Fletcher Henderson And Don Redman: The Birth Of The Big Band Reed Section

Source: DON MOPSICK
July 18, 2013
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This week, Riverwalk Jazz presents “Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman: The Birth of the Big Band Reed Section" with arrangements adapted by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band’s clarinetist Ron Hockett from the classic Henderson scores from the 1920s. To bring to life this distinctive sound, clarinetists Allan Vaché and Kim Cusack join Jim Cullum and the Band.

The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. You can also drop in on a continuous stream of shows at the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound.

New Yorkers in the 1920s liked to get dressed up and go out dancing. Everybody was doing the Turkey Trot, the Fox Trot, and a wild new dance called, the Charleston. By 1924,

Fletcher Henderson

arranger
1897 - 1952

" data-original-title title>Fletcher Henderson led the top dance band in residence in Manhattan. For seven years they played the Roseland Ballroom near Times Square. Henderson’s wife Leora recalled, “Around that time

Paul Whiteman

composer / conductor
1890 - 1967

" data-original-title title>Paul Whiteman was called the ‘King of Jazz,’ so people began calling Fletcher ‘The Colored King of Jazz.’ Whiteman would be playing all those novelties and semi-classical numbers and Fletcher would turn right around and swing them.”

Fletcher Henderson

arranger
1897 - 1952

" data-original-title title>Fletcher Henderson’s 11-piece orchestra at the Roseland was on the cutting edge. It was the first jazz orchestra of its size in New York to have the loose, improvised sound of a smaller jazz combo that dancers loved. Innovative arrangements by saxophonist

Don Redman

arranger
1900 - 1964

" data-original-title title>Don Redman seamlessly blended formal written parts with improvised hot solos to achieve this effect. The wailing clarinet trio, one of Don Redman’s favorite arranging devices, became a signature sound of the Henderson orchestra. And playing Don Redman’s arrangements, the orchestra became one of the first in which reed and brass sections played against each other, creating a call-and-response effect. All of Redman’s innovations were widely imitated by other arrangers and composers, including