Evolution of the Blues

Jon Hendricks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 4, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Col. Spec. Prod
• ASIN: B000005DAJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,313 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Introduction - Jon Hendricks

2. Amo - Jon Hendricks

3. Some Stopped On De Way - Jon Hendricks

4. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Hannah Dean

5. New Orleans - 'Pony' Poindexter

6. If I Had My Share - 'Big' Miller

7. Please Send Me Somone To Love - Jimmy Witherspoon

8. Sufferin' Blues - 'Big' Miller

9. That's Enough - Hannah Dean

10. Aw, Gal - Jon Hendricks

11. See See Rider - Jimmy Witherspoon

12. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid - 'Pony' Poindexter

13. Sun Gonna Shine In My Door - Jimmy Witherspoon

14. W.P.A. Blues - Jon Hendricks

15. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child - Jon Hendricks

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An all-time classic, April 15, 2008

By 

H. E. Syrett "certified senior citizen" (Menlo Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evolution of the Blues (Audio CD)

I first heard and bought this album on vinyl back in the early 1960s. It opened my eyes and ears to the connections between jazz (Hendricks was in the hit trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross), gospel (check the killer version of "That's Enough" by Hannah Dean) and all forms of the blues, from acoustic to big-band. I was too young to get into night clubs, and too far north to hear "race radio". How else was I to know that Jimmy Reed, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin and Dinah Washington were all part of one great family of American music? Everything on here is still valid today.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nonagenarian Hendricks' under-appreciated, out-of-print, most brilliant work, September 23, 2011

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evolution of the Blues (Audio CD)

Tony Bennett has, at 85, performed the blockbuster recording of his entire career, "Duets II." He's being treated as a major "rock star" in all of the media outlets, appearing on the Howard Stern Show and MTV Awards, now consulted throughout the media as the reigning patriarch and wise father of American jazz and popular song. Great. He deserves every bit of this adoration.

There are, of course, a couple of caveats. First, I could easily produce at least 12 Bennett albums--some from the '90s and present millennium as well as the priceless sessions with Bill Evans--that easily trump either of the 2 "Duets" albums. 2nd, there's another performing giant, an artist who is 5 years older than Tony and whose contribution to jazz and American popular song may be more significant than Bennett's. Tony is a survivor, following in the foot-steps of Ole Blue and countless American jazz-ballad, blues-scat singers--divas and baritones alike. But the 90-year-old Jon Hendricks is more: an innovator who is unquestionably the "genius" of vocalese if not the father of the idiom (though Eddie Jefferson also deserves a lot of credit. Contrary to the views of many, vocalese is not synonymous with scat, at which Ella and Mel excelled. Rather, vocalese requires that the performer transcribe the most difficult, complex, improvised solos by instrumental greats such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Once getting the notes, the next part is to wed them to, or weld them with, words that make sense.

Out of all of Hendricks' achievements (so poorly documented in the patch-work discography of the supposedly authoritative allmusic.com resource), "Evolution of the Blues" is the most striking. Recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Jon sitting among young children, he tells and demonstrates the story of America's unique African-American tradition as no other musician has. Showing and narrating the influence of gospel music and spirituals, of the blues and early jazz, Hendricks makes the mix of the sacred and the secular along with the fruit of this marriage accessible to a child. His accomplishment is nothing short of brilliant.

Of course, there are many other feathers in the man's hat (and 90 candles in his cake): the many exciting, adventurous recordings by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross; his contributions to Manhattan Transfer (especially "Vocalese," their most challenging and difficult album, which is a triumph thanks to Hendricks' assistance. Then he went on to assemble some of the best "hard-core" male jazz singers to recreate the solos of MIles Davis and John Coltrane. As a result, he inspired othes: Kurt Elling, whose transcription of "Tanya," a solo by Dexter Gordon, is a performance of monumental proportions. And more recently there's Roberta Gambarini, who came from Italy and transcribed the solos of Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins, singing each in their respective ranges to perfection.

In conclusion, if Tony Bennett can get producers to release an inferior (albeit good) recording, one that's caused commotion amounting to Tony's canonization and big profits for the record company, why can't someone reissue this priceless performance by a genuine American living legend? Please!