![]() ![]() And the old folks say I won't live long, but I'll die happy. HENDRICKS: (Singing) I'm a real fast-liver and a trouble-giver. Jazz vocalist and lyricist Jon Hendricks died yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He also kept performing almost to the end of his long life. He collaborated with the Manhattan Transfer, won Grammys, wrote music reviews and taught classes at the University of Toledo - his alma mater. He was known for his good humor and relentless enthusiasm. SHAPIRO: Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross made several more albums before breaking up in the early '60s. Pretty baby, I won't be satisfied till I hear them play "Here Comes The Bride." I'm going to tell you about your loving and your kissing and your hugging and your sweet turtle doving. Their first album, which put words to Count Basie's music, was released in 1958 and became a surprise hit. SHAPIRO: He was most famous as part of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Then, we met and you can bet I knew from the first you were my love because that's when the old gray cloud burst. LAMBERT, HENDRICKS AND ROSS: (Singing) I was blue, and I was always wearing a frown because my gal had turned me down. He said his job was to help his father look up bible verses for Sunday sermons, and that's how he became so precise with his lyrics. SHAPIRO: Jon Hendricks was born in Newark, Ohio - one of 14 children, the son of a minister. You got to do it like I said or mess your body up by shooting stuff and getting sick. It never will be so because alcohol and them narcotics will never do the trick. ![]() HENDRICKS: (Singing) And lots of people tend to think all they have to do is light a joint or take a drink for them to reach the same euphoric brink. Though, drinking does seem to be a favorite theme. And with his lyrics, he would reference practically anything, from controversy over Shakespeare's identity to the Spanish Civil War. His aim was to fit his words not just to the melodies, but to the most technically demanding jazz solos. SHAPIRO: That's Hendricks singing in 1990 with George Benson, Al Jarreau and Bobby McFerrin. JON HENDRICKS: (Singing) Free booze, free blues, free dues - enough to get you drunk. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREDDIE FREELOADER") In this case, trumpet, sax, alto sax and piano. SHAPIRO: And then he'd carefully choose words and sounds for certain instruments. (SOUNDBITE OF JON HENRICKS SONG, "FREDDIE FREELOADER") He would start with something like "Freddie Freeloader" by Miles Davis. He was a master of vocalese - putting words to jazz instrumentals. Annie Ross died on July 21, 2020.Now a moment to remember the musician Jon Hendricks, who died yesterday at the age of 96. In 2012, No One But Me, a documentary film about Annie Ross, featured contributions from Hendricks and contained footage of the duo reuniting for a performance. Īny hopes of a reunion of the original trio ended with Lambert's death in a road accident in Connecticut on October 3, 1966. The group was also known as Lambert, Hendricks and Moss when Canadian jazz singer Anne Marie Moss briefly replaced Annie Ross. Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan appeared at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, and their performances of "Comin' Home" and " Moanin'" can be seen in Buddy Bregman's film The 1962 Newport Jazz Festival. The band was renamed Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan and made three live albums before disbanding in 1964. Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were voted Best Vocal Group in the Down Beat Readers Poll from 1959 to 1963.Īnnie Ross left the group in 1962, replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan. Their High Flying album won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group in 1962. They recorded a version of Ross's 1952 song " Twisted", featuring her lyrics set to a Wardell Gray melody. Sing a Song of Basie was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.īeginning in 1959, the trio recorded three LPs with Columbia Records. The album featured versions of Count Basie standards and was successful enough that the Count Basie Orchestra collaborated with them on Sing Along With Basie (1959). The group formed in 1957 and recorded their first album Sing a Song of Basie for ABC-Paramount Records.
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