|
 Fletcher
Henderson. Fletcher Henderson is acknowledged as the leader of the first
Big Band Orchestra. He was born in 1897 in Cuthbert, Georgia. His
father was a principal and his mother taught piano.
He graduated from
college in 1920 and moved to New York to attend Columbia University for graduate
work in chemistry. Unable to find a job in the chemistry field (due
primarily to racism), he found ample work in music.
His first band, formed
in 1922, quickly became known as the best African-American band in New York.
Throughout the 1920's and early 1930's, Henderson's bands featured some of the
best talent of the swing era, to include Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Coleman
Hawkins and Benny Carter. Although very popular, Henderson's indifference
to the business aspects of managing a band contributed to it's lack of financial
and recording success and eventual breakup.
In 1934, Benny Goodman's Orchestra was selected as a house band for the
"Let's Dance" radio program. Goodman needed new charts every week for the
show and purchased several arrangements from Henderson. Henderson
eventually joined Goodman's band as a pianist and arranger. Ironically, as
Goodman's band achieved national prominence at the height of the swing era using
many of Henderson's arrangements, Fletcher Henderson's name and band was not
known to the general public.
Henderson reformed bands of his own several times in the
1940's but these bands were never able to experience any great success. He
suffered a stroke in 1950 and died in 1952 in New York City.
Some of his great tunes include "Sing
You Sinners";
"Yeah Man"; "Big John's Special"; and
"Christopher Columbus"; among many others. |
