I strongly urge you to use this approach to gain maximum insight and aesthetic pleasure from this experience: Jon Hendricks Vocalese Listening-Reading Method So if I can be remembered as a poet, I’ll be happy. Johnny Mercer was a poet: ‘Footsteps that you hear down the hall, the laugh that floats, on a summer night, that you can never quite recall.’ That’s poetry. The Bible is poetry, great literature is poetry.
The language that one speaks attains its height in poetry a person reads a great poem and his soul is ennobled. That’s the highest level, because poetry is the highest use of the word. Once, at his family’s high-rise apartment in Battery Park City, overlooking the Hudson, he said unto me:Īs a jazz musician, I would like to be remembered as a poet. By his own estimation, he composed over 300 vocalese lyrics. He was co-founder of the path-breaking vocal group, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, which set the modern standard for group vocalizing in jazz, pioneering the use of overdubbing of voices to simulate the big band sounds of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, among other giants.Īl Jarreau once called him “pound for pound the best jazz singer on the planet.” In my estimation, he was the poet laureate of jazz in the 20th century. He was handpicked by Thelonious Monk to compose lyrics to his sui generis compositions Monk reportedly said to Hendricks: “You’re the only muthafucka I want to write lyrics to my songs!” He was encouraged to come to New York by none other than Charlie “Bird” Parker. Jon Hendricks sang on the radio with Art Tatum, the greatest of all jazz pianists, in their hometown, Toledo, Ohio. When Judith passed away in 2015, they had been married for 54 years. It was the last time Jewel and I saw the two together.
Hendricks staring down at the lyrics I’m about to share with you, is from that event. And when Jewel served as the Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Writer’s Center, I presented again on his vocalese genius. When Jewel and I held a housewarming party in the summer of 2009 in New Rochelle, NY, Judith and Jon graced us with their presence (see photo above with me on the left and Christian McBride on the right). Hendricks accepted my invitation to attend a presentation on his work for Columbia University’s Jazz Study Group, which became the Center for Jazz Studies.
Joyspring lyrics full#
What was it from "MacBeth?" "Life's but a walking shadow A player poor That struts and frets upon the stage And's seen no more A tale that truly has an idiotic ring That's full of lotsa sound and fury Signifying nothing.But of all the masters I’ve been fortunate to meet, Jon and Judith Hendricks were two of the most gracious and accommodating. Ol' Ponce de Leon laughed so much he Never did find the magic fountain But many people with a well-adjusted Spirit they could hear it when y'told 'em it was there tellin' them was Like tellin' it on the mountain It's quite a lift havin' the gift of laughter I'm a man who knows in a Minute I can tell y'just exactly how the story goes It involves a firm conviction in another previous life givin' your mind a chance to fly Fly aroun' the universe investigatin' other Galaxies n' certain other subtle Types o'life tryin' t'dig it gettin' Pretty well-acquainted with a lot of Other strife an' pretty much acquirin' Yourself plenty of education Pretty soon here comes earth birth 'n then y'ready t'put it all t'work But soon as you're finished bein' born You start forgettin' what you knew 'Cause you're another kinda you - a Reincarnation manifestation Of spirit in sensation Y'really got that right The average person isn't bright Not so bright that they recall the fatal fall Down here t' this earth Their minds disguise their death to spirit Life and call it birth That's their reason for forgetting and they find it very upsetting when reminded Tell 'em they've lived before They'll show y' the nearest open door Gotta have feelin' while dealin' with Walkers in their sleep They can't imagine somethin' as deep
0 kommentar(er)
