Jon Hendricks (born September 16, 1921 in Newark, Ohio) is a 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. As part of the trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (together with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross), he recorded a great number of Count Basie and Charlie Parker songs in the vocalese style. Carmen McRae was one of many singers who loved his work and made albums based on it. Hendricks has been featured on the NPR show Jazz Profiles, hosted by jazz singer Nancy Wilson. Hendricks is currently a professor of jazz at the University of Toledo.
