Joe Henderson
Edinburgh. 1995. Photo copyright marc marnie.
Joe Henderson with Bheki Mseleku
The saxophonist is a heartening example of a man whose time has come. He
established his name as a highly respected tenorman with a series of
classic bop albums for Blue Note in the 1960s, wandered into jazz-rock
fusion in the 1970s, then faded from the scene to concentrate on teaching
for a time. The State of the Tenor albums, two austere masterpieces of the
art of the trio from 1985, revived interest in his work, and he ascended to
a new commercial as well as artistic plane with his award-winning albums
for Verve in the 1990s. Which all goes to show that patience is a virtue,
and one that -- after a meteoric rise -- pianist Bheki Mseleku may have to
learn.
Born: 1937, in Lima, Ohio.