Eddie Henderson (musician)
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Eddie Henderson | |
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Eddie Henderson in 2017 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Edward Jackson Henderson |
Born | New York, U.S. | October 26, 1940
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Trumpet |
Years active | 1970–present |
Labels | Capricorn, Blue Note, Capitol, SteepleChase, Milestone |
Associated acts | The Cookers |
Eddie Henderson (born October 26, 1940) is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of pianist Herbie Hancock's band, going on to lead his own electric/fusion groups through the decade. Henderson earned his medical degree, and worked a parallel career as a psychiatrist and musician, turning back to acoustic jazz by the 1990s.
Henderson's influences include Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw, and Miles Davis.
Contents
Family influence and early music history
Henderson's mother was one of the dancers in the original Cotton Club. She had a twin sister, and they were called The Brown Twins. They would dance with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers. In the film showing Fats Waller playing "Ain't Misbehavin'", Henderson's mother sat on the piano whilst Waller sang to her. His father sang with Billy Williams and The Charioteers, a popular singing group.
At the age of nine he was given an informal lesson by Louis Armstrong, and he continued to study the instrument as a teenager in San Francisco, where he grew up, after his family moved there in 1954, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.[1] As a young man, he performed with the San Francisco Conservatory Symphony Orchestra.
Henderson was influenced by the early fusion work of jazz musician Miles Davis, who was a friend of his parents.[1] They met in 1957 when Henderson was aged seventeen, and played a gig together.
After completing his medical education, Henderson went back to the Bay area for his medical internship and residency - and the break that thrust him fully into music. It was a week-long gig with Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band that led to a three-year job, lasting from 1970-73. In addition to the three albums recorded by the group under Hancock's name, Henderson recorded his first two albums, Realization (1972) and Inside Out (1973), with Hancock and the Mwandishi group.
After leaving Hancock, the trumpeter worked extensively with Pharoah Sanders, Mike Nock, Norman Connors, and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975 where he joined the Latin-jazz group Azteca, and fronted his own bands. He also recorded with Charles Earland (popular for his version of "Let the Music Play" in 1978), and later, in the 1970s, led a rock-oriented group. While he gained some recognition for his work with the Herbie Hancock Sextet (1970–1973), his own records were considered too "commercial".[2]
Medical career
After three years in the Air Force, Henderson enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a B.S. in zoology in 1964. He then studied medicine at Howard University in Washington D.C., graduating in 1968. Though he undertook his residency in psychiatry, he practiced general medicine[3] from 1975 to 1985 in San Francisco, part-time for about four hours a day working at a small clinic. Henderson said, "The head doctor knew I was into music and he hired me with the stipulation that whenever I get tours I can go and come as I please. They would even pay me when I was gone. It was lovely", he recalled. "I just wanted to play music. But I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever have a chance to play with the big guys."
In the 1970s, Henderson recorded a series of fusion albums during the disco era that were later re-released. He recorded two albums on the Blue Note label, Sunburst (1975) and Heritage (1976); three for Capitol Records, Comin' Thru (1977), Mahal (1978) and Runnin' to Your Love (1979); and two for Capricorn Records, Realization (1973) and Inside Out (1974).
UK success
Henderson's only UK hit was the single "Prance On" recorded for Capitol which reached No. 44 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1978.[4] The newly introduced 12" vinyl single format for this track helped promote it on the disco/club scene at the time. His previous single recorded in 1977, "Say You Will" / "The Funk Surgeon" failed to chart in the UK. "Cyclops" was an instrumental LP track only, although it was so popular at the wrong speed that Capitol pressed a 12" vinyl single with the regular version, and the fast version, back to back.[citation needed]
In the 1990s, he returned to playing acoustic hard bop, touring with Billy Harper in 1991 while also working as a physician. In May 2002, he recorded So What?, an album of Miles Davis compositions, with Bob Berg on sax, Dave Kikoski on piano, Ed Howard on bass, and Victor Lewis on drums.
