Joe Henderson

Joe Henderson was one of tenor saxophone's strongest voices and gratifyingly received great acclaim late in his career. His playing incorporates blues shouts and Bebop licks into freewheeling modal improvisation, with a dash of avant-garde anarchism. Yet he can also tackle standards with grace and aplomb. Henderson's solo career began in the mid-1960s with a series of seminal Hard Bop LPs for Blue Note. Meanwhile, during his stint as a sideman with Post Bop genius Andrew Hill, his playing approached the avant-garde while remaining melodic and elegantly phrased. When Fusion came along in the '70s, Henderson appeared as a sideman on Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay and even served a stint in Blood, Sweat & Tears! Later in his career, he delved into the songbooks of such diverse earlier masters as Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Thelonious Monk. Henderson enjoyed a godfather-like status in the world of jazz until complications from emphysema ended his life in 2001.