Fletcher Henderson: Biography from Answers.com Mobile

Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr.

(born Dec. 18, 1898, Cuthbert, Ga., U.S. — died Dec. 29, 1952, New York, N.Y.) U.S. pianist, arranger, and leader of one of the most influential big bands in jazz. Henderson formed a dance band in New York in 1923. The band soon distinguished itself in two ways: the engagement of Louis Armstrong as principal soloist placed greater emphasis on swinging improvisation and the arrangements by Henderson and Don Redman (1900 – 64) codified the roles of the sections within the ensemble to replace the collective improvisation of early jazz groups. Nearly all big bands subsequently followed their example. A poor businessman, he was forced to dissolve his band several times, but his arrangements played a key role in the success of Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and provided a template for much of the music of the swing era.

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