Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jon Hendricks was born John Carl Hendricks on September 16, 1921 in Newark, Ohio and along with his 14 siblings moved around a lot until his A.M.E. pastor father settled in Toledo. As a teenager, Jon’s first interest was in the drums, but before long he was singing on the radio regularly with another Toledo native, pianist Art Tatum. Out of high school Jon served in the Army during WWII and after his discharge entered pre-law at the University of Toledo but stop at the graduate level because his G.I. benefits ran out. Charting a new course on the advice and encouragement given him by Charlie Parker, he moved to New York and began his singing career.

In 1957, he teamed with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross to form the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. With Jon as lyricist, the trio perfected the art of vocalese and took it around the world, earning them the designation of the “Number One Vocal Group in the World” for five years in a row from Melody Maker magazine. After six years the trio disbanded for solo careers but not before leaving behind a catalog of legendary recordings, most of which have never gone out of print.

Pursuing a solo career, Hendricks moved his young family to London, England in 1968, toured Europe and Africa, performed frequently on British television, and appeared in British and French films and his sold-out club dates drew fans such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Five years later the Hendricks settled in California, worked as the jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, and taught classes at California State University, Sonoma and the University of California, Berkeley.

Over the course of his career Hendricks wrote a stage piece about the history of jazz, “Evolution of the Blues” that ran an unprecedented five years at the Off-Broadway Theatre in San Francisco and another year in Los Angeles; and his television documentary, “Somewhere to Lay My Weary Head” received an Emmy, Iris and Peabody awards; has recorded several critically-acclaimed albums on his own, collaborated with his wife and daughters, with the Manhattan Transfer on 7 Grammy winning “Vocalese”, has served on the Kennedy Center Honors committee under Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton; has been appointed distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Toledo; selected as the first American jazz artist to lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Jon has toured worldwide with the “Four Brothers” comprised of Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy and Kevin Mahogany as well as working with his 15 member vocal group Vocalstra. Countless of singers and critics cite him as the one of the originators of vocalese and he has influenced just as many from Van Morrison and Al Jarreau to Bobby McFerrin and Georgie Fame. Time Magazine dubbed him the “James Joyce of Jive” while Leonard Feather called him the “Poet Laureate of Jazz”.

Vocalist Jon Hendricks endlessly performed, toured and recorded until he transitioned on November 22, 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, at age 96.

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