| By Terry Perkins
 Jon
Hendricks started his professional career
as a musician in the mid-1930s while still
in high school in Toledo, Ohio. He sang
on the local radio station with a vocal
group called The Swing Buddies and occasionally
played local clubs backed by neighbor and
friend Art Tatum on piano.
After serving in World War II in Europe,
Hendricks returned to Ohio and enrolled
in the University of Toledo as a pre-law
major. But he continued his musical career
as well, playing drums and singing at local
clubs every night of the week. Touring musicians
such as Charlie Parker and the now famous
Tatum encouraged Hendricks to move to New
York City and pursue a fulltime career in
music. In 1950, when his GI Bill benefits
ran out, Hendricks did make the move to
the Big Apple where he found work writing
songs for Louis Jordan and King Pleasure.
 He
showcased his vocalese prowess on a lyricized
version of the Woody Herman instrumental
hit, “Four Brothers,” which also marked
his first recording with fellow vocalist
and arranger Dave Lambert. The two singers
formed a trio in 1957, adding vocalist Annie
Ross to form Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
The trio’s first recording,
Sing a Song of Basie, took the jazz
world by storm.
LH&R broke up in 1962 after recording
a string of classic recordings. But more
than four decades later, Hendricks is still
going strong at the age of 84. Recently,
JazzStandards.com caught up with
Hendricks at his Toledo home for a lengthy
interview in which the legendary musician
looked back on his early years and the creation
of vocalese. He also provided an overview
of his current activities and comments on
some of today’s singers attempting to follow
in his footsteps.
When asked how he came up with the idea
of writing lyrics and vocal arrangements
that mirrored complete band charts by groups
such as the Basie and Ellington orchestras,
Hendricks detailed the influence of King
Pleasure and Eddie Jefferson on his concept.
He also noted another influence from his
early years in Toledo.
“In my early days in New York, I had
been writing for Louis Jordan,” explains
Hendricks. “I had written ‘I’ll Die Happy’
and ‘I Want You to Be My Baby,’ so I was
doing well as a songwriter. Then King Pleasure
asked me to do a song with him called ‘Don’t
Get Scared.’ That was actually my first
recording. But I had been inspired earlier
by his version of ‘Moody’s Mood for Love.’
When I heard that, I realized you don’t
have to stop at 32 bars. You can go on and
do a whole vocal arrangement of a band chart.
That’s when I wrote ‘Four Brothers.’ My
inspiration was to go beyond the vocalization
of a single horn solo like ‘Moody’s Mood.’
”
According to Hendricks, that inclination
to vocalize instrumental lines actually
went back to his early days in Toledo, when
money was tight and he would try and earn
pocket change in clubs.
“In a way, what I did with vocalese was
just a development of what I always loved,”
he recalls. “I used to stand in front of
the jukebox at clubs in Toledo during the
depression, and when someone came to play
it, I’d say, ‘Don’t put the nickel in the
jukebox. Give it to me and I’ll sing the
song.’ Because I had memorized the entire
jukebox–even the instrumentals–I’d sing
the solos by imitating the sound of the
instruments. I realized later that that
was the basis of what became vocalese. All
I had to do was add the words, and I loved
to write plays and songs.”
The vocalese approach was pioneered by
Eddie Jefferson and King Pleasure. Their
1952 recording, “Moody’s Mood for Love,”
added new lyrics to mimic the saxophone
solo performed by James Moody on his own
recording of “I’m in the Mood for Love.”
But according to Hendricks, vocalese is
more complicated than the single line vocal
improvisation of “Moody’s Mood.”
“Some people say that Jon Hendricks is
a usurper, taking the credit from King Pleasure
and Eddie Jefferson,” he explains. “What
those guys did was my inspiration, and I
knew and loved both of them. I came up with
the idea to do the same thing, but I expanded
it for an entire orchestra. Leonard Feather
reviewed it and called it ‘vocalese.’
So that is what the word applies to–not
to single line lyric versions of trumpet
or tenor sax or trombone solos but the entire
band. That was my invention. I walked on
that ground. We all used each other’s ideas
and built in our own ways. And that’s what
art is.”
