Fletcher Henderson
Encyclopedia
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American
pianist
, bandleader
, arranger
and composer
, important in the development of big band
jazz
and swing music
. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast. He was often known as "Smack" Henderson (apparently named due to his college baseball hitting skills).
. He attended Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia
and graduated in 1920. After graduation, he moved to New York City
to attend Columbia University
for a master's degree in chemistry
. However, he found his job prospects in chemistry to be very restricted due to his race, and turned to music for a living.
He was recording director for the fledgling Black Swan
label from 1921-1923. Thoughout the early and mid 1920s, Henderson provided solo piano accompanyment for many blues singers. In 1922 he formed his own band, which was resident first at the Club Alabam then at the Roseland Ballroom, and quickly became known as the best African-American band in New York. For a time his ideas of arrangement were heavily influenced by those of Paul Whiteman
, but when Louis Armstrong
joined his orchestra in 1924 Henderson realized there could be a much richer potential for jazz band orchestration. Henderson's band also boasted the formidable arranging talents of Don Redman
(from 1922 to 1927). During the 1920s and very early 1930s, Henderson actually wrote few, if any, arrangements; most of his recordings were arranged by Redman (c. 1923-1927) or Benny Carter
(after 1927-c. 1931). As an arranger, Henderson came into his own in the mid-1930s.
His band circa 1925 included Howard Scott, Coleman Hawkins
(who started with Henderson in 1923 playing the low tuba parts on bass saxophone and quickly moved to tenor and a leading solo role), Louis Armstrong
, Charlie Dixon, Kaiser Marshall
, Buster Bailey
, Elmer Chambers
, Charlie Green, Ralph Escudero
and Don Redman
.
In 1925, along with fellow composer Henry Troy, he wrote "Gin House Blues
", recorded
by Bessie Smith
and Nina Simone
amongst others. He also wrote the very popular jazz composition "Soft Winds" among others.
Henderson recorded extensively in the 1920s for numerous labels, including:
From 1925-1930, he primarily recorded for Columbia and Brunswick/Vocalion under his own name as well as recording a series of acoustic recordings under the name The Dixie Stompers for Columbia's Harmony and associated dime store labels (Diva and Velvet Tone). During the 1930s, he recorded for Columbia, Crown (as "Connie's Inn Orchestra"), ARC (Melotone, Perfect, Oriole, etc.), Victor, Vocalion and Decca.
At one time or another, in addition to Armstrong, lead trumpeters included Henry "Red" Allen
, Joe Smith, Rex Stewart
, Tommy Ladnier
, Doc Cheatham and Roy Eldridge
on trumpet. Lead saxophonists included Coleman Hawkins
, Buster Bailey
, Benny Carter
and Chu Berry. Sun Ra
also worked as an arranger during the 1940s during Henderson's engagement at the Club DeLisa
in Chicago. Sun Ra himself said that on first hearing Henderson's orchestra as a teenager he assumed that they must be angels because no human could produce such beautiful music.
Beginning in the early 1930s, Fletcher's piano-playing younger brother, Horace Henderson
contributed to the arrangements of the band. At different times in Horace's career he was Billie Holiday's and Lena Horne's pianist. Later he led a band of his own that also received critical acclaim.
Although Fletcher's band was very popular, he had little success managing the band. But much of his lack of recognition outside of Harlem had to do more with the times in which he lived. However, owing to the fact that many of Henderson's records (Columbia, Brunswick, Vocalion, Victor and those issued on the many of the dime store labels) still turn up at junk stores, flea markets, collectors stores and on eBay and on private record auctions, there's no denying how popular his band was, regardless of his management difficulties.
