Happy Birthday Eddie Henderson

October 26, 1940

A salute to the hard bop trumpeter

Trumpeter and flugelhornist Edward (“Eddie”) Henderson was born October 26, 1940 in New York City.

The son of a mother who was a dancer at the Cotton Club and a father who was a singer, Henderson had a trumpet lesson from Louis Armstrong when he was nine.

He grew up in San Francisco, studied and played classical music, and worked towards becoming a doctor.

While building his medical practice, music soon took over his life, particularly when he worked with Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band during 1970-73 and led two albums on which he displayed the influence of fusion-era Miles Davis.

Henderson gained more experience playing with Pharoah Sanders, Norman Connors and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and since the 1990s has primarily played hard bop, still sounding pretty strong in his mid-seventies.

The Eddie Henderson Quintet of 2012 performs an original ballad.

Personnel:

Eddie Henderson, trumpet
Freddie Washington, tenor
Ptah Williams, piano
Bob DeBoo, bass
Gary Sykes, drums

-Scott Yanow