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John Hammond | |
|---|---|
 Hammond in 1940 | |
| Born | John Henry Hammond II (1910-12-15)December 15, 1910 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 10, 1987(1987-07-10) (aged 76) |
| Burial place | Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum, Staten Island, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Occupation | Music producer |
| Known for | Columbia Records |
| Spouse(s) | Jemison "Jemy" McBride (1941–1948) Esme O'Brien Sarnoff (1949–1986 (her death)) |
| Children | 2, includingJohn P. Hammond |
| Parent | Emily Vanderbilt Sloane |
| Relatives | William Henry Vanderbilt (great grandfather) Ogden H. Hammond (uncle) Millicent Fenwick (cousin) |
| Awards | Member of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame |
John Henry Hammond Jr. (December 15, 1910 – July 10, 1987) was an Americanrecord producer,civil rights activist, and music critic active from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as atalent scout, Hammond became one of the most influential figures in 20th-century popular music. He is the father of blues musicianJohn P. Hammond.[1]
Hammond was instrumental in sparking or furthering numerous musical careers, including those ofBob Dylan,Bruce Springsteen,Benny Goodman,Harry James,Charlie Christian,Billie Holiday,Count Basie,Teddy Wilson,Big Joe Turner,Fletcher Henderson,Pete Seeger,Babatunde Olatunji,Aretha Franklin,George Benson,Freddie Green,Leonard Cohen,Arthur Russell,Jim Copp,Asha Puthli,Stevie Ray Vaughan,Mike Bloomfield andSonny Burke.[2][3] He is also largely responsible for the revival ofdelta blues artistRobert Johnson's music.
Hammond was born inNew York, christened John Henry Hammond Jr., although both his father and paternal grandfather shared the same name. He was the youngest child and only son of John Henry Hammond andEmily Vanderbilt Sloane. His mother was one of three daughters of William Douglas Sloane andEmily Thorn Vanderbilt, and a granddaughter ofWilliam Henry Vanderbilt.
His father attendedYale University, and graduated with a law degree fromColumbia Law School. His grandfather was Civil War General John Henry Hammond, who married Sophia Vernon Wolfe. His father was a brother ofOgden H. Hammond, ambassador toSpain, and uncle to politicianMillicent Fenwick. Despite the family fortune from his mother's side of the family, which included wealth from theW. & J. Sloane chain, his father worked to provide for his family and maintain the family fortune. He worked "as a banker, lawyer, and railroad executive".[4]
Hammond had four sisters: Emily, Adele, Rachel, and Alice. The youngest, Alice, married firstArthur Duckworth in 1927, and then, after divorcing him, the musicianBenny Goodman in 1942. Well-known clergyman and peace activistWilliam Sloane Coffin Jr. was a cousin.
Hammond showed interest in music from an early age. At four he began studying the piano, only to switch to the violin at age eight. He was steered toward classical music by his mother but was more interested in the music sung and played by the servants, many of whom were black. He was known to go down to his basement to listen to the upbeat music in the servants' quarters. He lovedSir Harry Lauder's "Roamin' in the Gloamin'". While he was in the basement, the rest of his family in the greater part of the five-story mansion would listen to "the great opera tenorEnrico Caruso, as well as to standard classics byBeethoven,Brahms, andMozart".[4]
Hammond became interested in social reform at a young age. His mother also promoted social reform as a means to give back some of her fortune to the community. She often found solace in religion. Hammond shared her desire to help the community with his privilege.[4]
Hammond notes that the first jazz music that he heard was in London in 1923 on a trip with his family. He heard a band calledThe Georgians, a white Dixieland jazz group, and saw an African American show calledFrom Dixie to Broadway, that featuredSidney Bechet. This trip changed the way that he thought about music. Upon his return to the states, Hammond searched for records by black musicians but could not find them in the greaterManhattan area. He learned that African American music was sold in different stores, so he began to search for this music inHarlem.[5]
In 1925 Hammond graduated from the elementary institutionSt. Bernard's School at the age of 14. He persuaded his family to allow him to attendHotchkiss School due to its liberal curriculum. Hammond's love for music flourished. However, he felt limited within the confines of a boarding school. Hammond succeeded in convincing the headmaster to allow him to go into the city every other weekend, a rare privilege, so that he could take lessons from Ronald Murat. However, the headmaster was not aware that outside his formal lessons, Hammond would go up to Harlem to hear jazz. During this time, he said that he heardBessie Smith perform atThe Harlem Alhambra, but her biographer disagrees about the dates.[4]
The summer after graduating from Hotchkiss in 1929, Hammond went to work for a newspaper in Maine, thePortland Evening News. Its editorErnest Gruening was also a Hotchkiss alumnus, class of 1903, who was interested in social issues and social justice.[4][6]