After about 1931, he started arranging and his arrangements became influential. In addition to his own band he arranged for several other bands, including those of Teddy Hill
, Isham Jones
, and most famously, Benny Goodman
. Henderson's wife, Leora, said that a major turning point in his life was an auto accident which occurred in 1928. Henderson's shoulder was injured and he apparently sustained a concussion. Leora claimed that Fletcher was never the same, and that after this point he lost his ambition and became careless. According to Leora, the accident was a major cause of Henderson's diminishing success. She claims that John Hammond and Benny Goodman arranged to buy Henderson's arrangements as a way to support Henderson, and points out that Goodman always gave Henderson credit for the arrangements and said that the Henderson band played them better than the Goodman band. In addition, Goodman and Hammond arranged broadcasts and recordings to benefit Henderson when he was ill.
Although Henderson's music was popular, his band began to fold with the 1929 stock market crash. The loss of financial stability resulted in the selling of many arrangements from his songbooks to the later-to-be-acclaimed "King of Swing" Benny Goodman.
suggested that he purchase some Jazz charts from Henderson. Many of Goodman's hits from the swing era
were played by Henderson and his own band in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In fact they usually were head arrangements that Fletcher transcribed from his own records and then sold to Goodman.
In 1939, Henderson disbanded his own band and joined Goodman's, first as both pianist and arranger and then working full-time as the staff arranger. He reformed bands of his own several times in the 1940s, toured with Ethel Waters
again in 1948-1949. Henderson suffered a stroke
in 1950 resulting in partial paralysis that ended his days as a pianist. He died in New York City in 1952.
Henderson was also responsible for bringing Louis Armstrong from Chicago to New York in October, 1924, thus flipping the focal point of jazz in the history of the United States (although Armstrong left the band in November, 1925 and returned to Chicago).
A museum is being established in his memory in Atlanta, Georgia.
Roman Seipert
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, important in the development of big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and swing music
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast. He was often known as "Smack" Henderson (apparently named due to his college baseball hitting skills).
Biography
Fletcher Henderson was born in Cuthbert, GeorgiaCuthbert, Georgia
Cuthbert is a city in, and the county seat of, Randolph County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,731 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Cuthbert is located at 31º46'15" North, 84º47'37" West ....
. He attended Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
and graduated in 1920. After graduation, he moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to attend Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for a master's degree in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. However, he found his job prospects in chemistry to be very restricted due to his race, and turned to music for a living.
He was recording director for the fledgling Black Swan
Black Swan
The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...
label from 1921-1923. Thoughout the early and mid 1920s, Henderson provided solo piano accompanyment for many blues singers. In 1922 he formed his own band, which was resident first at the Club Alabam then at the Roseland Ballroom, and quickly became known as the best African-American band in New York. For a time his ideas of arrangement were heavily influenced by those of Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
, but when Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
joined his orchestra in 1924 Henderson realized there could be a much richer potential for jazz band orchestration. Henderson's band also boasted the formidable arranging talents of Don Redman
Don Redman
Donald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader and composer.Redman was announced as a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on May 6, 2009....
(from 1922 to 1927). During the 1920s and very early 1930s, Henderson actually wrote few, if any, arrangements; most of his recordings were arranged by Redman (c. 1923-1927) or Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
(after 1927-c. 1931). As an arranger, Henderson came into his own in the mid-1930s.
His band circa 1925 included Howard Scott, Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
(who started with Henderson in 1923 playing the low tuba parts on bass saxophone and quickly moved to tenor and a leading solo role), Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Charlie Dixon, Kaiser Marshall
Kaiser Marshall
Joseph "Kaiser" Marshall was an American jazz drummer.Marshall was raised in Boston, where he studied under George L. Stone. He played with Charlie Dixon before moving to New York City early in the 1920s...
, Buster Bailey
Buster Bailey
William C. "Buster" Bailey was a jazz musician specializing in the clarinet, but also well versed on saxophone...
, Elmer Chambers
Elmer Chambers
Dallas Elmer Chambers, also called Frog and Muffle Jaws Chambers was an American jazz trumpeter....
