Luther Henderson
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Luther Henderson (March 14, 1919 – July 29, 2003) was an African American arranger, composer, orchestrator, and pianist.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he was educated at the Juilliard School of Music where he received a B.S. in 1942. Among the more than fifty Broadway musicals where he served as orchestrator and/or arranger and/or musical director and/or composer for are Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, Flower Drum Song, Funny Girl, No, No Nanette, Purlie Victorious, Ain't Misbehavin' and Jelly's Last Jam.
He was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award. In 1992, Henderson won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Score for Jelly's Last Jam. Although Jelly's Last Jam focused on the life of Jelly Roll Morton, Morton's music was not a prominent feature of the musical. With the exception of a couple of Morton's compositions, Henderson composed the entire original score of this musical with lyrics by Susan Birkenhead. In 1997 Henderson was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Play On! Of his earlier works, he composed the orchestrations for the dance numbers for the original Broadway productions of Flower Drum Song by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and for Funny Girl. He adapted the music of Thomas "Fats" Waller for the original Broadway production of Ain't Misbehavin' and served as the musical director of the show.
Early in his career he was a staff orchestrator for The U. S. Navy School of Music, Washington, D.C. from 1944-1946. His longest professional association was with The Canadian Brass for whom he arranged over 100 songs. He also served as orchestrator for Duke Ellington's orchestral works. He also served as musical director for actress Polly Bergen and Victor Borge; and arranged music for many popular singers, including Robert Goulet, Nancy Wilson, Ben Vereen, Leslie Uggams, Eartha Kitt, Diahann Carroll, Dinah Shore, Juliet Prowse and Liza Minnelli. He performed as "The Professor" on the children's television show Joya's Fun School.
Luther Henderson died on July 29, 2003 after a long battle with cancer. He was 84.
Some of Henderson's last artistic recognitions included the Pioneer Award that he, along with his director-actress wife Billie Allen, won at the AUDELCO "VIV" Awards in November 2002. He also received a posthumous Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2004.
Recently Luther Henderson's widow director-actor Billie Allen established The Luther Henderson Scholarship Fund at Henderson's alma mater, The Juilliard School of Music.
His daughter, Melanie, is an actress who appeared on Public Television's "The Electric Company."
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[edit] Awards and recognition
- 1992 Nomination, Jelly's Last Jam by Jelly Roll Morton (music), Luther Henderson (music), and Susan Birkenhead (lyrics)
- 1997 Nomination, Play On! by Duke Ellington (music), Luther Henderson (music), and Cheryl L. West (book)
[edit] References
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
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