz scene. The album was followed up by a tribute |
| A few years later, this time as a sideman in Horace | | | | album to Miles Davis and Henderson's version of the |
| Silver's band, Henderson would contribute his | | | | George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. |
| saxophone stylings to another hit record, Song for My | | | | Henderson played a Selmer Mark VI saxophone |
| Father. Joe plays his solo after the piano. After leaving | | | | through a Selmer Soloist D-facing mouthpiece with La |
| Silver's band in 1966, Henderson was the co-leader of | | | | Voz reeds. |