Jon Hendricks

Early years

Born on September 16, 1921, in Newark, Ohio, United States, Hendricks moved many times with his 14 siblings, following their father's assignments as an AME pastor, before settling permanently in Toledo. The family house was often full of visiting jazz musicians, for whom Jon's mother provided meals.

Hendricks began his singing career at the age of seven. He has said: "By the time I was 10, I was a local celebrity in Toledo. I had offers to go with Fats Waller when I was 12, and offers to go with Ted Lewis and be his shadow when I was 13. He had that song 'Me and My Shadow'. And he had this little Negro boy who was his shadow, that did everything he did. That was his act." The Tatum family lived on the same street as the Hendricks family. Jon Hendricks received his early musical training from piano prodigy Art Tatum, and the two of them began appearing together around town.

As a teenager, Jon made good money from singing on the radio with a harmony group, The Swing Buddies. This earned him enough money to support his entire family. He continued performing around Toledo and Detroit until he was drafted into the US Army.

From 1957 through 1962, the trio recorded six albums, including High Flying (1961), which won a Grammy for Best Performance by a Vocal Group, before Annie Ross departed due to health problems. She was replaced by Yolande Bavan, and the group was billed as Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan for the three live albums they recorded, 1962–64.

Countless singers cite the work of LH&R as an influence, including Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Al Jarreau and Bobby McFerrin. The song "Yeh Yeh", for which Hendricks composed the lyrics, became a no.1 hit in 1965 for British R&B-jazz singer Georgie Fame, who continues to record and perform Lambert, Hendricks & Ross compositions to this day. In 1966 Hendricks recorded "Fire in the City" with the Warlocks, who shortly after changed their name to the Grateful Dead. Hendricks wrote lyrics for several Thelonious Monk songs, including "In Walked Bud", which he performed on Monk's 1968 album Underground.

For a performance at the 1960 Monterey Jazz Festival, he created and starred in a musical he called Evolution of the Blues Song (later shortened to Evolution of the Blues), which featured such acclaimed singers as Jimmy Witherspoon, Hannah Dean, and "Big" Miller, as well as saxophonists Ben Webster and Pony Poindexter. He served on the Kennedy Center Honors committee under presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton. His final studio album, the Grammy-nominated Freddie Freeloader, was released in 1990, and featured an all-star line-up that included George Benson, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Cobb, Larry Goldings, Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Turrentine, Al Grey, The Manhattan Transfer and the Count Basie Orchestra.

In 2000, Hendricks returned to his home town to teach at the University of Toledo, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies and received an honorary Doctorate of the Performing Arts. He was selected to be the first American jazz artist to lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris. His 15-voice group, the Jon Hendricks Vocalstra at the University of Toledo, performed at the Sorbonne in 2002. Hendricks also wrote lyrics to some classical pieces including "On the Trail" from Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite. The Vocalstra premiered a vocalese version of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" with the Toledo Symphony.

In the summer of 2003 Hendricks went on tour with the "Four Brothers", a quartet consisting of Hendricks, Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy and Kevin Mahogany. He worked on setting words to and arranging Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto as well as on two books, teaching and touring with his Vocalstra. He wrote lyrics to Gershwin's Piano Prelude No. 1 for the a cappella ensemble Pieces of 8's 2004 album Across the Blue Meridian. He appeared in cameo roles in the films People I Know (2002) and White Men Can't Jump (1992).

In 2012, Hendricks appeared in the documentary film No One But Me, discussing his former bandmate and friend, Annie Ross. In 2015, Hendricks lost his second wife Judith to a brain tumor.

Hendricks also appeared on three tracks from the 2016 release of the JC Hopkins Biggish Band titled "Meet Me at Minton's". He performs vocalese on "Suddenly (In Walked Bud)", is included in the ensemble on the album's title track "Meet Me at Minton's", and croons a duet of the Monk tune "How I Wish (Ask Me Now)" with singer and 2016 Thelonious Monk Competition winner Jazzmeia Horn. At the time of the recording he was 93 and Horn was 23.

In 2017, Hendricks's full lyricization of the album Miles Ahead, including Miles Davis' solos and Gil Evans' orchestrations, was completed fifty years after he had first conceived the idea. It was premiered in New York by UK-based choir the London Vocal Project, with Hendricks in attendance, with a studio recording to follow.

