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, Billy Taylor, and Lucky Millinder. But in the early ’50s, he returned to Dallas where he worked in the school system, just playing locally and rarely emerging during his last 30 years. ~ Scott Yanow