Thread by @A2ndEnding

This is a THREAD on vocalist #JonHendricks, who passed away at the age of 96 yesterday. Although a name not as recognizable as Ella or Torme, many folks age 40 or over may have long ago had a brush with one of his master works.

So...what was so revolutionary about #jonhendricks's contributions to Music ? There were already established 'scat' singers in Jazz at the time.

#johhendricks, RIP, was a Pioneer of Vocalese. Along with Eddie Jefferson, Jon was the first artist/arranger to actually write lyrics to instrumental parts of pop and jazz tunes of the day.
From Wikipedia:

Note the distinction here. Indeed, OTHER artists had certainly put lyrics to the melodies of pop/jazz tunes of the time. But #jonhendricks and Eddie Jefferson were the first Jazz artists to extend that concept to lyricising instrumental solos within those tunes.

Here is #johhendricks doing traditional 'scat' singing with Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross. His 'solo' is truncated in the vid, but that's OK.

Behold his "trading fours" (call-and-answer) with bandmate Dave Lambert here:

Vocalese differed from traditional jazz scat singing in that the vocalist was now singing lyrics to an improvisation already created by an instrumentalist in an earlier recording.
Example: Duke Ellington's "Cottontail" w/FAMOUS Tenor solo by Ben Webster

Here's #jonhendricks Vocalese solo of Ben Webster's tenor sax solo on Duke Ellington's "Cottontail"
It's a 'verbatim" vocal solo, IOW, Jon assigned a lyric/syllable to EVERY NOTE Ben Wester played. His solo starts at 0:27, continues at 1:40. Brilliant:

The hilarity of the #JonHendricks lyrics in Ellington's 'Cottontail' was that he used the Beatrix Potter story as the basis of his yarn....the tale being something Ellington was not aware of when he entitled his original tune.

In an obscure TV interview and performance, #jonhendricks explains Vocalese and how it came about.
Interview starts at 2:19, but (assum'g you are enjoying this ) do stick around for the few tunes they perform afterward:

After Lambert, Hendricks, Ross (later Bavan) broke up in mid 60's, Jon had a sporadic/modest solo career thru the 70's-80's. But his 1990 CD "#jonhendricks & Friends" sparked a massive comeback on Jazz scene.

The signature tune was "Freddie Freeloader", the Miles Davis classic. It was actually a commercial Jazz success at time. #jonhedricks called in other masters of the Idiom, including #AlJarreau, George Benson, & Bobby McFerrin, for the album.

So I'll leave y'all with THIS: 'Freddie Freeloader':

For himself, #jonhendricks sang the Coltrane part.
He gave #AlJarreau the Miles part, and Bobby -the Bill Evans (piano) part.

Behold Jon vocalese-ing John Coltrane's dynamic original solo, here

Mr. #jonhendricks, Rest In Peace, sir. ❤️

"Clouds of Grey have Silver Linings when they're Reversed"

-from L,H,R's "Cloudburst"