A small thought about Joe Henderson

[carburetor]

So I was listening to the original recording of "Song For My Father" because I'm about to learn it, and I thought Joe Henderson's solo was pretty hot. It reminded me of Michael Brecker. Perhaps Brecker was listening to Henderson.

I had never heard Henderson before. I also dig the song. Makes me feel gospel-y. That is all.

 

[brianr]

great song, and hendersons solo is great.

a little slightly off thread story. this song was a big influence on many. here the intro is copied in a pop song.
I think the influence was acknowledged. it would have to be !!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfZWp-hGCdA

 

[Greg Strange]

Check out some of Joe's albums from the early to mid 1990s - one is based on the music of Billy Strayhorn and the other is for Miles Davis - apparently Joe sent about a month working for Miles in the early 1960s. Joe was a great tenor player.

I would have thought Mike Brecker was probably influenced by all the great tenor players coming up through the 1960s including Jim Pepper.

Greg S.

 

[trimmy]

Lovely song, i went back to this on Monday to try get it under my fingers.
This time using my ear instead of the dots, but ended up cheating and having a little peak at the dots (kept missing out the Bb,Eb) chuffed that i got most of it by ear.
Ps. Still needs a lot of work

PPs. Rudy Vid won't play for me

 

[saxyjt]

Ps. Rudy Vid won't play for me

Same for me here.

But here is another one of the same.

 

[TheScenario]

Joe is amazing. An absolutely sublime player. People often say he’s underrated, but I wouldn’t agree. He was and is absolutely rated! He’s probably one of the most respected sax players of all.

Because he wasn’t flamboyant or extrovert, and to all intents a quite quiet and private guy, he didn’t get the general public awareness of some of the other greats, Hubbard, Miles, Cannonball etc. BUT he is an absolutely genius player. It takes a little second to get him, but when you do…Wow. Technically he is absolutely supreme. His phrasing, timing, inventiveness, harmony. It’s all there and in a way which didn’t sound like the regular bebop guys.

You might’ve gathered I like Mr Henderson.

 

[trimmy]

Just come across this version by a old cafe member (he has other great vids)
I like it

View: https://youtu.be/zcYbopACb64

 

[superpapaben]

So I was listening to the original recording of "Song For My Father" because I'm about to learn it, and I thought Joe Henderson's solo was pretty hot. It reminded me of Michael Brecker. Perhaps Brecker was listening to Henderson.

I had never heard Henderson before. I also dig the song. Makes me feel gospel-y. That is all.

Yeah, for sure MB listened to a lot of Joe, and I think was very public about saying so. Joe Hend was a master. Such cool playing. I love his sense of time and the way goes in and out of the key. Gotta go listen to mo' Joe...

 

[nickh]

Big Joe Henderson fan here.
Fantastic tone and his soloing was immense.
(well as far as i can make out!)

My favourite album is this...

probably my most played jazz album. His playing is off the scale here!

 

[jbtsax]

Let me share a Joe Henderson story. It was in the 80's and I attended a jazz workshop held at Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah hosted by the University of Utah. I played in the jazz ensemble directed by composer/arranger Henry Wolking. Joe was the guest soloist at the workshop and Wolking wrote an original latin style number to feature him. It was a challenging arrangement with a complex melody and changes. As Joe was putting his sax together and wetting his reed, we read the piece down. When we were ready to have Joe play with the band, Henry said to Joe, "Here's your part". Joe waved him off saying, "That's ok, I got it". Just by hearing the brand new tune one time, Joe had the melody and changes in his head, and played it perfectly.

Another aside to the story, Joe complained that his sax wasn't playing all that well after the rehearsal and one of the band members rushed it down to Salt Lake to the top woodwind guy at the time. He found absolutely nothing wrong with the sax. It turns out that Joe was used to playing at or near sea level, and the Snowbird Center was at 8,100 feet. Reeds that play well at sea level aren't responsive at much higher elevations.

 

[Pauly]

In the liner for "Two Blocks From The Edge" Brecker thanks John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and Stanley Turrentine so he was quite open about the influence.

 

[Chilli]

A bit off topic but my teacher asked me to transcribe (and play ) Joe's solo on Lee Morgan's Sidewinder and, quite like with Dexter Gordon, some phrases are so laid back or so utterly cool that it's very difficult to tell if he's late on the beat or slightly ahead or totally off.
That said, Henderson is a real master. I'd have to remember which tune it was, but I remember he had a very interesting approach on dom7, playing alt chords from the 4th degree or something like that... I must find where I got that from.

 

[Jazzaferri]

Joe and Dex are my fave jazz tenor guys

 

[Theblusteryday]

Joe is the dude. massive career as well. If you want a searing blues, check out the track "Computer G" off the Kenny Garrett album "black hope".. Just amazing playing from Joe