Wayne Henderson

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b. Sep. 24, 1939

1 Biographical Overview
2 Style
3 Works
4 Performances
5 Legacy
6 History
7 Types
8 Construction
9 Technique
10 Notable Performers
11 Media
12 See Also
13 External Links
14 References

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Biographical Overview

From his formative years in Texas to his present international recording artist status, multi-instrumentalist and producer/composer Wayne Henderson is identified by his ebullient persona and scintillating trombone style. Without sounding rhapsodic, we’re also compelled to emphasize that Henderson’s effervescence, combined with the legendary Jazz Crusaders many smash hit-recordings, is in large part responsible for the cosmic success of these musical icons since the group’s inception in 1961.

Wayne Henderson's trombone teamed up with Wilton Felder's tenor in the Jazz Crusaders to give the group its own trademark sound. A fine hard bop soloist who later in his career chose to become an R&B producer instead. Henderson first played regularly with Felder, Joe Sample and Stix Hooper in Houston in the mid-'50s. By the time they moved to Los Angeles and started recording in 1961 they were known as the Jazz Crusaders. After many records for Pacific Jazz, in 1971 the group changed their name to the Crusaders. With Henderson's decision to quit the band in 1975, the Crusaders lost a great deal of their originality. In the mid-'90s Henderson and Felder had a nostalgic reunion with an enlarged group for a recording on the Par label.

It was in 1975 that Wayne (“Trombone” as he is sometimes called) Henderson went on hiatus from the group and augmented his career by producing and recording with other notable acts: Patti Austin, Jean Carne, Bill Withers, Ronnie Laws, Ramsey Lewis, Steely Dan, Bobby Lyle, Everette Harp, Phillip Ingram, Nathan East, Lenny Williams, Rebbie Jackson, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, the Jackson Five, Hiroshima, Hugh Masekela, Joni Mitchell, Wilton Felder, and Tina Turner, to mention a few. Some of these artists appear on Wayne’s newest album, which we will talk about in a minute. Most of Henderson’s independent projects were produced under his own LA based labels, At Home Productions and Angel City Records. A side point: Reebie Jackson’s Centipede project, which Henderson co-produced with Michael Jackson, went nearly platinum with more than 900,000 units sold.

Wayne Henderson has never opted for exclusive self-promotion; however, he is responsible for the careers of many name acts. It is important to mention that artists like Ronnie Laws have enjoyed productive careers as a result of the business support provided by Henderson. For instance, Henderson secured Laws’ first record deal and the same can be said of the group Hiroshima and solo artist Reebie Jackson. Henderson has modestly taken the rear seat and has been content to captain the ship behind the scenes.

Listed below are a few notable acts Wayne Henderson has produced or worked with:

Dionne Warwick George Benson Barry White Diana Ross Nancy Wilson Pleasure Jimmie Smith Four Tops Pancho Sanchez Willie Bobo Side Effect Vanessa Rubin Stanley Turentine Letta M’Bulu Bobby Womack Dramatics Love Unlimited Orchestra Joe Cocker Esther Phillips Michael Jackson Miki Howard Eloise Laws King Curtis Roy Ayers Hugh Masekela Sergio Mendez

During this period, Henderson’s passion to experiment acquired even more momentum. With funk and R&B as popular as ever in the 70s, an opportunity arose for Henderson to experiment further and to stretch the limits of his progressive creative instincts. With what result? The first ever vocal groove by Jazz Crusaders/Crusaders: “Keep That Same Old Feeling,” an epoch-making track on Those Southern Nights, an album that manifests choice elements of soul, funk, R&B, and the pulse of it all ? jazz. When Henderson exhibited his writing and vocal prowess on this song, it signaled the beginning of vocal inclusions into the sound of America’s premier jazz-fusion band. To this day “Keep That Same Old Feeling” can be heard almost every month on radio stations around the country. Soon thereafter, at Henderson’s urging, “Street Life” and other slamming tracks featured vocalists on recordings and in performance.

