This is Bop; Jon Hendricks and the Art of Vocal Jazz; Peter Jones

Peter Jones [+–]

Jazz singer and journalist

Peter Jones is a jazz singer and journalist based in London.

He read English at St Peter’s College, Oxford, and after a brief sojourn at the University of New Mexico he returned to England and began working as a pop music journalist. After a decade as a film and TV publicist, during which he was the researcher for the autobiography of Spitting Image founder Roger Law, he gained an MA in Film and Television Studies from the University of Westminster. Until 2015 he taught film and media at a variety of London colleges, and published a short book on black cinema (BFI Publishing), followed by a handbook for Media and Film students (Hodder Arnold).

For several years he played bass in a jazz sextet, before deciding to concentrate on singing. At around the time of his first album (‘One Way Ticket to Palookaville’ – 2013) he developed a serious interest in the work of Mark Murphy, which has continued ever since. He began working for London Jazz News, reviewing concerts and CDs, and conducting interviews, including one with Kurt Elling in 2015. His second album (‘Utopia’) was released in 2016.

BEST HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN RECORDED JAZZ Certificate of Merit 2021, Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research

If any man could be defined as the epitome of the modern jazz singer, it would surely be Jon Hendricks. His contributions to jazz were colossal: a hipster, a bopster, a comic and raconteur, a word-smith par excellence, and a fearless improviser, he took the arts of scatting and vocalese to new heights. As a founder member of the groundbreaking vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, he changed forever the public perception of what a jazz singer could be.

Jon Hendricks started singing professionally at the age of seven. Within five years he was supporting his entire family — including three sisters, eleven brothers and a niece — with his earnings from radio appearances. He was active in jazz long before the birth of bebop, and didn’t stop until he was in his nineties. Tutored by the pioneering pianist Art Tatum, Hendricks performed with everyone of any consequence in jazz, from Louis Armstrong to Jazzmeia Horn. Before Lambert, Hendricks and Ross astonished the world with their first album Sing A Song Of Basie, he was writing songs for Louis Jordan. Later he influenced and worked with The Manhattan Transfer, Bobby McFerrin and Kurt Elling. When he died in 2017, he left behind a final masterwork — his vocal adaptation of the Miles Davis album Miles Ahead.

This is Bop is the first biography of Jon Hendricks. Based on extensive research in both the USA and the UK, it draws on the author’s interviews with the Hendricks family and the many singers, musicians and industry figures who worked closely with him. As well as telling the story of his remarkable life, it also explores his legacy as a lyricist and a scat singer, his contribution to the art of vocalese, and his extraordinary gifts as a thinker and raconteur.

Series: Popular Music History

Introduction

The Verge of Impossibility [+–] 1-7

Shortly before Jon Hendricks died, his 50-year Miles Ahead project finally premiered in New York City. During his career he had worked with all the greats, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Chapter 1

You’ve Got Something Money Can’t Buy [+–] 8-24

Hendricks was born into poverty in small-town Ohio, the seventh son of a preacher. Starting to sing in church, he learned jazz harmony while still a child from piano legend Art Tatum, a neighbor. Within a few years, during the Great Depression, his singing supported his entire family.

Chapter 2

Mitigating Circumstances [+–] 25-32

In World War II, he took part in the D-Day landings, and survived the German gun batteries, only to find himself and fellow black soldiers targeted by white American military police. He went on the run, was recaptured and court martialed. Aboard his returning troop ship he experienced an epiphany on hearing a record by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Chapter 3

We Don’t Want No Singers, Man [+–] 33-47

Hendricks formed a bebop group and later enrolled at the University of Toledo. He met and married Colleen Moore. When Charlie Parker came to Toledo, Colleen asked him to let Jon sit in. They moved to New York, where Jon started working with King Pleasure and Dave Lambert. But after having four children in seven years, he and Colleen split up.

Chapter 4

The Most Beautiful Thing [+–] 48-64

Lambert and Hendricks planned an album of lyricized Count Basie tunes with a choir. Signed by ABC-Paramount, they started recording, but the choir couldn’t swing, so they brought in Annie Ross and multi-tracked their own voices. Sing a Song of Basie was a big hit and the trio became Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.

Chapter 5

A Mouthful of Hot Rice [+–] 65-81

Hendricks met his second wife Judith, and as with Colleen, the mixed marriage provoked racist reactions. Meanwhile the trio’s career went from strength to strength, as they recorded several more albums and toured the world. Hendricks wrote Evolution of the Blues, a stage show that ran for years in California theaters. Annie Ross left the trio. Jon and Judith had a child of their own.

