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John Hammond — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Career

In 1931, Hammond funded the recording of pianist Garland Wilson, marking the beginning of a long string of artistic successes as record producer. He moved to Greenwich 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 live jazz programs, and wrote regularly about the racial divide. As he wrote in his memoirs, "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." In 1941, he helped found the Council on African Affairs.

In 1932, Hammond acquired a nonpaying job on the WEVD 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, including Fletcher Henderson, Benny Carter, and Art Tatum. When the station transferred from the Broadway Central Hotel to the Claridge Hotel, the new venue would not allow the black musicians to use the main elevator. For this reason, Hammond quit his work with WEVD.

By 1932–33, through his involvement in the UK music paper Melody Maker, Hammond arranged for the faltering US Columbia label to provide recordings for the Okeh Columbia label, mostly using the specially created Columbia W-265000 matrix series. Hammond recorded Fletcher Henderson, Benny Carter, Joe Venuti, Benny Goodman, and other jazz performers during the Great Depression, when few would otherwise had the opportunity to enter a studio and play jazz. (A handful of these recordings were issued in the US.)

In 1934, Hammond introduced Benny Goodman and Fletcher 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.

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 with Benny Carter gave him a status that allowed him to enter this musical community.

He played a role in organizing Benny Goodman's band, and in persuading him to hire black musicians such as Charlie Christian, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton. In 1933 he heard the seventeen-year-old Billie Holiday perform in Harlem and arranged for her recording debut, on a Benny Goodman session. Four years later, he heard the Count Basie orchestra broadcasting from Kansas City and brought it to New York, where it began to receive national attention.

In 1938, Hammond organized the first From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, presenting a broad program of blues, jazz and gospel artists, including Ida Cox, Big Joe Turner, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Count Basie orchestra, Sidney Bechet, Sonny Terry, James P. Johnson, and Big Bill Broonzy (who took the place of the deceased Robert Johnson). He coordinated a second From Spirituals to Swing concert in 1939.

After serving in the military during World War II, Hammond felt unmoved by the bebop jazz scene of the mid-1940s. Rejoining Columbia Records in the late 1950s, he signed Pete Seeger and Babatunde Olatunji to the label, and discovered Aretha Franklin, then an eighteen-year-old gospel singer. In 1961, he heard folk singer Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a session for Carolyn 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". He produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall".

Hammond oversaw the highly influential posthumous reissues of Robert Johnson's recorded work (produced by Don Law, convincing Columbia Records to issue the album King of the Delta Blues Singers in 1961. Musicians Hammond signed to the label included Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen.

Hammond retired from Columbia in 1975 but continued to scout for talent. In 1983, he brought guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan to Columbia and was credited as executive producer on his debut album.

Personal accounts

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.

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 helped Benny Goodman receive a record deal with Columbia 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.

In this year, Hammond broke out of the traditional role of a producer and became a talent scout, after hearing Billie Holiday. He remarks that he was astounded to discover that she was the daughter of Clarence Holiday from Fletcher Henderson's band. That same year, he was able to get her involved in the Benny Goodman Orchestra. 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."

Later in 1933, he heard Teddy Wilson, a jazz pianist, on a Chicago radio broadcast. Hammond provided opportunities for him, including some collaboration with Billie Holiday.

Hammond's work with civil rights took various forms. In 1933, he traveled south to a trial concerning the Scottsboro case, in which two white girls accused nine black boys of raping them. The testimonies of the two girls did not align. While all nine boys were convicted, Hammond viewed this trial as a "catalyst for black activism".

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. 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.

Personal life

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. In 1940, Hammond met Jemison "Jemy" McBride at a Manhattan party. They were married on March 8, 1941, in New 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 attended the wedding.

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.

On March 21, 1942, Hammond's sister, Alice married Benny Goodman. She had previously been married to Englishman Arthur 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 fell out. This has been attributed to their differing class and educational backgrounds; Goodman had been born into poverty and had quit high school to help support his family as a musician. Hammond could be dogmatic and controlling in his interactions with musicians, as well as in his published writings on jazz and on specific performers. Goodman eventually grew weary of Hammond's contentious nature. The two would reconcile after Alice's death in 1978.

In November 1943, after the United States entered World War II, Hammond began military training. He underwent basic training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Much older than most of the other men, he had a rough time adjusting to the military life. While he was in basic training early in 1944, Jemy gave birth to their second child, Douglas. When newborn Douglas became ill, Jemy sent a telegram to alert Hammond, who never received it. Jemy speculated that Hammond was in a concert and disregarded the letter, but Hammond's strict training schedule made that unlikely. Douglas died shortly after birth, a tragedy Jemy bore alone. Hammond returned after basic training on a three-day pass, but he and his wife were distant.

After basic training, Hammond reported to Camp Plauche, where he was ordered to organize activities for the black soldiers, who were given few military tasks. The armed forces were still segregated and discriminatory. Hammond began by organizing concerts for the soldiers, featuring African-American musicians. Shortly after these concerts began, an integrated sports team formed. Toward the end of the war, Hammond was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, known for its intense racism. Hammond was not the only jazz fan irritated with racism. During this time, 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.

In 1946, Hammond was discharged from the military. His family moved to Greenwich Village, where Jemy gave birth to their third son, Jason. Hammond threw himself back into his work, which upset his wife. In 1948, Jemy asked Hammond for a divorce. Originally reluctant, Hammond eventually agreed. Jemy never remarried.

A year later, in 1949, Hammond met Esme Sarnoff, originally Esme O'Brien, the former wife of NBC chairman Robert 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 with Frank Buchman.

In 1985, Hammond had his first stroke. Although this impaired him physically, his wife's death left him in despair. Esme Hammond was diagnosed with breast cancer. While treatments worked for some time, she died May 19, 1986, of complications of AIDS, which she had contracted from a blood 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.