Eddie Henderson
Eddie Henderson is one of today's top and most original jazz trumpet players. Henderson was born in New York City October 26, 1940. His father sang with the Charioteers, and his mother danced as one of the Brown twins at the Cotton club. Louis Armstrong gave Henderson his first few trumpet lessons at the age of nine. Henderson moved with his family to San Francisco when he was 14 years old. He studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1954 to '57. Around 1956, Miles Davis was guest at Henderson's home during a black Hawk Jazz Club gig and was impressed with Henderson's ability to perform his famous "Sketches of Spain" without a fluff but encouraged Henderson to seek his own originality. Following Air Force service from 1958 to '61, Henderson became the first African American to compete for the National figure skating Championship, winning the pacific and Midwestern titles. The year 1961 was the beginning of Eddie pursuing dual careers-medicine and music. After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964, he got his M.D. at Howard university Medical School in 1968. Henderson interned at San Francisco's French Hospital during 1968 and '69 and undertook a two-year residency in psychiatry at the University of California hospital from 1969 to '71. Henderson first got worldwide recognition for his jazz-trumpet playing from the popular recordings he made with Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group during the early '70s. other jazz performers Henderson has played with include Pharoah Sanders, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton, McCoy Tyner, Benny Golson, Joe Henderson, Max Roach, Jackie McClean, Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes etc. Henderson was on the faculty at Juilliard school of music 2007 to ‘16 and has been on the faculty Oberlin University jazz department since 2014. His discography consists of albums under his name on Capricorn, Blue Note, Capital, Columbia, Steeplechase, Sirocco, Kind of Blue, Furthermore and Smoke Session Records.