In the fall of 1929, Hammond enteredYale University as a member of the class of 1933. He studied the violin and, later,viola. He felt a disconnect with his fellow students at Yale and felt that he was already well acquainted with the professional world. He made frequent trips into New York city and wrote regularly for trade magazines. In the fall semester of 1930, Hammond had to withdraw due to a recurring case ofjaundice. Hammond had no desire to a repeat a semester, which contributed to his dissatisfaction with the university lifestyle. Much to the disappointment of his father, a Yale alumnus, in 1931 he dropped out of school for a career in the music industry, first becoming the U.S. correspondent forMelody Maker.[4]
In 1931, Hammond funded the recording of pianistGarland Wilson, marking the beginning of a long string of artistic successes as record producer. He moved toGreenwich Village, where he claimed to have engaged in bohemian life and worked for an integrated music world. He set up one of the first regular livejazz programs, and wrote regularly about the racial divide. As he wrote in his memoirs,[7] "I heard no color line in the music.... To bring recognition to the Negro's supremacy in jazz was the most effective and constructive form of social protest I could think of." This pre-occupation with social issues was to continue, and in 1941 he was one of the founders of theCouncil on African Affairs.
In 1932, Hammond acquired a nonpaying job on theWEVD radio station as a disc jockey. He did not discriminate when choosing which musicians to air; the station allowed Hammond complete freedom on the station as long as he paid for his time slot. Through this position, Hammond gained a reputation as a well-educated jazz fan. Various musicians were guests on his show, includingFletcher Henderson,Benny Carter, andArt Tatum. When the station transferred from theBroadway Central Hotel to theClaridge Hotel, the new venue would not allow the black musicians to use the main elevator. For this reason, Hammond quit his work with WEVD.[4]
By 1932–33, through his involvement in the UK music paperMelody Maker, Hammond arranged for the faltering US Columbia label to provide recordings for the UK Columbia label, mostly using the specially created Columbia W-265000 matrix series. Hammond recordedFletcher Henderson,Benny Carter,Joe Venuti,Benny Goodman, and other jazz performers during a time when the economy was bad enough during theGreat Depression that many of them would not have otherwise had the opportunity to enter a studio and play real jazz (a handful of these in this special series were issued in the US).
In 1934, Hammond is known to have introducedBenny Goodman andFletcher Henderson. It is said that Hammond convinced the musicians to 'swing' the current jazz hits, so that they could play in a free manner like the original New Orleans Jazz.[8]
Hammond always strived for racial integration within the musical scene. For this purpose, he frequently visited musicians in Harlem in order to connect with musicians in their own area. While initially his race proved a problem in connecting with this community, he formed relationships with various musicians that allowed him to surpass this barrier. His friendship withBenny Carter gave him a status that allowed him to enter this musical community.[4]
He played a role in organizing Benny Goodman's band, and in persuading him to hire black musicians such asCharlie Christian,Teddy Wilson andLionel Hampton. In 1933 he heard the seventeen-year-oldBillie Holiday perform in Harlem and arranged for her recording debut, on a Benny Goodman session. Four years later, he heard theCount Basie orchestra broadcasting from Kansas City and brought it to New York, where it began to receive national attention.[9]
In 1938, Hammond organized the firstFrom Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, presenting a broad program ofblues,jazz andgospel artists, includingIda Cox,Big Joe Turner,Albert Ammons,Pete Johnson,Meade "Lux" Lewis,Sister Rosetta Tharpe, theCount Basie orchestra,Sidney Bechet,Sonny Terry,James P. Johnson, andBig Bill Broonzy (who took the place of the deceasedRobert Johnson).[10] He coordinated a secondFrom Spirituals to Swing concert in 1939.[11]
After serving in the military during World War II, Hammond felt unmoved by thebebop jazz scene of the mid-1940s. RejoiningColumbia Records in the late 1950s, he signedPete Seeger andBabatunde Olatunji to the label, and discoveredAretha Franklin,[12] then an eighteen-year-old gospel singer. In 1961, he heard folk singerBob Dylan playing harmonica on a session forCarolyn Hester; he signed him to Columbia and kept him on the label despite the protests of executives, who referred to Dylan as "Hammond's folly".[13] He produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall".[10]
"What I wanted to do withBobby was just to get him to sound in the studio as natural, just as he was in person, and have that extraordinary personality come thru.... After all, he's not a great harmonica player, and he's not a great guitar player, and he's not a great singer. He just happens to be an original. And I just wanted to have that originality come through."[13]
Hammond oversaw the highly influential posthumous reissues ofRobert Johnson's recorded work (produced by Frank Driggs), convincing Columbia Records to issue the albumKing of the Delta Blues Singers in 1961.[15] Musicians Hammond signed to the label includedLeonard Cohen andBruce Springsteen.[16]
Hammond retired from Columbia in 1975 but continued to scout for talent. In 1983, he brought guitaristStevie Ray Vaughan to Columbia and was credited as executive producer on his debut album.
