"Hendersonia" by Walter C. Allen

[Big Beat Steve]

I bought "Hendersonia" at a rather affordable price several years ago from a German online bookseller via the German branch of Abebooks, but except for browsing here and there I so far just did not muster the stamina to read through and digest that huge, huge mass of information included in its pages.
But a while ago, prompted by a dip into the "A Study in Frustration" box set,  I finally tackled that magnum opus on Fletcher Henderson again, promising myself to gradually work my way through the book (with no time limit, though ).

But one thought has come up now: This book was completed and published some 50 years ago, and no doubt the author left no stone unturned and dug a mile deep for even the minutest snippets of information. And of course he had the advantage of being able to speak to a lot of key persons from the life of Hendetson who still were around then.
Yet I wonder ... In today's world of the internet availability and exchanges of information are almost boundless, accessibility of source documents is greatly enhanced and much easier than it used to be in the pre-internet days. And no doubt amateur or pro researchers on almost ANYTHING are around somewhere out there.

So I wonder - Have there ever been any sources (websites, blogs, publications) that may have added to the contents of "Hendersonia", maybe even correcting or adding information to that book (even though this likely would amount to details only, but still ...)?
Or is "Hendersonia" still the very definite, 100% final word on the subject of Fletcher Henderson in each and every respect imaginable?

Any opinions, findings, experiences, anyone?
Thanks in advance.

[Niko]

I don't know the book so don't know what's in it.... I recently stumbled upon this webpage which has among others "An Annotated Tentative Personnelo - Discography" of Henderson's bands in several volumes... 

https://www.harlem-fuss.com/bands.html

 

[Big Beat Steve]

Thanks, Niko, for reminding me of this website. I discovered this site last year when I searched the internet for info on some ultra-obscure recordings from the 20s where (according to the liner notes on a 70s LP that I had bought) personnel identification was hazy. And lo and behold - the compiler of this site had gone to extreme efforts to shed some more light on these obscure recordings.

I will check what he has to say about the Fletcher Henderson bands but would be surprised if he had not relied primarily on "Hendersonia" himself. But he may well have useful additional info on the Henderson discography.

Edited September 4 by Big Beat Steve

[Gheorghe]

oh, I thought it´s Joe Henderson meant when I read the title.....

Fletcher Henderson must have been a gas since I heard his arrangements played by the Sun Ra Arkestra. And as Sun Ra I heard had played piano for Fletcher Henderson, it must have been first hand information. What instrument did Fletcher play ? 

[Big Beat Steve]

Google and Wikipedia (to start with the most evident sources) are your friends ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_Henderson

You know, there WAS a history of jazz before Bud Powell et al. 

 

More seriously, anyone else among the forumists with any opinions, impressions, knowledge about whether there is any more recent (and relevant) Fletcher Henderson research on the web?

P.S.: I am aware that there is a book on Fletcher Henderson by Jeffrey Magee but I have never seen it and - apart from what I've discovered just now about this book on the "jerryjazzmusician" website - have no real impression of in what way it goes significantly beyond "Hendersonia".

Anyone out there, by any chance, who has read BOTH books?

Edited September 5 by Big Beat Steve

[Rooster_Ties]

6 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

oh, I thought it´s Joe Henderson meant when I read the title.....

Me too!! 

[Jim Duckworth]

Luckily both books are available on Archive.org.  

 

https://archive.org/details/hendersoniamusic00alle

https://archive.org/details/uncrownedkingofs0000mage