Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. (. Cuthbert , 18 December 1897 - New York City , December 28, 1952 ) was an African-American pianist , bandleader , arranger andcomposer who has played a key role in the development of big band jazz and swing music .

Biography
Henderson was born in Cuthbert to Georgia . His father was a vice principal and his mother gave piano lessons. He went to the Atlanta University in Atlanta, where he in1920 graduated. Then he moved to New York City to the Columbia University to get a degree in physics. But because his chances of finding a job in that field would be limited, he focused on the music. He went to work for Pace-Handy for which he showcased songs. He also worked at Black Swan Records as a pianist and he was in the band of singer Ethel Waters .

In 1922 he founded his own band which was soon known as the best colored band from New York. In the beginning was focused on his music of Paul Whiteman, but when Louis Armstrong came to reinforce his band in 1924 , he saw more potential in it. His band was regularly enhanced by musicians like Henry Allen , Joe Smith , Rex Stewart , Tommy Ladnier , Doc Cheatman , Roy Eldridge , Coleman Hawkins , Buster Bailey , Benny Carter and Chu Berry . The rhythm section was from 1928 to 1933 guitarist Clarence Holiday .

Despite the fact that his band was hugely popular, Henderson did not work well to lead his band. After a serious car accident in 1928, he seemed to lose his interest in the business side and he became known as undisciplined. Nevertheless, he remained an important writer. He wrote songs for the bands of Teddy Hill , Isham Jones and Benny Goodman .

The collaboration with Benny Goodman went for several minutes. When Goodman in 1934 was asked to be he bought a large number of songs that Henderson had written at the beginning of the 30s, the house band of the radio program Let's Dance. In 1939 he left his band to join Goodman, initially as a writer and pianist, but later only as a writer. He founded his band several times back in the '40s and toured between1948 and 1949 with Ethel Waters . In 1950 he suffered a heart attack which he became partially paralyzed and had to stop as a pianist. Two years later, he died in New York City .

Posthumously he was inducted in 1989 into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame .