The Tidal Poole

Sun Ra was never reticent about honoring his musical heroes. These icons included Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, George Gershwin, Fats Waller, songwriters such as Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, and Irving Berlin, even Walt Disney, whose film music Ra performed jubilantly and often. But no one meant as much to Ra as Fletcher Henderson (1897–1952). With the exception of Ellington, no bandleader's repertoire was honored more in Ra's set lists than the man who invented the jazz big band.