Fletcher Henderson - selected, annotated bibliography

Allen, W. C.  Hendersonia. Jazz Monographs No. 4, 1973.
A bio-discography of the music and musicians of Fletcher Henderson. 
Detailed info on recordings and engagements.

Berger, Morroe, Berger, Edward and Patrick, James. Benny Carter:  A 
Life in American Music. Scarecrow Press, 1982.  pp. 74-86.
Carter writes about his arranging style along with don Redman and 
Fletcher Henderson.

Chilton, John. The Song of the Hawk. The University of Michigan Press, 
1990.  pp. 21-33.
While working with Sweatman's band Fletcher heard Hawkins play. 
Writes about his feeling for jazz at an early age.

Collier, Lincoln, James.  The Reception of Jazz in America, Institute for 
Studies in America Music, City University of New York, 1988.  pp. 19-28.
Collier writes about jazz being the "hot music" of the day.  Jazz becomes 
big business.

Collier, Lincoln, James.  Benny Goodman and the Swing Era. Oxford 
University Press, 1989. pp. 133-135.
In the 1934-35 period when Goodman was finding a style for the band, 
the bulk of the arrangements were written by Fletcher Henderson.

Collier, Lincoln, James.  The Great Jazz Artists, Four Winds Co., 1977.  
pp. 95-105.
This book gives a detailed account of Fletcher's life.

Collier, Lincoln, James.  Louis Armstrong, Oxford Press, 1983. pp. 124-34.
Chapter 11 talks about the music Louis plays while in Fletcher's band.  
Solos and other music Louis plays are discussed.

Dance, Stanley.  The World of Swing, First Da Capo Paperback Ed., 1979.  
pp. 73-77.
Sandy Williams talks about how he got mad at Fletcher in 1941 when he 
did not take the opportunity to return to the Roseland in New York.

Feather, Leonard.  New Edition of the Encyclopedia of Jazz: Horizon Press, 
1960.
Gives a detailed bio on Fletcher Henderson.

Goodman, Benny and Kolodin, Irving.  The Kingdom of Swing. Stackpole, 
1939.
Gives info on arrangements of Goodman and Henderson. Life of Benny.

Hadlock, Richard.  Jazz Masters of the Twenties, Macmillan Co., 1965.  pp. 
194-218.
Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman are discussed in length.  It gives the 
date of Fletcher's birth as 1898.

Hennessey, Thomas.  From Jazz to Swing, Wayne State University Press, 
1994.  pp. 87-94.
Section on Fletcher Henderson and his orchestra.  History of Fletcher 
Henderson.

Kernfeld, Barry.  The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Jazz. Blackwell 
Publishers, 1991, pp. 81-85.
Fletcher Henderson's orchestra was at the vanguard of the jazz scene in 
New York, helping to develop a stylistic vocabulary for big bands at two 
crucial points:  when such bands began to form, and, later, just before big 
band swing became the popular music of its day.

Larkin, Colin.  The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music Vol. 2, Guinness 
Publishing, 1994, pp. 1128-29.
A bio on Fletcher and his life, mass walk-out on Fletch in 1929.

Lyttleton, Humphrey.  The Best of Jazz:  Basin Street to Harlem, 1917-
1930. London:  Robson, New York:  Crescendo, 1978, New York:  Taplinger, 1
979, 1982.  pp. 99-115.
Section on life of Fletch. Style of music Fletch wrote for, and his orchestra.

Lyons, Len and Perlo, Don.  Jazz Portraits, William Morrow and Co., 1989.  
pp. 265©66.
Henderson supervised the transformation of his large dance orchestra into 
a jazz band that served as a model for the big swing bands of the next 
decades.

Norton, B. Peter.  The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 5, Ready 
Reference, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1994, p. 829.
Like Duke Ellington, he was untypical of his black contemporaies in being
conventionally educated.

Paul, Elliot.  That Crazy American Music, Bobbs-Merrill Co.,1957. pp. 
216-17.
When all the leading band leaders (black and white) were asked whose 
band they would rather hear on the weekly night off, practically all of 
them said, "Fletcher Henderson's."

Rust, Brian.  Jazz Records 1897©1942, Vol. 1, Arlington House 
Publishers, 1978.  pp. 710-29.

Schuller, Gunther.  The Swing Era:  The Development of Jazz,1930-1945, 
Oxford Press, New York, 1989.  pp. 323-26.
Fletcher's arrangements were generally more daring and experimental.

Shapiro, Nat and Hentoff, Nat.  Hear Me Talkin' To Ya. Rinehart and Co., 
1955.  pp. 202-23.
Some of Fletcher's former band members comment on Fletcher and 
things that happen in the band.

Simon, George T.  The Big Bands.  Schirmer Books, 1981, pp. 243-44.
Reviews the Henderson band and comments about members of the band.

Slonimsky, Nicolas.  Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 
Schirmer Books, Seventh ed., MacMillan Publishers, 1984. P. 994.
Gives a brief bio on Henderson's life.

Stewart, Rex.  Jazz Masters of the Thirties, Macmillan Publishing Co., 
1972.  pp. 19-27.
Henderson's band was the talk of the town among musicians.  His was 
the second Negro orchestra to play an all-season engagement at Roseland 
Ballroom on New York's Gay White Way.

Waters, Ethel.  His Eye Is on the Sparrow.  W. H. Allen (London), 1951.
Ethel comments on Fletcher's playing and how she encouraged him to 
listen to James P. Johnsom's stride piano style.

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