Bill Henderson RIP

My radio sure was sounding good, and then they played two Bill Henderson tunes in a row.

But wait a minute, nobody ever plays two Bill Henderson tunes in a row?

Oh!

Shortly afterwards Google confirms what I have already determined, Bill Henderson has passed away at age 90.

Bill Henderson was one of the truly great old masters with a natural talent and, as I recall, not much in the way of formal training. He never really received the notoriety his talent deserved but from the first time I heard him, he was one of my personal favorites.  He was a master song stylist, but stylizing wasn't a crutch, he had the chops to bend a tune to his will with the best of them.

Some of his best work seemed to be on the projects of other artists.  And he used his Hollywood contacts to  develop a surprisingly robust film and television career, managing to make his mark in two performance arts (at 4:10).  So he had a pretty good run and my guess is he received a decent reward for his life's work.  But make no mistake, the world is a little less bright today because of this loss.

One by one it seems like we are losing the old masters much faster than we are able to create new masters.

This is one loss that definitely will not be replaced anytime soon.

RIP Mr. Henderson