Russell Henderson
Russell "Russ" Henderson, born Russell Audley Ferdinand Henderson (7 January 1924) in Belmont, Trinidad, is a jazz musician on the piano and the steelpan. He is most widely recognised as one of the founding figures of the Notting Hill Carnival in London, United Kingdom.
Biography
Russ Henderson grew up in Belmont, Port-of-Spain. He founded the Russell Henderson Quartet in the 1940s and was soon well known in Trinidad. In 1951, Henderson travelled to England to study piano tuning at the North London Polytechnic.[1]
He settled in England and founded Britain's first steelband combo (The Russ Henderson Steel Band) with Mervyn Constantine and Sterling Betancourt in late 1952. They played their first gig at The Sunset Club at 50 Carnaby Street.[1]
Henderson has been vitally involved in building up Notting Hill Carnival, having played at the first Children's Carnival there in 1964. He is currently a friend of the 606 Club in London, where he performs a monthly show with his revised jazz quartet, sharing the evening with the Al Whynette Band. In his retirement he has given numerous interviews with BBC Radio 4 and BBC Four on his Notting Hill past.
Honours
- In 2006 Henderson was appointed a member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Services to Music.[2]
- On Friday, 24 August 2012, just prior to the Notting Hill Carnival weekend, the commemorative trust Nubian Jak organised the unveiling of two blue plaques in Notting Hill at the junction of Tavistock Road known as "Carnival Square", to honour the contributions to the development of Carnival by two "living giants": Russell Henderson, the Trinidadian musician who led the first carnival parade in 1965, and Leslie Palmer, also from Trinidad and Tobago, who is credited with helping transform the local community festival into an internationally recognised event.[3]
Film
- The Pan Man: Russell Henderson - 22-minute documentary, directed by Michael McKenzie (2009).
Oral history
- British Library, Oral History of Jazz. Interviewed by Val Wilmer, 14 October 1993.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sterling meets Henderson: The beginning of UK Steelbands Nostalgia Steelband. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58014. p. 18. 17 June 2006.
- ↑ Lizzie Davies, "Notting Hill carnivalgoers hope to put seal on London's summer-long party - Spirits are particularly high this year after multicultural success of the Olympics", The Observer, Sunday, 26 August 2012.
- ↑ "Henderson, Russell. (2 of 4). Oral history of Jazz in Britain", Oral history of jazz in Britain, British Library.