Farewell to 2 jazz giants: Jon Hendricks and George Avakian
A sizable chunk of jazz history left us last week, with the deaths of two irreplaceable nonagenarians: groundbreaking singer Jon Hendricks and pioneering record executive George Avakian.
For each not only extended the breadth of what we hear but deepened our understanding of it.
Hendricks, who died Nov. 22 in Manhattan at 96, was not the first male singer to apply the wizardry of instrumental improvisation to the vocalist's art. He freely acknowledged the influence of Eddie Jefferson and King Pleasure, who forged the art of vocalese - applying lyrics to the notes of instrumental solos. And, of course, Louis Armstrong in the 1920s taught the world that the
