Jon Hendricks Pioneer Jazz Vocalist Has Died

Jon Hendricks, the American jazz singer who pioneered the evocative vocalese style, has died aged 96. His daughter Aria Hendricks confirmed the news.

The son of a minister and with 14 siblings, Hendricks was born in Newark, Ohio, in 1921, later moving to Toledo,Ohio where he forged an early partnership with then-unknown jazz pianist Art Tatum. Hendricks moved to New York in 1952, where he formed a trio with singers Dave Lambert and Annie Ross, and released seven pioneering albums in the late 1950's and early 60's.

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross created vocal melodies that mirrored improvised instrumental solos, resulting in a beautifully loose and impulsive singing style; unlike scat singing, which used wordless sounds, these songs had lyrics, written for the trio by Hendricks. The style, pioneered by singers such as Eddie Jefferson and King Pleasure, was dubbed vocalese by the jazz critic Leonard Feather to describe their debut album, Sing a Song of Basie, on which Count Basie’s big-band melodies were reworked into songs. The album was given a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1998, to add to their best vocal group performance award in 1962 for the album High Flying.