Joe Henderson(1937 — 2001)
Joe Henderson
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Joe Henderson (1937-2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. A major figure of hard bop and post-bop, he made his name in the 1960s at Blue Note before achieving belated recognition and numerous awards in the 1990s.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born on April 24, 1937, in Lima (Ohio) and died on June 30, 2001, in San Francisco.
- Signed with Blue Note in 1963 and recorded the album Page One there, featuring his famous tune Recorda Me.
- Took part in 1964 in Horace Silver's album Song for My Father, one of the label's classics.
- Composed standards covered by many musicians, including Isotope and Inner Urge.
- Made a return to the spotlight in the 1990s with tribute albums (to Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis, Jobim) that won Grammy Awards.
Works & Achievements
His first album as a leader, which revealed him both as a soloist and as a composer on the Blue Note label.
His most famous composition, with its Latin flavor, recorded on his very first album and since become a jazz standard.
An album whose tenor solo on the title track became a model studied by saxophonists the world over.
His last album recorded for Blue Note, the high point of his most creative period in the 1960s.
A landmark album from his time with Milestone, open to electric sounds and the activist mood of the era.
A tribute to composer Billy Strayhorn; this critical and commercial triumph revived his career and earned him a Grammy.
A tribute to Miles Davis, again rewarded with a Grammy Award, confirming his return to the forefront.
A tribute to the Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, extending the series of tribute records from the 1990s.
Anecdotes
In 1963, at age 26, Joe Henderson recorded his first album, Page One. It features his composition “Recorda Me” as well as the famous “Blue Bossa” by his friend, the trumpeter Kenny Dorham. These two pieces have become standards that thousands of young musicians still learn today as their first steps into jazz.
That same year, Henderson was still little known when he played as a sideman on pianist Horace Silver's album Song for My Father. His tenor saxophone solo on the title track is so brilliant that it is now one of the most studied in all of jazz, learned note for note by saxophonists the world over.
In the late 1960s, Henderson surprised everyone by joining Blood, Sweat & Tears for a time, a band that blended rock with jazz horns. This unexpected detour shows his curiosity: he wasn't afraid to leave the jazz clubs behind to explore other kinds of music.
For nearly thirty years, Henderson remained a “musician's musician”: admired by specialists but overlooked by the general public. Everything changed in 1992, when his tribute album to composer Billy Strayhorn, Lush Life, won a Grammy Award. At 55, he finally became a star — proof that recognition can come late.
Joe Henderson grew up in Lyons, a small town in Ohio, in a family of fifteen children. It was one of his older brothers who introduced him to jazz records and encouraged him to play. Very early on, young Joe was already writing his own pieces.
Primary Sources
This debut record, recorded in June 1963, features Henderson's composition “Recorda Me” and Kenny Dorham's “Blue Bossa,” two tunes immediately taken up by jazz musicians.
On this track recorded in 1964, Joe Henderson's tenor saxophone solo became one of the most famous and most studied in hard bop.
Joe Henderson was honored there for the album Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, marking a spectacular comeback after years of relative obscurity.
During the 1990s, jazz critics repeatedly voted Joe Henderson best tenor saxophonist and musician of the year.
Key Places
Joe Henderson's home village, where he grew up in a large family and discovered jazz thanks to his brothers.
Here he studied music at Wayne State University and honed his craft in the late 1950s amid a vibrant jazz scene.
The heart of jazz, where Henderson settled in 1962, recorded for Blue Note, and performed in the most renowned clubs.
The legendary studio where many of his Blue Note albums were cut, including Page One, in just a few takes.
The city where he settled in the early 1970s and which remained his home base until his death in 2001.