Oberlin Jazz Ensemble: Dennis Reynolds, director

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A performance by the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dennis Reynolds and featuring Eddie Henderson, jazz trumpet.

Program:

Lazy Bird                                                                              John Coltrane

                                                                                        arr. Bill Stapleton

Con Alma                                                                          Dizzie Gillespie

                                                                                  arr. Michael Mossman

Here’s to Life                                                                           Artie Butler

                                                                                        arr. Paul Johnston

The Duke                                                                            Dave Brubeck

                                                                                              arr. Gil Evans

New Rhumba                                                                        Ahmad Jamal

                                                                                              arr. Gil Evans

It Ain’t Necessarily So                                   George Gershwin 

                                                                            Ira Gershwin                                                                                               arr. Gil Evans

Gone                                                                                          Gil Evans

Bess, You Is My Woman                                                            Gershwin

                                                                                                    arr. Evans

Summertime                                                                               Gershwin

                                                                                                    arr. Evans

Blues in the Two Percent                                                  Dennis Mackrel

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Eddie Henderson’s wildly diverse and accomplished career began in a most appropriately lofty way: His first trumpet lessons as a young boy were given by Louis Armstrong. It was a connection made through the musical careers of Henderson’s parents, his father a singer with the Charioteers and his mother a dancer at the Cotton Club.

      A native of New York City, Henderson relocated with his family to San Francisco by the age of 14. He studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1954 to '56 and drew the praise of Miles Davis, a friend of the Henderson family who came to know Henderson while visiting his parents during tour stops in town.

      After serving in the Air Force from 1958 to '61, Henderson became the first African American to compete for a national figure skating championship, winning the Pacific and Midwestern titles. Soon after, he began to pursue dual careers in medicine and music, earning a Bachelor of Science in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley and an MD from Howard University Medical School four years later.

      As Henderson’s medical career took root in California, he also drew his first worldwide recognition for his jazz trumpet playing from the popular recordings he made with Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi group during the early '70s. He has since earned acclaim for decades of performances with such luminaries as Pharoah Sanders, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton, McCoy Tyner, Benny Golson, Max Roach, Jackie McClean, Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes, and Joe Henderson.

      Henderson is currently a visiting teacher of jazz trumpet at Oberlin Conservatory.