Hammond recognized jazz music to have originated as an African-American musical genre. When Hammond entered the jazz community, integration had not yet begun. Black and white musicians rarely played together and often the prestigious locations permitted only white audiences. Hammond remembers that before the 1920s, black musicians could always find jobs, even if they were low paying. After the instatement of Local 802, a union of professional musicians within New York City, Hammond saw more white people receiving jobs than black people. However, this did not stop the African-American musicians. Through burlesque and record making, these musicians continued to be a presence.[5]
1933 was a defining year for Hammond. He remembers this year being extraordinary due to his establishment of relationships with British record companies. Hammond was able to secure contracts for various musicians. He was an attractive producer to these companies because he did not desire a profit for himself. In 1933, he helpedBenny Goodman receive a record deal withColumbia Records, which at the time was only known as English Columbia. During this time, Goodman was in need of a big break, as he was getting a reputation as being difficult to work with. Hammond proposed that Goodman produce a multiracial record; however, Goodman believed this route would hurt his musical reputation.[4]
In this year, Hammond broke out of the traditional role of a producer and became a talent scout, after hearingBillie Holiday. He remarks that he was astounded to discover that she was the daughter ofClarence Holiday fromFletcher Henderson's band. That same year, he was able to get her involved in theBenny Goodman Orchestra.[5] Hammond attributes fate to his finding of Holiday. After hearing her sing for the first time, he wrote, "She weighs over 200 pounds, is incredibly beautiful, and sings as well as anybody I have ever heard."[4]
Later in 1933, he heardTeddy Wilson, a jazz pianist, on the Chicago radio. While he did not discover him, he was able to provide significant opportunities for him, even some collaboration with Billie Holiday.[5]
Hammond's work with civil rights came from multiple angles. In 1933, he traveled South to attend a trial regarding theScottsboro case, a case in which two white girls accused nine black boys of raping them. The testimonies of the two girls did not align with the story. While all nine boys were convicted, Hammond viewed this trial as a "catalyst for black activism".[4]
Record integration became an important component of jazz music. Starting in 1935, musicians began to record in mixed-race groups. While some of this integration had already taken place, Hammond remembers it as being hidden. However, in 1935, the Goodman Trio began recording. In 1936, the group appeared in a live concert at the Chicago Hot Jazz Society. Hammond fondly remembers this as an innovative moment in jazz history.[5]
J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director, investigated Hammond's link to theCommunist Party. Due to the various benefits and fund-raisers that Hammond hosted for the popular front, his name was often listed inThe Daily Worker, a communist newspaper. Furthermore, his name often appeared on the letterheads of left-wing organizations for which he was a donor or member. Hammond was never a member of the Communist Party.[4]
Hammond had four sisters: Alice, Rachel, Adele, and Emily.
