Dr. Eddie Henderson - A Storied Life
By John Zaff
When he was growing up, Eddie Henderson had no idea that he was surrounded by music
legends. At the age of nine, his mom took him to the Apollo Theater to see Louis Armstrong.
Backstage, Louis gave Eddie his first trumpet lesson. “So that was the beginning,” said Eddie. “I
had no idea it was going to turn into the rest of my life!”
This anecdote is but one of many Eddie pulls out of his back pocket during a lively interview.
His father was in a renowned singing group whose records occasionally featured Frank Sinatra.
His mother was a dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem and a one-time roommate of Billie
Holiday. Miles Davis and Duke Ellington were family friends and frequent house guests. But for
young Eddie, these were just his parents’ friends. And knowing them would exert a life-long
influence.
It takes years of dedicated practice to play an instrument at the virtuoso level. Jazz giant Dr.
Eddie Henderson has not only accomplished that, mastering trumpet and flugelhorn, but,
remarkably, has managed a double life as a practicing medical doctor—and perhaps even a triple
life, as he was also a competitive ice skater. A recent documentary about Eddie’s life, called
Uncommon Genius, chronicles his many achievements.
The year of Eddie’s trumpet lesson with Satchmo was life-changing for other reasons. Eddie’s
dad passed away and his mom remarried a doctor who moved the family from New York to San
Francisco. Eddie began trumpet lessons and developed an intense love of music. But his
stepfather didn’t approve and pushed him hard to pursue a career in medicine. “The only real
reason I became a doctor was because my stepfather was a doctor and he told me that if I
pursued music, I’d end up a bum” said Eddie “So I became a doctor.” Eddie’s forays into music
would soon prove his stepfather wrong.
In medical school, Eddie lived a double life studying psychiatry during the day and playing
jazz at night. Eddie worked as hard on music as he did on medicine. He listened carefully to the
great trumpet players on the scene and slowly but surely picked up on the language of bebop and
post-bop. “At first I tried to sound like Miles Davis, then I tried to sound like Freddie Hubbard,
then I wanted to sound like Lee Morgan,” said Eddie. “So, all of those jazz heroes of mine
rubbed off on me…That’s how jazz language perpetuates itself from one generation to the next,
like passing the baton in a relay race.” Eddie is quick to point out that all of the greats went
through a similar process of listening to their own heroes and then synthesizing their own
musical personas in response to what they take in. “Miles would have wanted to play like Dizzy
Gillespie, but not many people could imitate Dizzy, because it’s just so difficult, so Miles had to
go the other way and develop a cool style of trumpet playing.” He says with a laugh.
Eddie seemed to have a knack for crossing paths with some of the greatest musicians of his
times. Once upon meeting John Coltrane and striking up a conversation with him, Coltrane gave
young Eddie some advice that always stayed with him. “Practice what you don’t know” he told
Eddie. “Don’t waste time practicing what you’re already good at.”
One evening, Herbie Hancock happened into a club where Eddie was playing. He was
impressed by what he heard and needed a sub trumpet player for a one-week club tour. Eddie
was hired. Playing with musicians of that caliber blew his mind. That one-week stint turned into
a multi-year stint with Herbie’s iconic fusion group, Mwandishi and brought Eddie to the point of no turn back with his music career. And yet, he continued to practice medicine when he was
not on the road. And even in his medical career, Eddie managed to cross paths with jazz legends;
both Thelonious Monk and Chet Baker came through his clinic, as patients of his.
After teaming up with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the legendary group that nurtured so
many future jazz stars, Eddie was finally ready to play and record as a leader of his own groups
and ensembles. Over the years, the elite names and music legends that run through Eddie's
discography multiplied and serve as a testament to his ability to consistently create outstanding
and relevant music with the highest level of musicians. Eddie still plays with the superstar
ensemble, the Cookers, but also continues to play and record with his own groups. Asked, when
did you finally feel like you’d made it and arrived as one of the great musicians, Eddie replied
“Oh, that never happened! That never crosses my mind, because it’s a lifetime growing process.
You never say, oh I’m at my peak, because you’re never at your peak. You can always be
learning something new every day!
Still teaching at Oberlin College, Eddie has “passed the baton” on to countless students who
he has taught and mentored. “Jazz, I think, is alive and well,” says Eddie. “There’s a wealth of
younger, talented musicians coming up who are very good.” He likes to tell his students that “it’s
always better to be the worst person in the band, not the best, because that’s what helps you to
grow.”
Eddie recently released his twenty-sixth leader album, very appropriately called "Witness to
History" on the Smoke Session Records Label. “I’ve been very fortunate,” says Eddie, “to have
good genes, a good background and great life circumstances. My life was just like a fairytale
come true!”
The Eddie Henderson Quintet holds court at Smoke Jazz Club with Vincent Herring on
Saxophone, Peter Zak on Piano and Nat Reeves on Bass, August 1st through the 4th.
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