Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson
Background information
Birth name James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr.
Also known as "Smack" Henderson
Born (1897-12-18)December 18, 1897
Cuthbert, Georgia, United States
Died December 29, 1952(1952-12-29) (aged 55)
New York City, New York, United States
Genres Jazz, swing
Occupation(s) Musician, arranger, bandleader
Instruments Piano
Years active 1921–50

[1]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. He was one of the most prolific black musical arrangers and his influence was vast. He was often known as Smack Henderson (apparently due to his college baseball hitting skills).[2] Fletcher is ranked along with Duke Ellington as one of the most influential arrangers and band leaders in jazz history, and helped bridge the gap between the dixieland and swing era.

Biography

Built by his father in 1888, the Fletcher Henderson House in Cuthbert, Georgia is where Fletcher Henderson was born in 1897. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 17, 1982

Fletcher Henderson was born in Cuthbert, Georgia in 1897. He grew up in a middle-class African-American family. His father, Fletcher H. Henderson Sr. (1857–1943), was the principal of the nearby Howard Normal Randolph School from 1880 until 1942. His home, now known as the Fletcher Henderson House, is a historic site. His mother was a teacher, and taught he and his brother Horace Henderson how to play the piano. He first began the lessons by the age of six. His father was his biggest supporter but very tough on him. He would occasionally lock Fletcher in his room to practice for hours. Around the age of 13 Henderson found himself with a keen ability to read music and sense pitch.[1] He pursued the studies with his mother and further engaged himself in lessons on European art.[3] Although being a very talented musician, Henderson decided to dedicate himself to math and science.

At age 18 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and changed his name to Fletcher Henderson, giving up James, his grandfather's name.[4] Henderson attended Atlanta University (Alpha Phi Alpha), and graduated in 1920 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics.[3] After graduation, he moved to New York City to attend Columbia University for a master's degree in chemistry, but finding his job prospects in chemistry to be very restricted due to his race, turned to music for a living.[5]

After arriving in New York City, Henderson shared an apartment with a pianist. His roommate, who worked as a musician, became increasingly ill and was unable to perform. Seizing the opportunity he found himself covering for him in the Riverboat Orchestra, and they soon gave Henderson a job as a full-time replacement, helping him land a job with the fledgling Black Swan label in 1921–1923.[5] Throughout the early and mid-1920s, Henderson provided solo piano accompaniment for many blues singers. He also led the backing group for Ethel Waters during one of her national tours.[6] Prior to mid-1923, Henderson's group was not technically a jazz band yet (more like a dance band), though its music was inflected with the ragtime rhythms that had been popular for some time. In 1922 he formed his own band, which was resident first at Club Alabam, then at the Roseland Ballroom, and quickly became known as the best African-American band in New York. In the 1920s, he did not do very many band arrangements. By late 1923 and into 1924, the arrangements by Don Redman were featuring more solo work, but when Louis Armstrong joined his orchestra in 1924 (for only a year), Henderson realized there could be a much richer potential for jazz band orchestration. Even though Armstong only played in the band for a year, he greatly influenced the members of the band as they began to imminate his style.[3] Henderson's band also boasted the formidable arranging talents of Don Redman (from 1922 to 1927). After Redman's departure from the band in 1927, Henderson took on the some of the arranging, but Benny Carter was Redman's replacement as saxophone player and arranger from 1930–31, and Henderson also bought scores from freelance musicians (including from John Nesbitt from McKinney's Cotton Pickers).[7] As an arranger, Henderson came into his own from 1931 into the mid-1930s.[5]

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 among others. His other compositions include the popular jazz composition "Soft Winds".

Henderson recorded extensively in the 1920s for nearly every label, including Vocalion, Paramount, Columbia, Olympic, Ajax, Pathe, Perfect, Edison, Emerson, Brunswick, and the dime store labels including Banner, Oriole, Regal, Cameo, Romeo, etc. From 1925–1930, he recorded primarily 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. Starting in the very early 1920s, Henderson recorded current popular hits, as well as jazz tunes. As a result, Henderson and his band were extremely prolific: in 1924, they recorded 80 individual sides. His version of the pop tune, "I Can't Get The One I Want", recorded c. June 19, 1924 was issued on at least 23 labels.

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. 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 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.

Although Fletcher's band was quite popular, he had little success in managing it. But much of his lack of recognition outside of Harlem had to do more with the times in which he lived, and the hard times that resulted after the 1929 stock market crash. Fletcher had a knack for finding fresh talent that had an impact on the era. However, he did not have much luck keeping them as members of the band. On multiple occasions he lost talented members to other band leaders. He not only had trouble keeping people around but upholding his finances as well. When the band split up in 1934 he was ultimately forced to sell some of his popular arrangements to Benny Goodman to keep them together.[3] However, because 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, on eBay and on private record auctions, there's no denying how popular his band truly was.

