The dapper Jon Hendricks. © Atael Weissman
Jon Hendricks, the great singer and songwriter who changed the sound of jazz with his high-flying lyrics and lightning-fast vocalese, was born on Sept. 16, 1921. Seven years after his death, in 2017, at 96 years old, he is still a revered figure in the music, having created some of its most inventive lyrics and collaborated with and influenced a who’s who of performers. His versatility was evident in his work with artists including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joni Mitchell, the Grateful Dead, Dave Brubeck, Neil Diamond and the Manhattan Transfer.
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones attended his concerts. He scored and acted in films and was heard on soundtracks including “White Men Can’t Jump,” “Crazy Rich Asians” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” He served on the Kennedy Center Honors committee under presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. He sang on Wynton Marsalis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio “Blood on the Fields,” lectured and performed at the Sorbonne in Paris and wrote lyrics to works by Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ferde Grofe and Miles Davis. He won multiple Grammy Awards, was a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and was named to France’s Legion of Honour.
But what Jon Hendricks was probably most known for was his collaboration with the singers Dave Lambert and Annie Ross in the groundbreaking vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. It was the earliest example of their technique of setting lyrics to the improvisations of other musicians – Bobby Timmons’s “Moanin’,” Benny Golson’s “Along Came Betty,” Ellington’s “Cotton Tail” and many of their own compositions.
Although the singer Eddie Jefferson is widely credited with having invented the jazz style known as “vocalese,” the breathless, breakneck speed of LHR’s singing, combined with their witty lyricism, created a sound that had not been heard before.
There are countless albums and songs by the group and by Hendricks in his later solo career, and you could spend many joyous hours listening to them. They include “Sing a Song of Basie,” “The Hottest New Group in Jazz,” “High Flying” and “The Real Ambassadors.” But he wrote one song, the title track of his solo album “Tell Me the Truth,” which has special poignance and significance today, almost 50 years after he recorded it. It appears in different versions on several albums, and in live versions. You can find it and his other music on Spotify, YouTube and elsewhere online. I am reproducing the words here to give you an idea of his lyricism, although the song is something of an outlier in his output, more spiritual and gospel-oriented. (His father was a minister and his mother led the choir.) When you read the lyrics, think about how well they describe the society we now live in.
At the Keystone Korner in San Francisco, 1983. © Brian McMillen
I’m tired of dying
While I’m still alive.
I feel I’m drowning
In a sea of jive.
I’m saturated
With abuse of youth.
Somebody
Tell me the truth.
Everyone’s rappin’
‘Bout the hows and whys.
But they just happen
Not to be too wise.
Truth’s disappearin’
Till it’s out of sight.
Somebody
Tell me what’s right.
Nowadays, black is white
Down is up, wrong is right
Bad is good, truth a lie
Evil men live, while good men die
Why?
Don’t talk about peace
While you’re fightin’ the war
‘Cause I don’t want to hear it.
And you won’t admit it’s money
That you’re fightin’ for
‘Cause the people couldn’t bear it.
And you’re givin’ to the rich
While you’re stealin’ from the poor
And I know you know it.
And the people play the game
But they don’t know the score
They’re asleep and they show it.
And nothin’ Jesus said has meaning anymore
‘Cause we’ve all sunk below it
And now the spirit is willin’ but the matter matters more
And you don’t wanna blow it.
You’re sellin’ Jesus like an item
In a fancy store and it’s called
Get the money.
Now Jesus is just another superstar
For you to adore and it’s sad
And it’s funny. And what’s more,
And what’s more …
I know for certain
Everything ain’t right
People are hurtin’
Everyone’s uptight
Can’t stand this madness
‘Cause I’m much too couth
Somebody
Tell me the truth.
Despite that, Jon Hendricks was an eternal optimist, always ready to give an audience a good time. I saw him perform several times, and met him once or twice. He was always warm and friendly, the same qualities that came through in his timeless music.
Joseph P. Griffith is a freelance writer in Yonkers, NY.