Early in his career, Hammond focused more on his work than his love life. While he was seen publicly with various women, the relationships were never substantial. However, in 1940 at a Manhattan party, Hammond met Jemison "Jemy" McBride. On March 8, 1941, Hammond married Jemy inNew Haven, Connecticut. The couple had a small, non-denominational wedding with only about ten guests. Although both sets of parents approved of the couple, neither set attended the wedding.[4]
In 1942, Hammond took his wife on a road trip to Los Angeles. Shortly after this trip, Jemy realized that she was pregnant. In November 1942, Jemy gave birth to their first son,John P. Hammond.[4]
On March 21, 1942, Hammond's sister, Alice marriedBenny Goodman. She had previously been married to EnglishmanArthur Duckworth, a member of the British House of Commons. Hammond did not look kindly upon her marriage to Goodman. After years of arguments and disagreements about the musical directions of Goodman's band, Hammond and Goodman had a complete falling out, some of which has been attributed to their differing class and educational backgrounds (Goodman had been born into poverty and had quit high school in order to help support his family as a musician). Hammond, however, could be dogmatic and controlling in his interactions with various musicians, as well as in his published writings on jazz and on specific performers. Goodman eventually grew weary of Hammond's contentious nature. However, out of a sense of shared grief following Alice's death in 1978, Hammond and Goodman reconciled.[4]
In November 1943, after the United States entered World War II, Hammond began military training. He underwent his basic training atFort Belvoir. Hammond was much older than the majority of the other men, and he had a rough time adjusting to the military life. While he was still in basic training, Jemy gave birth to their second child, Douglas, early in 1944. Douglas came down with a serious illness. While Jemy sent Hammond a telegram to alert him of his newborn's condition, Hammond said that he never received it. Jemy speculated that Hammond was in a concert and disregarded the letter; however, that claim has been proven unlikely due to Hammond's strict schedule in basic training. Douglas died shortly after birth from his illness, and Jemy had to undergo the family tragedy without her husband. Hammond returned after basic training on a three-day pass, but he and his wife were distant.[4]
After basic training, Hammond reported to Camp Plauche, where he was placed to organize activities for the black soldiers. During this time period, African-American soldiers were given little to do within the military. The armed forces were still segregated and discriminatory. Hammond began his efforts by organizing concerts for the soldiers featuring African-American musicians. He noted that shortly after these concerts began, an integrated sports team formed. Toward the end ofWorld War II, Hammond was transferred toFort Benning, Georgia, known for its intense racism. Hammond was not the only jazz fan irritated with racism. During this time period,bebop music grew out of late night jam sessions of black musicians. Hammond was not much a part of the bebop movement, but he shared the sentiment against racism.[4]
In 1946, Hammond was discharged from the military. His family moved toGreenwich Village, where Jemy gave birth to their third son, Jason. Hammond threw himself back into his work, which greatly upset his wife. In 1948, Jemy asked Hammond for a divorce. While he was originally reluctant, Hammond agreed to the divorce. Jemy never remarried.[4]
A year later, in 1949, Hammond met Esme Sarnoff, originally Esme O'Brien, the former wife ofNBC chairmanRobert Sarnoff, and a daughter of Mary and Esmond O'Brien. Esme shared Hammond's musical passion and was planning to divorce her husband. That year, Hammond married Esme Sarnoff. By this marriage Hammond had one stepdaughter, (Esme) Rosita Sarnoff (born 1943). During this time, Hammond's father died on a golf course. Left a widow, Emily Hammond became infatuated withFrank Buchman.[4]
In 1985, Hammond had his first stroke. Although this impaired him physically, his wife's death left him in despair. Esme Hammond was diagnosed withbreast cancer. While treatments worked for some time, she died May 19, 1986,[17] of complications ofAIDS, which she had contracted from ablood transfusion. Hammond was distraught and died on July 10, 1987, after a series of strokes. It is said that he died listening to the music of Billie Holiday.[4]
"John's Idea", originally titled "I May Be Wrong It's John's Idea", is a tribute to John Hammond written byCount Basie.[18]
Hammond received aGrammy Trustees Award for being credited with co-producing a Bessie Smith reissue in 1971, and in 1986 was the inaugural recipient of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award.
Hammond's son,John P. Hammond, became an American blues musician.[10]
Hammond was one of the first men to racially integrate the American music industry. Before theCivil Rights Act passed,Tom Wilson, an African American, replaced Hammond asBob Dylan's record producer.[4]
In December 2015Guinness featured Hammond in its UK advertising campaign.[19]
Prince's song "Avalanche" mentions Hammond in the lyric "Mr. John Hammond with his pen in hand... Sayin' 'Sign your kingdom over to me and be known throughout the land!'"
