Frances Wayne

Vocalist Frances Wayne cut sides with the orchestras of Charlie Barnet and Woody Herman before stepping into a later ensemble launched by her husband Neal Hefti, another former Herman sideman, from the middle 1940s onward.

Born in 1924, she relocated to New York while still in her teens and performed with a unit directed by her brother, saxophonist Nick Jerret. Not long afterward she began an association with tenor saxophonist Charlie Barnet’s orchestra, committing “That Old Black Magic” to disc in 1942. The following year she entered the ranks of Woody Herman’s big band, known as Herman’s Herd. During her time with Herman she wed arranger and trumpeter Neal Hefti, who contributed charts to the same group.

The pair departed Herman in 1946, shortly before the orchestra dissolved, and settled in California. In 1947 Wayne appeared as featured soloist on recordings by Hefti’s newly assembled big band. Club dates occupied her for a period, after which she reduced her schedule. Early in the 1950s she resumed work alongside Hefti while also issuing solo sessions fronting compact bop-oriented combos that featured pianist Hank Jones, bassist Milt Hinton, and saxophonists Jerome Richardson, Richie Kamuca, and Al Cohn. Wayne rejoined Hefti’s band for a 1975 engagement and continued to appear occasionally as a soloist in the years leading to her death in 1978.