It also became apparent in the 70s that times were quickly changing and that the direction of music would alter. The result was a focus on expanding their fan base, Henderson’s clever recommendation to discontinue using Jazz in the groups name, and that they go by the single designation, Crusaders. With great reluctance, the members acquiesced to the name adjustment, thus freeing them from the shackles of identification as strictly a jazz group. As their horizons broadened, their transitional jazz appeal accelerated to the degree that they were invited to share the limelight with major acts from diverse genres, including top rock legends, Rolling Stones. As if joined at the hips, Henderson style jazz and pure funk grew like Siamese twins. This fusion phenomenon has caught on the world over, with not just a few top artists citing as one of their inspirations the Wayne Henderson led Crusaders/Jazz Crusaders. From Wynton and Branford Marsalis to Carlos Santana, a striking cross-section of marquee artists direct deserving accolades to Henderson and company.

When the 80s arrived, a new ingredient was added to the Crusaders musical potpourri ? the hip-hop brigade. Henderson (co-creator of funk-fusion and jazziphop) could see the handwriting on the wall. These epic productions would revolutionize the recording industry on every continent and urban music culture would never be the same. This experimental undertaking has produced some of the more interesting artists and innovative sounds in recent memory. At last tracking, Jazz Crusaders/Crusaders were one of the most sampled jazz-fusion entities in this hemisphere. Henderson believes that rap is basically “poetry put to a hip-hop beat; not all bad, and it’s not all good.” “Depending on the message it conveys,” say’s Henderson, “rap can be fun to listen to and perform. The spoken word can sometimes, because of its serious nature, be more effective than words that are sung.” Henderson is not swift to dismiss new innovations, and is willing to travel new paths because a new direction is what spurred the initial success of the Jazz Crusaders. Although the be-bop of Dizzy and the classic jazz of Blakey served as influences, Henderson and company formed their own identity by coalescing styles in different eras and genres.

Eventually, the direction that the group pursued required a guitarist to be a part of the equation. The inimitable Larry Carlton was the obvious choice to accentuate the Crusaders sound in the ’70s.

As members of the group opted for solo outings, Henderson chose to resurrect the original nomenclature, Jazz Crusaders, in order to establish a clear identity from other members who might be pursuing solo careers. On his latest project, two of the four original members participate with other seasoned musicians.

Wayne Henderson’s latest production is a spine-tingling collaborative that will leave you, for the most part, spellbound. Different from the rigid, unyielding, watered down concoctions of much of today’s smooth jazz, Henderson’s objective is to preserve the style that reflects the enthusiasm of funk-fusion while interspersing light jazz, smooth jazz. “Let your ears taste the music like your palate tastes food!” is the expression Henderson uses to convey his feelings about the songs on his evocative disc, Alive In South Africa, the newest project from Jazz Crusaders featuring Wayne Henderson, on True Life Jazz. The contents of Alive In South Africa illuminate the charm of the richest continent on the planet, and it retains the same kind of vitality that characterizes Wayne Henderson productions. Songs such as “Stomp And Buck Dance” “Rockslide,” “Way Back Home,” “Scratch,” and “Always Inherit the Wind,” are but a few of the varied compositions that you will savor on this CD. Other tunes, like “So Far Away,” have a vigor all their own. “Mandingo Black” and “Brighter Day,” the lone bonus cuts, will incite your emotions to overflow! Wayne Henderson explains: “the main difference in some secular and gospel tunes are the words, the lyrics.” On this album you will find ripe samplings of standards done in a manner that you have never before heard.

A prolific lyricist, Henderson composed and performed “The Young Rabbits,” the title song featured in Muhammad Ali’s Academy Award-winning documentary When We Were Kings. His performance in Zaire opened the musical segment of Ali/Foreman’s Rumble In The Jungle. He also played drums on Hugh Masekela’s double platinum “Grazing in the Grass.”

Henderson, a TSU (Houston) alumnus who presently resides in Los Angeles, has always focused on a new generation of musicians and singers. He feels that to keep pace with progressive music styles requires a stretching of the boundaries of traditional sounds, just as it was for Miles, Coltrane, Parker, Blakey, and Ellington. Their innovations were updated versions of previous musical forms but with their own ‘twists’ and flavor. Wayne Henderson and the Jazz Crusaders will continue to create forever love songs in instrumental and vocal frames, and they will continue to establish trends and set new tones for music lovers the world over for the rest of their lives.

(NEEDS EXTENSIVE EDITING)

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