Death Hendricks died on November 22, 2017, in Manhattan, New York City, aged 96.

Awards and honors Hendricks was recognized with an NEA Jazz Master award in 1993, as well as receiving multiple Grammy Awards, and in 2004, he was honored in France with the Legion of Honour.

Discography As leader A Good Git-Together (World Pacific, 1959) Evolution of the Blues Song (Columbia, 1960) Live Recording at Birdland with Count Basie (Roulette, 1961) Fast Livin' Blues (Columbia, 1962) ¡Salud! João Gilberto, Originator of the Bossa Nova (Reprise, 1963) Recorded in Person at the Trident (Smash, 1965) Jon Hendricks Live (Fontana, 1970) Times of Love (Philips, 1972) Tell Me the Truth (Arista, 1975) Cloudburst (Enja, 1982) Love (Muse, 1982) Freddie Freeloader (Denon, 1990) Boppin' at the Blue Note (Telarc, 1995)

With Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Sing a Song of Basie (ABC-Paramount, 1958) Sing Along with Basie (Roulette, 1958) The Swingers! (World Pacific, 1959) The Hottest New Group in Jazz (Columbia, 1959) Sing Ellington (Columbia, 1960) High Flying (Columbia, 1961) The Real Ambassadors (Columbia Masterworks, 1962) Basie Live in Person (Natural Organic, 1979) Everybody's Boppin (Columbia, 1989)

With Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan At Newport '63 (RCA Victor, 1963) Recorded Live at Basin Street East (RCA Victor, 1963) Havin' a Ball at the Village Gate (RCA Victor, 1964) Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home (Bluebird, 1987)

As guest 3 Cohens, Family (Anzic, 2011) Karrin Allyson, Footprints (Concord Jazz, 2006) Art Blakey, Buhaina (Prestige, 1973) Terence Blanchard, People I Know (Decca, 2003) Dave Brubeck, Young Lions & Old Tigers (Telarc, 1995) Benny Carter, Benny Carter Songbook (Musicmasters, 1997) Benny Carter, Benny Carter Songbook Volume II (MusicMasters, 1997) Neil Diamond, In My Lifetime (Columbia, 1996) Kurt Elling, Live in Chicago (Blue Note, 1999) Georgie Fame, Cool Cat Blues (Go Jazz, 1991) Al Grey, Al Grey Fab (Capri, 1990) Joyce, Language and Love (Verve, 1991) King Pleasure, King Pleasure Sings (Prestige, 1954) The Manhattan Transfer, Mecca for Moderns (Atlantic, 1981) The Manhattan Transfer, Vocalese (Atlantic, 1985) Ellis Marsalis Jr., Ellis Marsalis Trio (Blue Note, 1991) Wynton Marsalis, Crescent City Christmas Card (Columbia, 1989) Wynton Marsalis, Blood on the Fields (Columbia, 1997) Bobby McFerrin, Spontaneous Inventions (Blue Note, 1986) Thelonious Monk, Underground (Columbia, 1968) Jimmy Rowles and Stan Getz, The Peacocks (Columbia, 1975) George Russell, New York, N.Y. (Decca, 1959) Janis Siegel, Experiment in White (Atlantic, 1982) Take 6, The Standard (Heads Up, 2008) Larry Vuckovich, Cast Your Fate (Palo Alto, 1984) Connie Evingson, All the Cats Join In (Minnehaha Music, 2014) Royal Bopsters – The Royal Bopsters Project (Motema, 2015)

Filmography Music in Monk Time, a documentary tribute to Thelonious Monk, Hendricks served as co-writer, performer and narrator (1983, production by Songfilms International, Inc.) The Steve Allen Plymouth Show Episode #4.11 (1958): Lambert, Hendricks & Ross NET Playhouse Duke Ellington – A Concert of Sacred Music (1967): Jon Hendricks Jazz Is Our Religion (1972) White Men Can't Jump (1992): one of the Venice Beach Boys Foreign Student (1994): April's father Jon Hendricks, Tell Me The Truth, a documentary about the artist, directed by Audrey Lasbleiz (2008, production Mosaïque Films, Paris). Blues March: Soldier Jon Hendricks, a documentary about the artist fighting on two fronts in World War II by Malte Rauchof (2009, Strandfilm Productions)