Presenting Ernie Henry

Ernie Henry was one of a group of remarkable youngsters who grew up together in the same Brooklyn neighborhood and became accomplished jazz artists. If Henry had lived beyond his 31st year, it is all but certain that he would have at least equaled the achievements of his friends Cecil Payne, Max Roach, and Randy Weston. He made his mark early with Tadd Dameron, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, Georgie Auld, and Illinois Jacquet. By the time of Presenting Ernie Henry in 1956, it was clear that he had developed into one of the distinctive alto saxophone voices of his time, a player who had absorbed Charlie Parker’s lessons without becoming another Parker clone. Teamed in his Riverside debut with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, Henry justified Thelonious Monk’s succinct evaluation: "He can play."