Joe Henderson, out of Lima, Ohio, born in 1937, learned the rudiments of the jazz trade at Wayne State University in Detroit, alongside Yusef Lateef, Barry Harris and Donald Byrd.  In and out of the military in the very early 1960s, he landed in New York and quickly made his mark, gaining the notice of Kenny Dorham and Dexter Gordon, and recording prolifically for Blue Note Records — featured on Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder” album and providing a signature sax solo on Horace Silver’s Song for My Father.  Henderson’s career was long and influential, and he lived for years in San Francisco until his untimely death in 2001.

Drummer and leader Vinnie Rodriguez has invited three top Bay Area jazzmen, sax player Scott Barnhill, pianist Keith Saunders and bassist John Wiitala to build two sets of jazz from the Joe Henderson songbook.