Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Henderson.
Jared, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up in the small mountain town of Sisters, Oregon. I was raised in a musical household, my father is a jazz trumpet player and high school band director. I can remember going to a lot of his concerts at a very young age, either to see him perform or his students. Music was very much a part of daily life, there was always music on around the house, I often listened to my dad practice trumpet and he was also really great about taking us to see good concerts. When I turned eight, I started playing guitar, I didn’t stick with it long, and after some short stints on several instruments, I eventually settled on bass in 5th grade. I think I was attracted to bass because it felt like a combination of guitar, and drums and the bass player usually played the whole time as opposed to a horn player, who might just play a melody of a song. Every Friday, my dad’s high school funk band would perform at the high school football/basketball games. If I learned the music, my dad would let me “sit-in” with the band. I felt like a celebrity getting to play with kids that were so much older than me, that was usually the highlight of my week getting to play a song or two with the band.
When I was in middle school, my dad took me on my first jazz gig with local professional musicians. I was so excited, we played a lot of the classics from Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter like “Watermelon Man” and “Footprints.” I made so many mistakes on the first gig that afterwards, I cried in the car because I was so upset, but it was also really motivating and after that, I started practicing a lot. I was lucky to get a lot of opportunities in high school, both with great student bands and local professionals that were very encouraging.
A pivotal moment in my life was at the Monterey High School Jazz festival – I was accompanying a friend’s audition and by chance met legendary drummer and artist Terri Lyne Carrington (Terri Lyne is a Boston native and Grammy Award-winning musician). She invited me to come to the Berklee 5 Week Summercamp. I ended up going, and it was one of the most life-changing and world-opening experiences I’ve ever had. I met some incredible musicians there that were my age or even younger. Hearing people my age that played on such a high level truly shook my world. It was during that camp that I also applied to Berklee and was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to study as an undergraduate student. I ended up returning to Boston in the Fall of 2009 to attend Berklee and graduated in 2013. Berklee was an amazing experience, I met countless incredible musicians there – both professors and students. All of the musicians that I play with today are people that I met at or through connections from Berklee, it really was the stepping stone to the start of my musical career.
After finishing my undergraduate degree, I spent three years in NYC, one of the meccas of the art world. This was also a very formative time, I heard so many great artists in the clubs and concert halls of NYC and was exposed to so many new ideas about art and about life. I ended up moving back to Boston in 2016 to get my graduate degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. Right now, I currently am back and forth between Boston and New York, working as a freelance bassist and educator.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I would say I identify mostly as a “jazz” bassist or at least am identified as one. The only trouble with this is that a lot of people don’t understand that jazz is a huge genre. I don’t like all styles of jazz or even consider myself strictly a jazz bassist, but it is a genre that a lot of the music I enjoy playing falls under. Despite being identified as a jazz musician, I think it’s important to share that not only myself but many of my colleagues have a rich musical diet so to speak. We all enjoy listening to and performing many other “styles” of music. Everything from baroque music, swing, modern jazz, bebop, Motown, folk music, electronic music, hip-hop, and classical music.
I perform primarily as a “side-man” meaning on other people’s projects. I’d say about half my gigs are performing original music composed by colleagues and the other half is playing standard jazz repertoire.
I recently began my own journey as a bandleader and composer. I just composed a five-movement piece for ten musicians and four dancers called “Freedom of the Wilderness.” It is a set of music dedicated to the area where I grew up in Central Oregon and the goal is to raise awareness for environmental conservation. Before moving to Boston, I lived in a beautiful part of Oregon filled with vast forests, pristine lakes and rivers and surrounded by mountains. Even this relatively untouched area is being affected by global warming and pollution. This piece “Freedom of the Wilderness” is dedicated to the magnificence and fragility of the environment and aims to give a voice to the land. I hope people are reminded by my work that the world is beautiful and we should take care of it.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
I think the biggest challenge facing artists today is finding away to support themselves, whether it’s directly through there art (which is I think ideal for most). Or doing some kind of side job, which could be everything from teaching about your art to others or working at a restaurant. The trouble with taking on a more regular job is that it often takes up a significant amount of time (and energy) and you’re often left with with little time for art. But this is something that everyone faces and something that artists having been dealing with for centuries.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
In addition to finding out where I am performing with various Jazz artists – you can view my latest project at https://www.jaredhendersonband.com.
My next performance in Boston is with Terri Lyne Carrington on September 27th at 7 pm at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/event/terri-lyne-carrington-20180927
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jaredhendersonband.com
- Email: jaredhendersonmusic@gmail.com
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