Legendary Pair Will Set the Tenor of the Evening

They’re no regular Joes. One, awarded three Grammys for his last two recordings, is arguably the jazz world’s leading instrumentalist. The other has been its top blues and ballad singer for 40 years, ever since he joined the Count Basie Orchestra.

When Joe Henderson and Joe Williams share the stage Friday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, it will be much like a boxing card that features two heavyweight champions.

It’s no surprise that the two admire each other. On the phone from his home in San Francisco, saxophonist Henderson, 57, noted that he has seen Williams perform many times and “had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time 20 or 25 years ago” but never got to perform with him until Clinton’s inauguration.

From his home in Las Vegas, Williams, 77, remembered that event well. “The president borrowed Illinois Jacquet’s saxophone. All the tenors there, including Joe and the president, were taking turns on the ‘Flying Home’ solo. I loved what Mrs. Clinton said about the president: ‘I’ve asked him to practice.’ ”

Williams said he appreciates Henderson’s work because “you can recognize the songs he plays. Many of the things jazz instrumentalists play don’t have a lyric, and consequently the story told by the instrument gets lost on the people. But with Joe, it doesn’t matter. He finds the melody in every tune. You have something to hum when you leave the concert.”

Henderson returns the admiration. “Joe has always impressed me with being a musician, not just a singer. He understands composition and arrangement, understands them as an instrumentalist understands them. He improvises, and it’s always a plus to hear a singer who exercises that craft well.”

Accolades have poured in for Williams ever since his classic recording of “Everyday (I Have the Blues)” with the Basie Orchestra in 1955; popular acceptance has come more slowly for Henderson. Though he’d been cutting a number of strong albums for Blue Note and other labels since the ‘60s, it wasn’t until he was picked up by Verve in the ‘90s that he saw his following spread beyond cult status.

Indeed, he is happy to have been nominated for a Grammy this year for “Double Rainbow,” a tribute to the late Antonio Carlos Jobim, but he questions the timing.

“Any time the acknowledgment comes, it’s good. But it’s still perplexing to me. Why now? Why not then? I’m getting close to 60, and it’s just a bit overwhelming that it has taken so long of me doing the same thing.

“It takes people a little while to find you,” he said. “You’ve got to persist.”

Henderson’s three Verve albums all have been tributes. (Preceding the Jobim album were “So Near So Far: Musings on Miles [Davis]” and “Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn.”) Before that, his recordings had been of varied programs that usually featured a healthy portion of his own compositions.

But he brushed aside the notion that Verve is directing his career with the tribute albums. “One has to take the momentum of the moment and capitalize on it. I used to just go into the studio and do the next project without much fuss. Now, there’s nothing wrong with planning and putting together the project with a little more organization. It doesn’t distract from what I do.”

Henderson, who has written a number of classic jazz pieces including “Isotope,” “Mode for Joe” and “Recorda-Me,” said his next release well may be a big band recording of his own material, some of which already is in the can.

“People come up to me and say, ‘Man, this Jobim album is really great, but when are we going to get to hear Joe play Joe?’ So I’m hoping we can put this big band album out with my compositions and arrangements. And if we do, I’m sure there’ll be a couple of new things I’ve written that will be included.”

Over the years, Williams has stuck to a number of signature numbers: “Everyday,” “Goin’ to Chicago,” “Well, All Right.” But his voice is the kind that listeners apparently never tire of; he continues to be one of the most distinctive male vocalists to emerge from the big band era.

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It wasn’t always that way. He remembers his fledgling days in Chicago, where he was an unknown working with the orchestras of Jimmie Noone and others. “I didn’t think anyone was listening. People were into dancing, the orchestras played for dancing, and I knew that whoever was dancing was more interested in [his or her] partner than the singer.

“So I began to sing to my partner, someone in my imagination. I started entertaining myself and then my audience started to grow.”

He credits his initial attention in the ‘50s to the exposure he gained on radio and television. “I was on the Art Linkletter show, I did the Jackie Gleason music special in 1955 where I was standing around the piano with great singers--Sarah Vaughan, Julie Wilson--while Harold Arlen played his songs. He wrote some goodies.”

Later, he was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” and even had a minor role on Bill Cosby’s long-running sitcom.

It’s exactly the kind of exposure he doesn’t see jazz singers getting today. “They’re out there,” Williams said. “But they’re not doing the Leno show or what have you.”

And finally, in answer to the inevitable question:

“Sometimes I ask myself, ‘Are we getting a little old for this?’ But then you get out and perform, and it goes so well, and you go, ‘Woo, that’s nice.’ So people say, ‘Come out and do an hour or 90 minutes,’ and I say ‘Sure.’ ”

* Who: Joe Henderson and Joe Williams.

* When: Friday at 8 p.m.

* Where: The Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Bristol Street. Go north to Town Center Drive, and take a right.

* Wherewithal: $20-$40.

* Where to call: (714) 556-2787.