“I’m 57 years old, and I’ve been here all the time. It may be a little arrogant of me to say this, and I really mean it on a humble level: Whatever it is that’s happening now could have just as well have happened a long time ago.”
So said SF saxophonist Joe Henderson in an early 1990s interview in response to a Grammy win, major venue headlining gigs, and more than 200,000 copies sold of his album Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn. While the musician had been playing small clubs for decades, had released recordings on storied jazz label Blue Note, and was highly regarded in jazz circles for his post-bop performances and compositions, he finally captured wider attention with an album that focused on the music of Duke Ellington’s chief collaborator Billy Strayhorn. Last month, the album turned 30 years old, so it’s a great time to revisit it.