Chapter 6

Everybody Got Tired [+–] 82-98

The trio continued with Yolande Bavan, but broke up two years later, and then Dave Lambert was killed in a road accident. Jon and Judith Hendricks moved to Marin County, where they reunited with the children, and Jon launched his solo career. But concerned about the influence of sex and drugs on the children, they decided to move to London.

Chapter 7

The Mistakes are the Only Part That’s Jazz [+–] 99-116

London was kind to Jon Hendricks, who quickly established a presence there, becoming a regular contributor to radio and TV shows. The city was his base for regular European gigs and tours, and he recorded three albums and some singles. After five years the family returned to the US, and Jon found work as a jazz journalist and lecturer, but became embroiled in a legal dispute over Evolution of the Blues.

Chapter 8

No Chord is Better Than the Wrong Chord [+–] 117-132

Hendricks continued to tour, with Judith and the children included in the line-up. Many musicians and singers passed through the band over the years, and Hendricks became closely involved with The Manhattan Transfer, helping them achieve three Grammys for their Vocalese album.

Chapter 9

We Need You to Control Him [+–] 133-151

Hendricks’s expensive and star-laden Freddie Freeloader album proved a great success, and he was enjoying the role of jazz elder statesman and guru to younger musicians. Intermittently he worked on another grand project, a complete lyricization of Miles Davis’s Miles Ahead album. He returned to the University of Toledo to teach.

Chapter 10

Keep Smiling [+–] 152-166

Now in his eighties, Hendricks continued to work, but endured battles with the university authorities, and despite his declining faculties, he still gigged. In the final years he finished his Miles Ahead lyrics, capping a career that had brought joy to millions.

Appendix A

The Voice, the Scat, the Vocalese [+–] 167-174

Although he did not consider himself a great singer, Hendricks was an acknowledged master of the difficult disciplines of scat-singing and vocalese. The scat came easily to him from his childhood harmonic studies with Tatum; the vocalese revealed his extraordinary facility with language.

Appendix B

The Lyrics [+–] 175-182

When writing a lyric, he would listen obsessively to the instrumental original of the tune. He believed his lyrical gift came from some mysterious source outside himself, since he was able to produce the words faster than he could write them out. For him, lyrics were poetry.

Appendix C

The Wisdom and Philosophy [+–] 183-199

A legendary raconteur, Hendricks had a limitless fund of stories drawn on incidents and experiences throughout his long and eventful life. He had opinions and ideas about every area of life, from music and art generally, to race, medicine and diet, religion and the supernatural.

Discography

Discography [+–] 200-221

If any man could be defined as the epitome of the modern jazz singer, it would surely be Jon Hendricks. His contributions to jazz as a whole were colossal: a hipster, a bopster, a comic and raconteur, a wordsmith par excellence, and a fearless improviser who took the arts of scatting and vocalese to new heights. As a founder member of the groundbreaking vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, he changed forever the public perception of what a jazz singer could be. Jon Hendricks started singing professionally at the age of seven. Within five years he was supporting his entire family – including three sisters, eleven brothers and a niece – with his earnings from radio appearances. He was active in jazz long before the birth of bebop, and didn’t stop until he was in his nineties. Taught by the pioneering bebop pianist Art Tatum, Hendricks performed with everyone of any consequence in jazz, from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker. Before Lambert, Hendricks and Ross astonished the world with their album Sing A Song Of Basie, he was writing songs for Louis Jordan. Later he wrote for stage, screen and the press, and influenced and worked with Manhattan Transfer, Bobby McFerrin and Kurt Elling. Not content with writing lyrics for jazz instrumentals, he turned his hand later in life to classical works by Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff. When Jon Hendricks died in 2017, he left behind a final masterwork – his fully-lyricized adaptation of the Miles Davis album Miles Ahead .

End Matter

Notes [+–] 222-242

Bibliography [+–] 243-248

Index [+–] 249-263

Reviews

Excellent biography
Brian Priestley, Jazzwise

Peter Jones chronicles [the life of Jon Hendricks] with unflinching clarity, so Hendricks is seen in the round, as it were, all his extravagant talent on view alongside his intensely human foibles and weaknesses. The resulting biography thus provides not only a fascinating survey of a career spanning the golden age of jazz, but also an intriguing study of a complex, many-layered character.
London Jazz News

Having a fellow jazz singer and the author of the award-winning This Is Hip: The Life of Mark Murphy tackle the roots of bop vocalese and its firestarter, athletic crooner/lyricist/actor/raconteur Jon Hendricks, is sort of like asking one of the Apostles to take on the entire Bible. An origin story such as that of this wildly charismatic jazz and theater creature, leading back to the lions of the form before there was a form (mentor Art Tatum, genius Charlie Parker, and arranger/traffic cop Dave Lambert), requires nothing less than a surgeon’s skills and a comedian’s ability to pace oneself to the punchline.
Combining a history of bop singing with a vivid portrayal of the gospel of the griot Saint Jon and a study of language itself, Jones gets to the point and lingers there with love, laughter, and impactful details based on deep research and thoughtful hypothesis.
Jazz Times