There’s no denying that Lambert, Hendricks
and Ross produced vocal jazz artistry at
the highest level. Here’s how Hendricks
remembers the genesis of LH&R’s first groundbreaking
recording,
Sing a Song of Basie.
“I was living in the Village at the Earl
Hotel in a little alcove with a bed in it,”
says Hendricks. “I had met Dave and we talked
about doing something together and eventually
did–‘Four Brothers.’ Dave was having a hard
time making ends meet and was recently divorced.
He told me he had an extra room and asked
me to move in so we could pool our
resources. One day we were sitting around
scraping the bottom of the Nescafe jar to
make two cups of coffee. Dave said, ‘You
know, we’re going to die and nobody’s going
to know we were ever on the earth. Why don’t
we do something that will remain after us?’
I said, ‘Good idea, but what do we do?’
He said, ‘We both love Basie. Why don’t
you write some lyrics to Basie arrangements
and we’ll sing ‘em?’ I replied, ‘Do you
have any idea how long it would take to
lyricize a whole Basie arrangement?
Take ‘Jumpin’ at the Woodside.’ It has to
have words about the Woodside, whatever
that was. And then the solos have to become
lyrics by people who stayed there and who
talk about it–and it has to be rhymed and
sequenced to make a whole story. Do you
realize how long it would take to do ten
of those?’ Dave just said, ‘Do you have
anything else to do?’ I picked up a pad
and started right away.”
When Hendricks looks back on the legacy
of LH&R, he regards some of those Basie
lyricizations and vocal arrangements as
his best work.
“I immediately think of those Frank Foster/Basie
tunes,” he states, “‘Shiny Stockings’ and
especially ‘Blues Backstage,’ which is an
adaptation of the storyline from the opera
Pagliacci told from the viewpoint
of a bebop musician instead of a clown.
Those are deeply poetic and literary lyrics,
and they won’t be discovered in this generation.
It takes time for art. You do it for love,
not for money or fame. You’re God’s pencil
is what you are. And if you realize that
and you’re happy with that, you can produce
good work.”
After Annie Ross left LH&R in 1962, Hendricks
kept the group together with replacement
singer Yolande Bavan, but the new lineup
only lasted until 1964. Hendricks continued
to record projects on his own and spent
the years from 1968 to 1972 living in England.
He currently teaches at the University of
Toledo and continues to tour and perform
with an updated version of the LH&R concept
called LH&R Redux that features Hendricks,
his wife Judith, and Joel Hazard.
“When we started doing this LH&R Redux,
I realized how much I missed it,” states
Hendricks. “It was just great doing a three-part
vocal version of ‘My Ship’ from Miles
Ahead, and Bird’s version of ‘Everything
Happens to Me.’ I feel like a born-again
jazz singer! We debuted the group at the
Blue Note in Milan–one of the most popular
jazz clubs in Europe–and it was a smash.
We couldn’t get off the stage. We had the
same response at the Blue Note in New York.
It just shows the reason that Lambert, Hendricks
and Ross were the number one vocal group
in the world for those five years is that
people love that style, and they still do
love it now as much as they did then! It’s
a style that never depended on personality.
It was all about the sound and the idea–the
lyricizations and the talent of the three
people singing them.”
In addition, Hendricks has put together
a 15-piece vocal group he calls the Vocalstra.
The group expands the LH&R concept and also
takes it into the realm of classical music.
“I lyricized the third movement of Rimsky
Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’ and the Vocalstra
performed it with the Toledo Symphony,”
says Hendricks. “Now I’m working on Rachmaninoff’s
‘Piano Concerto #2.’ I’m getting into everything.”
When Hendricks looks at the contemporary
jazz vocal scene, he doesn’t see anyone
attempting to work in the vocalese concept
at the same level he did with Lambert, Hendricks
& Ross. But he does see plenty of talent
and the potential to do so.
“I think Kurt Elling has great talent,”
comments Hendricks. “He’s the nearest anyone
has come to that. I think if anyone attempts
it on a larger scale, he will be the one.
He’s a brilliant cat. And Lorraine Feather
is a wonderful singer who also writes great
lyrics. I’ve known her since she was a little
girl.”
You can visit Jon Hendricks's website
at:
www.johhendricks.com
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