An Interview with Jon Hendricks

[Ron Thorne]

Jon Hendricks: Poet Laureate, Godfather of Jazz Vocalese
Roseanna Vitro’s interview with the influential singer and lyricist

11/17/14 By Roseanna Vitro

If there was ever a more swinging bebop singer than Jon Hendricks, I don’t know who it was. He was clearly born to scat sing, easily maneuvering through difficult twists and turns in Charlie Parker solos, swinging through Count Basie’s book and singing Duke Ellington’s music with integrity and spirit. At 93, he’s still ready to meet life’s struggles as an artist, with a twinkle in his eye. He was raised in a family with fourteen siblings and developed strong survival skills from his father, a preacher at the Warren, OH A.M.E church. With Art Tatum living down the street, Jon’s ears were fed the right notes and feel from his youth forward.


Jon Hendricks

In 1957, Jon teamed up with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross to form the most influential vocal jazz group the world has known. Jon discovered his talent for writing lyrics to jazz solos, as did the great Annie Ross. Hair-raising scat solos flowed with the speed of light from Dave Lambert and Jon. Lambert, Hendricks and Ross unquestionably remain an inspiration to all jazz singers around the world today.

I met Jon Hendricks when I first moved to New York City in 1980. My friend and great jazz singer, Marion Cowings, introduced us and we sang together one night at the Soho Club known as Greene Street. I’d studied Jon’s music and I was beyond thrilled to utter even one –ooh bop sha bam with Jon and Marion. It was a thrill to do this interview with Jon in his New York apartment. No one has better bebop stories than Jon as he sings solos while he’s talking! I also had the opportunity to catch up with his wife, vocalist, Judith Hendricks.

Roseanna Vitro: Jon, how would you describe your concept in jazz singing?

Jon Hendricks: I play the song, and then I put words to it, adding to something that already exists. But to take a type of music, and replay that type of music verbatim and think it’s a contribution—that’s wrong. The song that you play is a composition already. So leave the other guy alone, and do something on your own. I tend to speak in rhymes [laughing].

RV: I appreciate your concept. It’s one of the reasons I’m here. I recall our mutual friend, vocalist, Marion Cowings introducing us years ago. I could hear his improvisation was informed by yours. Marion’s a wonderful singer.

JH: Yes he is, and you are, too!

RV: Jon, you know you have a very special place in jazz history.

JH: I don’t want a place in history. I want a place in the House of Lords. They made me an honorary member of the House of Lords, and an honorary member of the House of Congress, and in France, they made me a member of the Legion D’Honneur, comprised of musketeers—the regiment who protects the King—Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the famous Three Musketeers, belonged to the Legion D’Honneur. That means I can go to the Mayors mansion in Paris and show them my pin, and go right into the Mayor’s office. They’ve given me much more than my own country.

RV: Yes, most jazz musicians and jazz lovers in the U.S. have very strong feelings regarding how jazz music is perceived and pigeonholed by the media in this country.

JH: We are the cultural arbiters of the nation. It’s disgraceful. You have to fight, because America is an ignorant country. My magazines are best sellers around the world. I just finished a magazine on the Miles Ahead album. I put words to that for jazz choirs to sing.

RV: Jazz choirs are very popular right now in high schools and colleges around the globe. Almost all vocal jazz directors know your book of vocaleses from Lambert, Hendricks and Ross recordings and your solo albums, such as Freddie the Freeloader.

JH: I have one in London waiting for me now. They’ve got the words and they’ve got the choir.

RV: I can’t wait to hear it! Freddie the Freeloader and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, The Hottest New Group in Jazz are required listening.