VOLUME 102 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2006

BOOKS AND RECORDS TO CONSIDER) to Benny Goodman by record producer John Hammond. It is the in-between time, a time unfamiliar to today’s FLETCHER HENDERSON & BIG BAND JAZZ generations, during which Fletcher Henderson as The Uncrowned King of Swing sembled a band, appearing at such top spots as the Jeffrey Magee Roseland Ballroom just four years after arriving in the city. By 1930 the Henderson Orchestra was the house A musician friend recalls band at Harlem’s Connie’s Inn, buying a ten inch 78 re­ second only to the Cotton Club cording ofWRAPPIN’ IT as the place to hear Big Band jazz. UP by the Fletcher The book gives credit to this man Henderson Band, and who is often overlooked as a vital later buying the Benny part of the development of the Big Goodman recording of Band sound we hear today. the same tune and noting it was the exact same ar­ For those of us who aren’t musi­ rangement. It was only cians this is a difficult book to one example of the basis read, for it refers to written musi­ for the sub-title of this cal passages on staff paper that book, “The Uncrowned Fletcher Henderson early 1920s cannot be understood if the reader King of Swing, “ for much doesn’t read music. On the other of the early Goodman sound was the result of Fletcher hand, the rich detail of Fletcher Henderson’s notable Henderson’s influence both directly and through both career and often overlooked contribution to the Big original arrangements and those used by his own band. Bands is presented in careful if somewhat academic style. It’s the kind of book The author begins this journey into j azz by visiting probably best read in sev­ Fletcher Henderson’s birthplace located literally eral short sessions, so ‘on the other side of the tracks’ in the southwest densely packed is it with Georgia town of Cuthbert, just 25 miles from the facts, dates and detail. Alabama line. Fletcher Henderson, Sr. was a respected educator and school principal who locked The generous appendix, Fletcher, Jr. in the room with the piano and made notes, bibliography and him practice each day. The young Fletcher index take up the final 76 Henderson’s migration from Atlanta, where he pages. 311 pages total. graduated from Atlanta University, to New York Published by Oxford Uni­ City in 1920 wasn’t to become a musician, but to versity Press, Inc. - New earn a master’s degree in chemistry at Columbia York NY. A vailable in University. He never enrolled at Columbia, for the any good book store author points to 1920 as a year when records began The late '30s Henderson or they can order it. to replace sheet music as the method of music H.W. distribution in America. Radio would soon follow THE ARTIE SHAW STORY and almost without trying the young Fletcher Four CD Set Henderson was offered piano-playing jobs from the moment he arrived in the big city. A record company should have done this long ago, for even though Artie Shaw permanently left the music As you would expect, the book tells in great detail the business in the ’50s, his fans still request his recordings development of Fletcher Henderson’s career including and wonder why they’re often not available. This four his association with such top arranger/composers/mu- CD set provides all but the most dedicated Shaw fans sicians as Don Redman, Coleman Hawkins and Louis most of the significant recordings made during the Armstrong among others and his eventual introduction short Shaw tenure, including his post-war orchestra 7