Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were an American

vocalese Vocalese is a style of jazz singing in which words are added to an instrumental soloist's improvisation. Definition Vocalese uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos, as opposed to scat singing, which uses nonsen ...

trio formed by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocalists Dave Lambert,

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

and

Annie Ross Annie Ross (born Annabelle Allan Short; 25 July 193021 July 2020) was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the influential jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. She helped pioneer the vocalese style of jazz sin ...

. From 1962 to 1964, Ross was replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan.

History

The group formed in 1957 and recorded their first album ''

Sing a Song of Basie ''Sing a Song of Basie'' is the 1958 debut album by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Track listing # " Every Day I Have the Blues" (Memphis Slim) – 5:18 # "It's Sand, Man!" ( Hendricks, Lambert, Ed Lewis) – 2:27 # "Two for the Blues" (Neal Hef ...

'' (1958) for

ABC-Paramount Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! Records, Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquire ...

. The album featured versions of

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

standards and was successful enough that the Count Basie Orchestra collaborated with them on ''Sing Along With Basie'' (1959). ''Sing a Song of Basie'' was awarded a

Grammy Hall of Fame Award The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 1998. Beginning in 1959, the trio recorded three LPs with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. They recorded a version of Ross's 1952 song " Twisted", featuring her lyrics set to a

Wardell Gray Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist. Biography Early years The youngest of four children, Gray was born in Oklahoma City. He spent his early childhood years in Oklahoma b ...

melody. Their ''High Flying'' album won a

Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group The Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group was awarded from 1961 to 1968. In its first year, the award specified that a "vocal group" contains two to six artists. This award was presented alongside the award for Best Performance by a ...

in 1962. Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were voted Best Vocal Group in the ''

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' Readers Poll from 1959 to 1963. Before she married Jackie Paris in 1961, Canadian jazz singer Anne Marie Moss replaced Annie Ross in some early 1960s performances. The group were known as Lambert, Hendricks and Moss. For personal reasons Annie Ross left the group in 1962 and she was replaced by Yolande Bavan. The band were renamed Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan. Their appearance at the 1962

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

, and performances of "Comin' Home" and "

Moanin' ''Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers'', also called ''Moanin, is a studio album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded on October 30, 1958, and released on Blue Note Records, Blue Note later that year. Background This was Blakey's firs ...

" can be seen in

Buddy Bregman Louis Isidore "Buddy" Bregman (July 9, 1930 – January 8, 2017) was an American arranger and conductor. Biography Bregman was born in Chicago. His father was an executive in the steel industry. His uncle was songwriter Jule Styne. He spe ...

's film ''The 1962 Newport Jazz Festival''. Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan released three live albums before disbanding in 1964. Any hopes of a reunion of the original trio ended with Lambert's death in a road accident in Connecticut on October 3, 1966. In 2012, '' No One But Me'', a documentary film about Annie Ross, featured contributions from Hendricks and contained footage of the duo reuniting for a performance. Jon Hendricks died on November 22, 2017. Annie Ross died on July 21, 2020.

Discography

* ''

'' (

ABC-Paramount ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! Records, Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquire ...

, 1957) * '' Sing Along with Basie'' (

Roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...

, 1958) * ''The Swingers!'' ( Pacific Jazz, 1958) * '' The Hottest New Group in Jazz'' ( Columbia, 1959) * ''Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Sing Ellington'' (Columbia, 1961) * ''High Flying with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross'' (Columbia, 1961)Randy Watts, Mike Callahan, David Edwards, and Patrice Eyries
"Columbia Album Discography, Part 12 (CL 1600-1699/CS 8400-8499) 1961–1962"
October 28, 2015. * '' Recorded "Live" at Basin Street East'' (Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan) (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

, 1963) * '' At Newport '63'' (Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan) (RCA Victor, 1963) * '' Havin' a Ball at the Village Gate'' (Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan) (RCA Victor, 1964) * ''Swingin' Til the Girls Come Home'' (Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan) (RCA Bluebird, 1964)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Hendricks and Ross 1957 establishments in the United States 1964 disestablishments in the United States American vocal groups Grammy Award winners Jazz ensembles from New York City Musical groups disestablished in 1964 Musical groups established in 1957 Vocal jazz ensembles Vocalese singers