Jon Hendricks

Article summary

John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists, such as the big-band arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He is considered one of the best practitioners of scat singing, which involves vocal jazz soloing. Jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called him the "Poet Laureate of Jazz", while Time dubbed him the "James Joyce of Jive". Al Jarreau called him "pound-for-pound the best jazz singer on the planet—maybe that's ever been".

Key claims

1. date of birth: 1921-09-16 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of death: 2017-11-22 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. release date: 1975 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
4. release date: 1990 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of birth is "1921-09-16". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of death is "2017-11-22". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the release date is "1975". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. The record states that the release date is "1990". What evidence would count against this claim?
6. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
7. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1357343495