Thoroughly researched on both sides of the Atlantic and featuring interviews with many of Hendrick's close family and colleagues, This Is Bop is an insightful and entertaining portrait of a flawed though much-loved jazz great.
All About Jazz

As an accomplished jazz singer himself, I can think of few people better qualified than Peter Jones to write this well-researched biography of the legendary Jon Hendricks. The research via magazine articles, interviews with Hendricks' family, friends and fellow musicians, with sources all indexed, has set a bar so high that it would be nigh impossible for any future biographers to surpass or even to come close.
Bebop spoken here

Wow.
Not often does a biography leave me so fulfilled and satisfied as the newly released This is Bop: Jon Hendricks and the Art of Vocal Jazz, which is about Toledo’s second most-famous jazz icon behind pianist Art Tatum.
And to many jazz purists – myself included – that point itself could be debatable.
What’s really remarkable about this book is the range of global travel Jones followed Hendricks on through his countless interviews, both in distance and in time.
The Toledo Blade

Interviews with the artist and his colleagues sustain the narrative and paint a vivid picture of the jazz scene, while Jones’s expertise in analyzing Hendricks’s musical and poetic contributions is evident. Appendixes on scat, lyrics, and Hendricks’s wisdom and philosophy add interest. VERDICT This evocative work conveys the challenges and successes Hendricks experienced and make for an affecting, well-rounded portrait of an underappreciated jazz artist who is ripe for rediscovery.
Library Journal

I’ve been an admirer of vocalist and lyricist Jon Hendricks since I first heard him with his most well-known group, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. The lyrics he wrote, as well as the one meeting I had with Hendricks, made me curious to learn more about him. Happily, This is Bop presents a solid look into Hendricks’s life, and its well-rounded picture — neither hagiography nor hatchet job — helped answer many of the questions I had about the gifted musician and his career.
Steve Provizer, The Arts Fuse

The impressions I’d gathered of Hendricks, who passed in 2017 at the age of 96, are fascinatingly confirmed in the anecdotes and quotations from Hendricks and others which fill the biography This is Bop.
... An admirably researched and interesting account of Hendricks’s raising, with details that will surprise most fans acquainted only with his trio years.
Discussing Hendricks’s early work with Bird and vocalist Louis Jordan, and in later track-by-track treatment of individual albums, author Jones displays skillful, observant musical commentary likely to satisfy sophisticated jazz fans.
For all those who did, or have listened to the recorded legacy and wish they had, this book is a must-read.
San Francisco Classical Voice

This is more than an enjoyable book; it is an essential book. Written in an engaging way, you soon realise that you are being guided by an author who can see all sides of a complex character. The writer’s honesty is impressive.
Hendricks inhabited the jazz world from around 1930 to 2017. Peter Jones has researched the life and the period bringing out new stories, new insights and new incidents.
Jazz Views

Peter Jones has done a superb job of relating the life of Hendricks, examining along the way his catalog of talents, personal characteristics and conflicts in an engaging, entertaining and highly readable manner.
Jersey Jazz

This is the first excellent compendium about one of the most important vocal musicians of jazz. Should be required reading for all those who deal with jazz singing.
Just for Swing Gazette

Jones is a born storyteller and knows how to capture the decisive moments marvellously. Everything that defined Hendricks' life, Jones knows how to describe up to the last syllable.
Dr Jazz Magazine

The paradox of death-defying difficulty masked as simplicity was the street Jon Hendricks lived on… The story [is] recounted so eloquently by Peter Jones.
Kirk Whalum, Saxophonist

Not a dry eye when reading this — Jon's personality truly jumps right out of these pages. And though I was fortunate enough to have known Jon a little bit through my upbringing, this book introduces me to the Jon I hadn't had the chance to know. I am grateful that he can now be introduced in this way to everyone else who reads this book! Wonderful work Peter, thank you!
Veronica Swift, jazz singer

Peter Jones does a superior job of covering Hendricks’ long life. A definitive portrait of one of jazz’s great characters.
Los Angeles Jazz Scene

The assembly of Hendricks’ story in one place is much needed, and the narrative of Hendricks’ harrowing experiences in the Second World War is especially valuable and in need of greater exposure. Extensive appendices on Hendricks’ music, lyrics, and philosophy, along with a discography, add value to This Is Bop as a reference work as well as a biography.
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This is Bop

Jon Hendricks and the Art of Vocal Jazz

Peter Jones [+–]

Jazz singer and journalist

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