John Hardee

John Hardee's time in jazz's major leagues was brief but memorable. The thick-toned tenor (influenced by Coleman Hawkins and Chu Berry) toured with Don Albert (1937-1938), and graduated from college in 1941. After a period as a band director at a Texas school and a stint in the Army, Hardee played with Tiny Grimes in 1946 and recorded 18 titles as a leader (1946-1948), including eight for Blue Note that were reissued in a Mosaic set; other songs have been released by Savoy and Spotlite. Hardee also had recording dates with Russell Procope, Earl Bostic, Billy Kyle, Helen Humes,...