, Charlie Green, Ralph Escudero
Ralph Escudero
Rafael "Ralph" Escudero was a bassist and tubist active on the early American jazz scene....
and Don Redman
Don Redman
Donald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader and composer.Redman was announced as a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on May 6, 2009....
.
In 1925, along with fellow composer Henry Troy, he wrote "Gin House Blues
Gin House Blues
"Gin House Blues" is the title of two different blues songs, which have become confused over the years. Both songs were first recorded by Bessie Smith....
", recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
and Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
amongst others. He also wrote the very popular jazz composition "Soft Winds" among others.
Henderson recorded extensively in the 1920s for numerous labels, including:
- VocalionVocalion RecordsVocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
- ParamountParamount RecordsParamount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
- ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
- Olympic
- AjaxAjax Records (Quebec)Ajax Records was a North American record company, pressed in Canada and sold in the United States from 1921 through 1926.The label served as a subsidiary of the Compo Company of Lachine, Quebec. Ajax issued its first record in October 1923 and the last in the summer of 1925. The head of Ajax...
- PathePathé RecordsPathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
- PerfectPerfect RecordsPerfect Records was a United States based record label of the 1920s and 1930s. It was a subsidiary of Pathé Records, producing standard lateral cut 78 rpm disc records for the US market....
- EdisonEdison RecordsEdison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
- EmersonEmerson RecordsEmerson Records was a record label active in the United States between 1916 to 1928. Emerson Records produced between the 1910s and early 1920s offered generally above average audio fidelity for the era, pressed in high quality shellac. The fidelity of the later issues compares less...
- BrunswickBrunswick RecordsBrunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
- Plaza Records (Banner, Oriole, and the other Plaza labels)
From 1925-1930, he primarily recorded for Columbia and Brunswick/Vocalion under his own name as well as recording a series of acoustic recordings under the name The Dixie Stompers for Columbia's Harmony and associated dime store labels (Diva and Velvet Tone). During the 1930s, he recorded for Columbia, Crown (as "Connie's Inn Orchestra"), ARC (Melotone, Perfect, Oriole, etc.), Victor, Vocalion and Decca.
At one time or another, in addition to Armstrong, lead trumpeters included Henry "Red" Allen
Red Allen
Henry James "Red" Allen was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.-Life and career:...
, Joe Smith, Rex Stewart
Rex Stewart
Rex Stewart was an American jazz cornetist best known for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra....
, Tommy Ladnier
Tommy Ladnier
Thomas J. "Tommy" Ladnier was an American jazz trumpeter. Clarinetist/writer Mezz Mezzrow rated him second only to Louis Armstrong....
, Doc Cheatham and Roy Eldridge
Roy Eldridge
Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...
on trumpet. Lead saxophonists included Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
, Buster Bailey
Buster Bailey
William C. "Buster" Bailey was a jazz musician specializing in the clarinet, but also well versed on saxophone...
, Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
and Chu Berry. Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
also worked as an arranger during the 1940s during Henderson's engagement at the Club DeLisa
Club DeLisa
The Club DeLisa, also written Delisa or De Lisa, at State Street and Garfield Avenue, on the South Side, was an important nightclub and music venue in Chicago....
in Chicago. Sun Ra himself said that on first hearing Henderson's orchestra as a teenager he assumed that they must be angels because no human could produce such beautiful music.
Beginning in the early 1930s, Fletcher's piano-playing younger brother, Horace Henderson
Horace Henderson
Horace W. Henderson Born in Cuthbert, Georgia , younger brother of Fletcher Henderson, was an American jazz pianist, organist, arranger, and bandleader....
contributed to the arrangements of the band. At different times in Horace's career he was Billie Holiday's and Lena Horne's pianist. Later he led a band of his own that also received critical acclaim.
Although Fletcher's band was very popular, he had little success managing the band. But much of his lack of recognition outside of Harlem had to do more with the times in which he lived. However, owing to the fact that many of Henderson's records (Columbia, Brunswick, Vocalion, Victor and those issued on the many of the dime store labels) still turn up at junk stores, flea markets, collectors stores and on eBay and on private record auctions, there's no denying how popular his band was, regardless of his management difficulties.