After about 1931, his own arrangements became influential. In addition to his own band, he arranged for several others, 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 happened 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 also claims that John Hammond and Benny Goodman arranged to buy Henderson's arrangements as a way to support him, and points out that Goodman always gave Henderson credit for the arrangements, and said that the Henderson band played them better than his own. In addition, Goodman and Hammond arranged broadcasts and recordings to benefit Henderson when he was ill.[8]

Benny Goodman

In 1935, Goodman's Orchestra was selected as a house band for the NBC Let's Dance radio program. Since Goodman needed new charts every week for the show, his friend John Hammond suggested that he purchase some 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, and usually were head arrangements that Fletcher transcribed from his own records, then sold to Goodman. However, brother Horace Henderson recounts (in Goodman's biography Swing, Swing, Swing by Ross Firestone) that the clarinetist made heavy demands on Henderson for fresh charts while his band was engaged for the Let's Dance show in 1934-35, and that he himself contributed to help Fletcher complete some of them. Vocalist Helen Ward also states that Henderson was delighted to hear the Goodman orchestra realize his creations with such impeccable musicianship.

In 1939, Henderson disbanded his band and joined Goodman's, first as pianist and arranger and then working full-time as staff arranger.[5] He re-formed bands of his own several times in the 1940s and 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.[5] He died in New York City in 1952.

Contributions to jazz and the Harlem Renaissance

Henderson, along with Don Redman, established the formula for swing music. The two broke the band into sections (sax section, trumpet section etc.). These sections worked together to create a unique sound. Sometimes, the sections would play in call-and-response style, and at other times one section would play supporting riffs behind the other.[7] 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).

Henderson also played a key role in bringing improvisatory jazz styles from New Orleans and other areas of the country to New York, where they merged with a dance-band tradition that relied heavily on arrangements written out in musical notation.[9]

A museum is being established in his memory in Cuthbert, Georgia.[10]'

Henderson differed from other musicians in his time. He made the idea of playing Jazz exclusively popular to ambitious, young, black musicians. He made it financially stable and a way to seize cultural power during the time. Henderson was genuine when it came to the appearance of the band. He was all for making an impact on the era. Henderson would intensely oversee to it that each member had clean shaven faces, a tuxedo, and polished shoes. It was recorded that he would do this before every performance especcially ones in predominantly white communities, such as times square. The men in his band had strong connections to the emerging group of blacks in Harlem. Henderson creation of a band that was capable of playing dance music and complex arrangements. Louis Metcalf discussed they had. He states, "The sight of Fletcher Henderson's men playing behind music stands brought on a learning-to-read-music kick in Harlem which hadn't cared before it. There were two years of real concentration. Everybody greeted you with 'How's studying?'"[11]

Band Members Timeline

This list is composed from a 1971 letter to Chester Krolewicz. It was written by Walter C. Allen of Stanhope N.J. and was titled Mailing List of Fletcher Henderson Alumni. It was a letter asking the list to supply vital statistics on each member like date and place of birth along with early musical training and any other bands they played with. It appears Allen used this list for Hendersonia. The list appears to include additional band members not listed in the above article.

Selected discography

As arranger for Benny Goodman orchestra

References

  1. 1 2 Cohassey, John. [encyclopedia.com fletcher henderson "Encyclopedia.com"] Check |url= value (help).
  2. ↑ Mike Meddings. "WWI DRAFT REGISTRATION CARDS 4". Doctorjazz.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "PBS - JAZZ A Film By Ken Burns: Selected Artist Biography - Fletcher Henderson". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  4. ↑ "Fletcher Henderson | American musician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Scott Yanow (1952-12-29). "Fletcher Henderson | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  6. ↑ "Fletcher Henderson @ All About Jazz". Musicians.allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  7. 1 2 "JAZZ A Film By Ken Burns: Selected Artist Biography - Fletcher Henderson". PBS. 1934-09-25. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  8. ↑ Reading Jazz, ed. Robert Gottlieb
  9. ↑ "Fletcher Henderson @ All About Jazz". Musicians.allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  10. ↑ "Jazz Near You - Publicity Firm: Fletcher Henderson Museum [in Cuthbert, GA]". Allaboutjazz.com. 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  11. ↑ Magee, Jeffrey. “Before Louis: When Fletcher Henderson Was the "paul Whiteman of the Race"”. American Music 18.4 (2000): 391–425. Web...

Further reading

External links

Fletcher Henderson at Find a Grave

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