Jon Hendricks, the legendary jazz lyricist and singer and one of the earliest residents of Battery Park City, died on November 24. He was 96. Acknowleged as one of the originators of “vocalese,” which adds lyrics to instrumental tunes and replaces instruments with voices, he was also praised as one of the most accomplished practitioners of scat singing. For his work as a lyricist, jazz critic and historian, Leonard Feather called Mr. Hendricks the “Poet Laureate of Jazz”, while Time magazine dubbed him the “James Joyce of Jive.”
Mr. Hendricks was born in Ohio on September 16, 1921, one of 15 children, and began his singing career at the age of 10. He later called, “by the time I was 10, I was a local celebrity in Toledo. I had offers to go with Fats Waller when I was 12, and offers to go with Ted Lewis and be his ‘shadow’ when I was 13. He had that song ‘Me and My Shadow’. And he had this little Negro boy who was his shadow, that did everything he did. That was his act.”
Iridium Jazz Club in midtown with his daughters Aria and Michelle and a few hundred fans in the audience.
In 1957, he teamed with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross to form the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. With Mr. Hendricks as lyricist, the trio perfected the art of vocalese, earning them the designation of the “Number One Vocal Group in the World” for five years in a row from Melody Maker magazine. Mr. Hendricks also recorded several critically acclaimed albums on his own, some with his wife, Judith, and daughters, Michele and Aria, contributing. (Mrs. Hendricks died in 2015.)
He served on the Kennedy Center Honors committee under Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Mr. Hendricks received two Grammys, a Peabody and the Legion d’Honneur from France for being a D-Day veteran.
Jon Hendricks additionally taught at the University of Toledo, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies and received an honorary Doctorate of the Performing Arts. He and his family lived in Battery Park City for more than 20 yearsÂ.