Discography
As leader
- Realization (Capricorn, 1973)
- Inside Out (Capricorn, 1974)
- Sunburst (Blue Note, 1975)
- Heritage (Blue Note, 1976)
- Comin' Through (Capitol, 1977)
- Mahal(Capitol, 1978)
- Runnin' to Your Love (Capitol, 1979)
- Flight of Mind (SteepleChase, 1991)
- Inspiration (Milestone, 1995)
- Dark Shadows (Milestone, 1996)
- Oasis (Sirocco, 2001)
- So What (Eighty-Eight's, 2002)
- Time & Spaces (Sirocco, 2004)
- For All We Know (Furthermore, 2010)
- Collective Portrait (Smoke Sessions, 2015)
- Be Cool (Smoke Sessions, 2018)
As sideman
- 1971: Herbie Hancock – Mwandishi
- 1972: Herbie Hancock – Crossings
- 1972: Buddy Terry – Pure Dynamite
- 1973: Herbie Hancock – Sextant
- 1973: Buddy Terry – Lean on Him
- 1973: Norman Connors – Dance of Magic
- 1973: Charles Earland – The Dynamite Brothers
- 1973: Charles Earland – Leaving This Planet
- 1977: Billy Hart – Enchance
- 1977: Richard Davis – Way Out West, Fancy Free
- 1977: Gary Bartz – Music Is My Sanctuary
- 1980: Pharoah Sanders – Journey to the One
- 1980: George Cables – Morning Song (HighNote - released 2008)
- 1987: Leon Thomas – Precious Energy
- 1987: Billy Hart – Rah
- 1988: Kenny Barron - Live at Fat Tuesdays (Enja)
- 1989: Gary Bartz – Reflections of Monk – The Final Frontier (SteepleChase)
- 1989: Billy Harper – Destiny Is Yours (SteepleChase)
- 1989: Donald Brown - Sources of Inspiration (Muse)
- 1991: Kenny Barron - Quickstep (Enja)
- 1991: Billy Harper – Live on Tour in the Far East (SteepleChase)
- 1991: Billy Harper – Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 2 (SteepleChase)
- 1991: Billy Harper – Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 3 (SteepleChase)
- 1992: Mulgrew Miller – Hand in Hand
- 1992: Benny Golson – I Remember Miles (Alfa Jazz)
- 1993: McCoy Tyner – Journey
- 1993: Mal Waldron – My Dear Family
- 1993: Billy Harper – Somalia
- 1993: Stanley Cowell – Setup
- 1994: Grover Washington Jr. – All My Tomorrows
- 1996: Sonny Fortune – From Now On
- 1997: Billy Harper – If Our Hearts Could Only See
- 1997: Archie Shepp – Something to Live For
- 1997: Kenny Barron – Things Unseen
- 1999: Joe Farnsworth – Beautiful Friendship
- 1999: Kenny Barron - Spirit Song
- 1999: Billy Harper – Soul of an Angel
- 2003: Gerald Wilson – New York, New Sound
- 2004: Benny Golson – Terminal 1
- 2005: Gerald Wilson – In My Time
- 2006: Mingus Big Band – Live in Tokyo
- 2006: Leszek Kułakowaski Quartet – Cantabile in G-minor
- 2008: The John Hicks Legacy Band – Mind Wine: The Music of John Hicks
- 2009: Benny Golson – New Time, New 'Tet
- 2009: Meeco – Amaro Mel
- 2010: Tomek Grochot Quintet – My Stories
- 2010: Azar Lawrence – Mystic Journey
- 2010: The Cookers – Warriors
- 2010: Meeco – Perfume e Caricias
- 2012: Meeco– Beauty of the Night
References
- ^ a b R. J. DeLuke "Eddie Henderson: Healing with Music" at all about jazz
- ^ Scott Yanow at allmusic.com
- ^ "Eddie Henderson page at Sharp Nine Records". Archived from the original on 2005-09-20. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 250. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
External links
- Eddie Henderson discography at Discogs
- 1940 births
- Living people
- Jazz musicians from California
- Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area
- 21st-century male musicians
- 21st-century trumpeters
- Alessa Records artists
- Blue Note Records artists
- Capitol Records artists
- Milestone Records artists
- SteepleChase Records artists
- American jazz flugelhornists
- American jazz trumpeters
- American male trumpeters
- Jazz-funk trumpeters
- Male jazz musicians
- San Francisco Conservatory of Music alumni
- The Hartt School faculty
- The Leaders members