Search - Fletcher Henderson :: Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra 1921-23

In the early 1920s, Fletcher Henderson was at the heart of African American recording activity in New York City, working as producer, arranger, and accompanist to classic blues singers like Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters. He also recorded instrumentals with his "orchestra"--small bands, actually, that ranged from four to eight players. This CD concentrates on the instrumentals, including three of Henderson's piano solos, and they offer a rare window into the formative years of jazz in New York. There's little on the early tracks that would pass for traditional jazz today; instead it's instrumental ragtime and blues with tight sectional play from the clarinets that would later evolve into the swing orchestra at the hands of Henderson and his associate, arranger-clarinetist Don Redman. Redman's presence on the 1923 material is part of a significant change, with vocal growls and smears from muted cornets and Redman's own wailing clarinet solos signaling the arrival of jazz. --Stuart Broomer