Luther Henderson Arrangements
Luther Henderson
In 1978 RCA Red Seal put us on the label starting with an instrumental version of their most recent Broadway epic “Ain’t MisBehavin’”. We were discussing the specific repertoire for the recording with Executive Producer Thomas Z. Shepard, when he offered to have the writer behind the show, Luther Henderson, write three works for us. What a beginning — these now essential brass quintets by Fats Waller came into existence: "Lookin’ Good but Feelin’ Bad", "Loungin’ at the Waldorf" and "Handful of Keys”. The next twenty-five years of mentor-ship, friendship and many recording projects has created a brass quintet performing repertoire embodying more than 120 works for the ages. Luther put brass into the whole era of early jazz, enjoying the opportunity, as he said, to write 'his' jazz, ‘his' improvisation, written down so that it can be realized a hundred years from now.