After about 1931, he started arranging and his arrangements became influential. In addition to his own band he arranged for several other bands, including those of Teddy Hill
Teddy Hill
Teddy Hill was a big band leader and the manager of Minton's Playhouse, a seminal jazz club in Harlem...
, Isham Jones
Isham Jones
Isham Jones was a United States bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.-Career:Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, to a musical and mining family, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where he started his first band...
, and most famously, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
. Henderson's wife, Leora, said that a major turning point in his life was an auto accident which occurred in 1928. Henderson's shoulder was injured and he apparently sustained a concussion. Leora claimed that Fletcher was never the same, and that after this point he lost his ambition and became careless. According to Leora, the accident was a major cause of Henderson's diminishing success. She claims that John Hammond and Benny Goodman arranged to buy Henderson's arrangements as a way to support Henderson, and points out that Goodman always gave Henderson credit for the arrangements and said that the Henderson band played them better than the Goodman band. In addition, Goodman and Hammond arranged broadcasts and recordings to benefit Henderson when he was ill.
Although Henderson's music was popular, his band began to fold with the 1929 stock market crash. The loss of financial stability resulted in the selling of many arrangements from his songbooks to the later-to-be-acclaimed "King of Swing" Benny Goodman.
Benny Goodman
In 1934, Goodman's Orchestra was selected as a house band for the "Let's Dance" radio program. Since he needed new charts every week for the show, his friend John HammondJohn H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
suggested that he purchase some Jazz charts from Henderson. Many of Goodman's hits from the swing era
Swing Era
The Swing era was the period of time when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though the music had been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s, being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Moten, Ella Fitzgerald,...
were played by Henderson and his own band in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In fact they usually were head arrangements that Fletcher transcribed from his own records and then sold to Goodman.
In 1939, Henderson disbanded his own band and joined Goodman's, first as both pianist and arranger and then working full-time as the staff arranger. He reformed bands of his own several times in the 1940s, toured with Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
again in 1948-1949. Henderson suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in 1950 resulting in partial paralysis that ended his days as a pianist. He died in New York City in 1952.
Contributions to jazz
Henderson, along with Don Redman, established the formula for swing music. The two concocted the recipe every swing band played from (i.e. sections 'talking' to one another, 'hot' swing). Swing, its popularity spanning over a decade, was the most fashionable form of jazz ever in the United States.Henderson was also responsible for bringing Louis Armstrong from Chicago to New York in October, 1924, thus flipping the focal point of jazz in the history of the United States (although Armstrong left the band in November, 1925 and returned to Chicago).
A museum is being established in his memory in Atlanta, Georgia.
Selected discography
- Tidal Wave (1994) (GRP/Decca)
- Ken Burns Jazz: Fletcher Henderson (2000) (Columbia/Legacy)
- Sweet and Hot (2007) (Le Chant du Monde)
As arranger for Benny Goodman orchestra
- Sing, Sing, Sing (1992) (Bluebird/BMG)
- The Harry James Years, Vol. 1 (1993) (Bluebird/BMG)
- The Best of the Big Bands [under Goodman's name] (1933-1946/1989) (Columbia)
- Genius of the Electric Guitar (Recorded under Goodman sextet's name, this album released under Charlie ChristianCharlie ChristianCharles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
's name) (1939-1941/1990) (Columbia)
Roman Seipert
Further reading
- Walter C. Allen, Hendersonia - The Music of Fletcher Henderson and his Musicians - a Bio-Discography (1973)
- Jeffrey Magee, The Uncrowned King of Swing: Fletcher Henderson and Big Band Jazz (2004)
- Margery Dews, "Remembering: The Remarkable Henderson Family"
- Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
, The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (The History of Jazz, Vol. 2) (1989) - Scott Yanow, Swing: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion (2000)