Frances Wayne

Vocalist Frances Wayne recorded using the rings of Charlie Barnet and Woody Herman before signing up for a music group formed by her hubby, Neal Hefti (another Herman alum), from the mid-’40s. Delivered in 1924, Wayne shifted to NY as an adolescent and sang with an organization led by her sibling, the saxophonist Nick Jerret. Quickly thereafter she started dealing with tenor saxophonist Charlie Barnet’s music group, recording a edition of “That Aged Dark Magic” in 1942. She became a member of Woody Herman’s big music group — Herman’s Herd — another season. While with Herman, Wayne wedded arranger/trumpeter Neil Hefti, who had written for the group. The few still left Herman in 1946, before that band’s break up, and shifted to California. In 1947 Wayne documented being a soloist with Hefti’s recently formed big music group. She proved helpful in clubs for a while, after that curtailed her actions somewhat. She continuing to utilize Hefti in the first ’50s. She also documented as a single artist, fronting little bop-based groupings that included such music artists as pianist Hank Jones, bassist Milt Hinton, and saxophonists Jerome Richardson, Richie Kamuca, and Al Cohn. Wayne sang with Hefti’s music group once again in 1975. She sometimes worked being a soloist within the years before her loss of life in 1978.