Grammy Award-winning recording artist Cory Henry sums up music in one word: Joy.
He promises to bring just that to the intimate, 300-seat Musical Instrument Museum in North Phoenix on Friday, July 17.
“I keep the joy flowing,” Henry said with a laugh, during a recent phone interview. “And I hope the people will get up and dance with me.”
The organist, pianist, composer and producer gained international recognition for his virtuosic work during his tenure with Snarky Puppy. Whether Henry is behind the Hammond B3 organ or the piano, he brings emotional depth and his trademark groove.
He won Best Roots Gospel Album in 2025 for his album, “Church,” featuring family members, such as his grandmother. The making of the album was documented for a PBS special, “Faith in Detroit.”
Henry is known for his generosity and spiritual grounding, a path he’s taken since childhood. He grew up in New York surrounded by musical giants — Timothy Wright, Hezekiah Walker, James Hall — and spent his earliest years watching rehearsals, absorbing arrangements, and witnessing the power of communal music-making.
He has a playful side to him, though. When he’s not entrenched in music, he studies technology, and builds his Twitch channel with a “little bit of music and a whole lotta video games.”
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Lifelong pursuit
At the age of 3, he saw Walker perform at church, an event that shaped his understanding of what music can do: lift people, move them and unite them.
The 39-year-old Brooklyn, New York, native has collaborated with icons like Rosalía, Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Imagine Dragons. He appeared with Jon Batiste at Coachella and was featured in the documentary “I Am Everything” and the film “Saturday Night.”
Recently, he shared his talents with 83-year-old Muvva Jeter on her debut gospel EP, “We’re Having Good Church.” Henry produced and played all of the instruments.
The two met about a year ago at the church his grandma, Dr. Janice McDonald, attended before she died. Jeter was invited to step on the stage to sing and preach. Henry said people were “falling out” — falling under the power during prayer.
“I haven’t seen people in my grandmama’s church fall out in over 20 years,” he said. “That’s a thing of the past. She has such star quality. After the service, me and her were just kicking it. She didn’t know who I was.
“We were having a moment, and she said she always wanted to make a record.”
He encouraged her to do so but wasn’t sure he would have time to help. A couple of months later, while speaking with his grandmother on the phone, she asked, “You gonna make Muvva’s record, right?”
The pair went into the studio the same week and emerged with about four songs — at least — for her debut record, said Henry, an avid NBA 2K player.
“I thought, ‘Man, she deserves this moment and I would love to help her.’ Something in me said I should be helping her. There are some people I’ve wanted to make records with who transitioned and went on to be with the Lord.
“Nobody paid me to do it. I love her and I love her energy. I just did it from my heart. When I turn 80, I want to still be killing it.”
At the MIM, audiences will see an artist rooted in gospel, fluent in funk, fearless in improvisation, and committed to joy as a practice.
“I’ll keep the joy flowing.”
