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Authors: Brian Morton, Richard Cook
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small-band swing of the late ’30s. Smith plays a lot of dextrous piano – he also has a 1934 solo, ‘Finger Buster’, a typical parlour show-off piece of the day – and the music has a wonderful lilt and sprightliness.
FLETCHER HENDERSON
Born 18 December 1897, Cuthbert, Georgia; died 29 December 1952, New York City
Arranger, bandleader
The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions: Volumes 1 & 2
Timeless CBC 1-064 / 1-069
Henderson; Bobby Stark, Louis Armstrong, Elmer Chambers, Howard Scott, Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier, Russell Smith, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams (t, c); Jimmy Harrison (tb, v); Charlie Green, Claude Jones, Benny Morton (tb); Jerome Pasquall, Buster Bailey, Benny Carter, Harvey Boone (cl, as); Don Redman (cl, as, gfs); Coleman Hawkins (cl, Cmel, ts, bsx); Fats Waller (p, org); Charlie Dixon, Clarence Holiday (bj, g); Ralph Escuderp, John Kirby, June Cole (bb, b); Kaiser Marshall, Walter Thompson (d); Lois Deppe, Billy Jones, Andy Razaf, Evelyn Thompson (v). 1925–September 1928.
Sun Ra said (1986): ‘I pursue the sound of Fletcher Henderson. Not just his arrangements of notes on paper – anyone can do that – but the sound of that orchestra, which transcends anything that can be written down. He was a millionaire and beyond everyday concerns; that voice is the voice of a man who is able to consider another realm.’
Henderson arrived in New York in 1920, seeking scientific work but ending up as an A&R man in the fledgling black record industry. He accompanied blues singers and began leading an orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom, recruiting Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins. A car crash in 1928 dissipated his energy, but he continued to write and arrange and run occasional bands. His influence was immense, not just for his writing, which only now is being properly appreciated again (partly through the stewardship and advocacy of Sun Ra during his earthly life), but as a fosterer of talent. Henderson drifted into bandleading after casually working for the Black Swan record label, and his first records as a leader areroutine dance music. The arrival of Louis Armstrong – whom Henderson first heard in New Orleans at the turn of the decade – galvanized the band and, eventually, every musician in New York, but he already had Don Redman and Coleman Hawkins working for him prior to Armstrong’s arrival, and there are many good records before Louis’s first session of October 1924.
By the mid-’20s Henderson was leading the most consistently interesting big band around. That doesn’t mean all the records are of equal calibre; the title of a famous retrospective – ‘A Study In Frustration’ – gives some idea of the inconsistencies and problems of a band that apparently never sounded as good on record as in person. Even so, Redman was coming into his own, and his scores assumed a quality which no other orchestral arranger was matching in 1926–7. ‘The Stampede’, ‘The Chant’, ‘Henderson Stomp’, the remarkable ‘Tozo’ and, above all, the truly astonishing ‘Whiteman Stomp’ find him using the colours of reeds and brass to complex yet swinging ends. Luckily Henderson had the players who could make the scores happen. Though Armstrong had departed, Hawkins, Ladnier, Joe Smith, Jimmy Harrison and Buster Bailey all had the stature of major soloists as well as good section-players. The brass sections were the best any band in New York could boast – the softer focus of Smith contrasting with the bluesy attack of Ladnier, the rasp of Rex Stewart, the lithe lines of Harrison – and the group had Hawkins (loyal enough to stay for ten years), the man who created jazz saxophone. Henderson’s own playing was capable rather than outstanding, and the rhythm section lumbered a bit, though string bass and guitar lightened up the feel from 1928 onwards. It took Henderson time to attain consistency; in 1925 he was still making sides like ‘Pensacola’ (for Columbia), which starts with a duet between
FLETCHER HENDERSON
Born 18 December 1897, Cuthbert, Georgia; died 29 December 1952, New York City
Arranger, bandleader
The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions: Volumes 1 & 2
Timeless CBC 1-064 / 1-069
Henderson; Bobby Stark, Louis Armstrong, Elmer Chambers, Howard Scott, Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier, Russell Smith, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams (t, c); Jimmy Harrison (tb, v); Charlie Green, Claude Jones, Benny Morton (tb); Jerome Pasquall, Buster Bailey, Benny Carter, Harvey Boone (cl, as); Don Redman (cl, as, gfs); Coleman Hawkins (cl, Cmel, ts, bsx); Fats Waller (p, org); Charlie Dixon, Clarence Holiday (bj, g); Ralph Escuderp, John Kirby, June Cole (bb, b); Kaiser Marshall, Walter Thompson (d); Lois Deppe, Billy Jones, Andy Razaf, Evelyn Thompson (v). 1925–September 1928.
Sun Ra said (1986): ‘I pursue the sound of Fletcher Henderson. Not just his arrangements of notes on paper – anyone can do that – but the sound of that orchestra, which transcends anything that can be written down. He was a millionaire and beyond everyday concerns; that voice is the voice of a man who is able to consider another realm.’
Henderson arrived in New York in 1920, seeking scientific work but ending up as an A&R man in the fledgling black record industry. He accompanied blues singers and began leading an orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom, recruiting Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins. A car crash in 1928 dissipated his energy, but he continued to write and arrange and run occasional bands. His influence was immense, not just for his writing, which only now is being properly appreciated again (partly through the stewardship and advocacy of Sun Ra during his earthly life), but as a fosterer of talent. Henderson drifted into bandleading after casually working for the Black Swan record label, and his first records as a leader areroutine dance music. The arrival of Louis Armstrong – whom Henderson first heard in New Orleans at the turn of the decade – galvanized the band and, eventually, every musician in New York, but he already had Don Redman and Coleman Hawkins working for him prior to Armstrong’s arrival, and there are many good records before Louis’s first session of October 1924.
By the mid-’20s Henderson was leading the most consistently interesting big band around. That doesn’t mean all the records are of equal calibre; the title of a famous retrospective – ‘A Study In Frustration’ – gives some idea of the inconsistencies and problems of a band that apparently never sounded as good on record as in person. Even so, Redman was coming into his own, and his scores assumed a quality which no other orchestral arranger was matching in 1926–7. ‘The Stampede’, ‘The Chant’, ‘Henderson Stomp’, the remarkable ‘Tozo’ and, above all, the truly astonishing ‘Whiteman Stomp’ find him using the colours of reeds and brass to complex yet swinging ends. Luckily Henderson had the players who could make the scores happen. Though Armstrong had departed, Hawkins, Ladnier, Joe Smith, Jimmy Harrison and Buster Bailey all had the stature of major soloists as well as good section-players. The brass sections were the best any band in New York could boast – the softer focus of Smith contrasting with the bluesy attack of Ladnier, the rasp of Rex Stewart, the lithe lines of Harrison – and the group had Hawkins (loyal enough to stay for ten years), the man who created jazz saxophone. Henderson’s own playing was capable rather than outstanding, and the rhythm section lumbered a bit, though string bass and guitar lightened up the feel from 1928 onwards. It took Henderson time to attain consistency; in 1925 he was still making sides like ‘Pensacola’ (for Columbia), which starts with a duet between
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