Trumpet virtuoso Eddie Henderson to play Maui Jazz and Blues Festival
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Making his Maui debut at the Maui Jazz and Blues Festival on Sept. 5 at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, trumpet virtuoso Eddie Henderson traces the roots of his musical path to a remarkable encounter with Louis Armstrong when he was 9 years old living in San Francisco.
"My mother was a dancer at the Cotton Club and took me backstage after his performance," Henderson recalled. "He taught me how to make a sound on his trumpet and mouthpiece, and I just continued to pursue the trumpet."
At age 17, he met Miles Davis, and the jazz legend took Henderson to one of his gigs, which proved to be a life-turning point.
"When Miles Davis took me to the gig, he had John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley in the band, and the light went on," Henderson said. "That was the spark that more or less changed the trajectory of my life musically way back in 1957. I was studying classical music, taking trumpet lessons from the San Francisco Conservatory, and jazz had never caught my ear."
Henderson grew up with a mother who knew famous musicians like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and was a roommate with Billie Holiday. "There's a videotape of Fats Waller's 'Ain't Misbehaving' and a real pretty lady sitting on the piano singing it to him. That was my mother. I saw all these iconic people when I was growing up, like Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson. All these people would come over to the house. Sugar Ray Robinson's wife was my godmother."
Studying classical trumpet at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and later jazz, he also pursued a career in medicine. "I practiced medicine from 1975 to 1987," he said. "I was first a medical doctor, then I did a residency in psychiatry, not because I was interested in psychiatry, but because the on-call schedule was once every 45 days instead of once every other day for four years. So once every 45 days gave me more of a chance to play music."
He also became a champion ice skater. "I was the first black person on this planet to ever compete in figure skating championships," he recalled.
In time he became a jazz trumpet virtuoso, playing with icons like Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon and Elvin Jones.
He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of Hancock's Mwandishi Band, which mixed contemporary classical music with African textures and group improvisation.
"I was going to medical school, just learning the language and the art of playing jazz," he said. "Then Herbie Hancock came through town and needed a trumpet player for one week. It was the first time in my life I played with musicians of that caliber. So I asked Herbie, 'I would really love to stay in the band.' He thought for about two seconds and said, 'OK,' and that changed my whole life direction. It was incredible."
Reviewing his recent album "Shuffle and Deal," Downbeat magazine praised: "Henderson leads the way on blistering bop-informed workouts, sublime ballads, a breezy Latin-tinged number and the infectious shuffle-swing title track."
Featuring standards like "Over the Rainbow" and "God Bless the Child," he recalled, "I grew up with standards. That's how I started learning the craft. I'm still learning standards, even in this day and age, because that's the basic language of learning how to play."
Some years ago, he recorded "After You've Gone" in Honolulu for a woman who had lost her husband. "Her husband had just passed away and she wanted to do an album dedicated to her husband," he explained. "The piano player wanted to play it uptempo, and I said, 'No, this should be a ballad.' We only did one take, and when the tape was over, Mildred ran in with tears running down her face."
Performing in Kapalua, he is looking forward to playing with trombonist Steve Turre and saxophonist Javon Jackson. "I've known Steve since the 70s, when we both lived in San Francisco and played multiple times together," he said. "And Javon and I played on the Big Island. We will all be playing together. We might be doing some Miles Davis repertoire, maybe some Art Blakey repertoire since Steve Turre and Javon and I, all are alumni of Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers. I can hardly wait to get there."
The Maui Jazz and Blues Festival will run Aug. 31 through Sept. 6 at The Ritz-Carlton, Maui Kapalua. Artists performing Sept. 5 include Grammy-winning accordionist Bruce Sunpie Barnes, saxophonist Jason Mingledorff, Chicago-based blues musician Joanna Connor and the acclaimed New Orleans band The Iguanas. Tickets are available at MauiJazzandBluesFestival.com.