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 Mwandishi 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.
Family influence and early music history
Henderson was born in New York City on October 26, 1940.[1] 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][2]
Henderson was influenced by the jazz musician Miles Davis, who was a friend of his parents.[2] They met in 1957 when Henderson was aged seventeen.[1]
After completing his medical education, Henderson went back to the Bay area for his medical internship and residency.[1] It was a week-long gig with Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band that led to a three-year job, lasting from 1970 to 1973.[1] 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.[1]
After leaving Hancock, the trumpeter worked with Pharoah Sanders, Norman Connors, and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers,[1] returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975 where he joined the Latin-jazz group Azteca and fronted his own bands.[1] Other jazz performers Henderson has played with include Elvin Jones, Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton, McCoy Tyner, Benny Golson, Joe Henderson, Max Roach, Jackie McClean, Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes etc.
His discography consists of albums under his name on Capricorn, Blue Note, Capital, Columbia, Steeplechase, Sirocco, Kind of Blue, Furthermore and Smoke Session Records.
A documentary film about his life titled Doctor Eddie Henderson: Uncommon Genius has been aired on several TV stations and screened at several film festivals since February 2024. Henderson was on the faculty at Juilliard school of music 2007 to 2016 and has been on the faculty Oberlin University jazz department since 2014 and promoted to full professor in 2023.
Eddie Henderson is married to Natsuko Henderson. His daughter, Cava Menzies, is a musician and educator. Both his wife and daughter contribute compositions to his albums. [4]
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.[5]
