However, Henderson had an uncanny gift for persuading musicians to drop whatever they might be doing and move to the Big Apple. In 1924, just in time for the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra’s move from the Club Alabam to the larger and more prestigious Roseland Ballroom on 51st Street, Henderson managed his most stunning coup, somehow hiring Louis Armstrong away from King Oliver. Armstrong’s decision to leave the King Oliver Jazz Band and join Henderson was a turning point in the development of big band jazz. It was Armstrong who taught the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, along with the rest of the City of New York, how to improvise.

With Armstrong at his disposal, Redman modified his arrangements to include segments where brass and reed sections would rest, allowing a lone instrumentalist to improvise accompanied only by the rhythm section. As a result, the soloist and rhythm section alike were elevated to a new role of central importance. In 1925, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra recorded the Redman arranged Sugar Foot Stomp (Columbia 395D) and defined big band jazz as we now know it. Through sales of Sugar Foot Stomp as well as nightly radio broadcasts from the Roseland Ballroom, word of New York City’s revolutionary big band style of jazz spread. Overnight, Fletcher Henderson found himself one of New York’s most sought-after musicians, and Manhattan became the center of jazz culture.