Research Notes

Belford C. "Sinky" Hendricks

A Musician's Musician

Stanley Warren

Great music often draws on diverse sources and great musicians typically defy categorization. The men and women who redefine the form and content of the musical genre in which they work often live "before their time" and are recognized only at the end of a long career or after death.	1
Scores of well-known Indiana musicians have made significant contributions to the world of music. Fans of jazz will recognize the names of Wilbur and Sidney DeParis, horn players from Crawfordsville; Speed Webb, band leader from Peru; and Sid Catlett, drummer from Evansville. Indianapolis was home to saxophone player Beryl Steiner, trombonist J. J. Johnson, pianist and vocalist Russell Smith, orchestra leader Reginald DuValle, singer and vaudevillian Noble Sissle, pianist Carl Perkins, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, brothers Wes, Monk, and Buddy Montgomery, and the members of the Ink Spots.1	2
Far less known to jazz lovers is the name of Belford C. "Sinky" Hendricks, composer, arranger, pianist, and conductor from Evansville, Indiana. Yet it would be difficult to find an adult who lived during the 1950s or the 1960s who has not hummed a tune written or arranged by Hendricks. Why, then, is he still relatively unknown? One reason is that Hendricks often worked behind the scenes as arranger or conductor. But just as important, much of the music that he wrote and arranged defies easy categorization. As a promotional piece released for the Mercury Records album Belford Hendricks and Orchestra said of him: "He's at ease in many musical settings." With a background in jazz and the blues, he could perform and write swing music for the big-band sound of the Count Basie Orchestra, but he could also create a lush, pop sound for singers such as Dinah Washington and Nat King Cole.	3
Belford Hendricks and an Early Band Courtesy Jeffrey Bibbs, Sr.
As a music lover, I was surprised that I had never heard of Hendricks until a casual conversation I had with his nephew, Jeffrey Bibbs, Sr. This soon led to longer, more serious talks with Bibbs and his mother, Belford's sister Dorothy Hendricks Bibbs. As a result of those conversations, I began to organize the materials and stories that Jeffrey and his mother provided to me.2 Below I offer a brief biographical sketch of Hendricks, an account of some of his most important collaborations, some resources for further research into his life and work, and a selected discography for those who would like to hear some of the music Hendricks helped to create.	. . .