Jon Hendricks

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Jon Hendricks (2008)

John Carl "Jon" Hendricks (born September 16, 1921 in Newark , Ohio ; † November 22, 2017 in New York ) was an American jazz singer, poet and drummer. The newspaper The Times described him as the " James Joyce of Jive ". He was one of the founders of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross .

biography

In Toledo, Ohio, Jon Hendricks first appeared on public radio broadcasts as a singer. There he sang in the 1940s with the famous jazz pianist Art Tatum as an accompanist. In Toledo he studied literature and then law at college. A brief meeting with Charlie Parker , who encouraged him to continue working as a jazz singer, prompted Hendricks to realize his musical plans professionally. In 1955 in New York with Dave Lambert he developed a vocal variant of Woody Herman's well-known "Four Brother" saxophone formation and founded the vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Annie Ross and became its lyricist. In the following six years, the trio recorded a lot of jazz pieces in addition to their extensive tours, singing instrumental improvisations by other jazz musicians and three-part choruses underlaid with texts. The 1957 album Sing a Song of Basie , which arose out of a plan to have singers sing the horn sections of pieces by the Count Basie Bigband, was a great success. Since Hendricks and Lambert (together with Annie Ross, who worked as a vocal coach) could not find suitable singers, they tried it themselves - the hour of birth of their trio, which existed from 1958 to 1964. Annie Ross retired in 1962 for health reasons and was replaced by Yolande Bavan .

Hendricks then sang as a soloist until he appeared in Europe and Africa in 1968 with his newly founded group "Jon Hendricks and Company", which now also included Georgie Fame in addition to Annie Ross . Hendricks lived in London from 1968 to 1973 and was often seen as a guest on British television. He starred in the British film Jazz is our Religion and in the French film Hommage à Cole Porter ( Cole Porter ).

After his time in Europe , he moved back to San Francisco in the United States and worked for the San Francisco Chronicle as a jazz critic, but also as a teacher at California State University in Sonoma and the University of California, Berkeley . During this time, too, Hendricks recorded more records, some alone, others together with his wife Judith (who died in November 2015 at the age of 78) and his daughters Aria and Michele Hendricks . In 1999 he also appeared again with Annie Ross. His 1985 collaboration with Manhattan Transfer on the Vocalese album resulted in five Grammy awards. In 2003 he went on tour with the "Four Brothers", a vocal quartet that consists of Kurt Elling , Mark Murphy and Kevin Mahogany .

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz wrote of Hendricks: "He's such a good scat singer and so experienced in imitating instrumental sounds that he surpasses the solos played by his peers with his singing improvisations."

His scat singing is also part of the only Monk song sung ever to appear on one of Monk's own albums. However, this is only due to a coincidence; because Hendricks happened to be present at the studio recording - and Monk insisted that he record it. Unfortunately, Hendricks was vocally not optimally arranged that day; nevertheless, this reception was certainly conducive to Monk's popularity.

collaboration

During his career, Jon Hendricks has worked with many jazz greats: Cannonball Adderley , Count Basie , Dizzy Gillespie , Art Blakey , Buck Clayton , Henry Grimes , Miles Davis , Thelonious Monk , Wes Montgomery , Wynton Marsalis , Bobby McFerrin .

Awards

  • 1985 - Five Grammy Awards for his album Vocalese with Manhattan Transfer
  • Emmy , Iris and Peabody Award for the television documentary Somewhere to Lay My Weary Head
  • His play Evolution of the Blues played for five years on Broadway in New York.

Discography

Movie

Web links

Commons : Jon Hendricks  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Keepnews: Jon Hendricks, 96, Who Brought a New Dimension to Jazz Singing, Dies. The New York Times , November 22, 2017, accessed November 22, 2017 .
  2. ^ Obituary in Toledo Blade
personal data
SURNAME Hendricks, Jon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hendricks, John Carl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz singer, poet, and drummer
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark , Ohio , United States
DATE OF DEATH 22nd November 2017
Place of death New York , United States