Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

The vocalese trio of Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross are regarded among the finest jazz singers of all time although they performed and recorded together for just five years from 1957. Hendricks was a a noted lyricist who developed the skill of writing words for complicated jazz tunes by top instrumentalists. He met Lambert, who was an arranger as well as a singer, in New York and they decided to apply the technique to songs for an album titled 'Sing a Song of Basie'. They intended to use a choir but the vocalese style was so complex that they reportedly couldn't train them in time. They asked Ross for her help and she ended up signing on as a permanent member of the group. 'Sing a Song of Basie' came out in 1957 and the singers were acclaimed immediately for their infectious rhythms, scat singing and polished harmonies. They were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Performance By a Vocal Group Or Chorus and they followed it up in 1958 with 'Sing Along With Basie', joined by Count Basie and His Band. They produced eleven more albums including 'The Hottest New Group in Jazz' (1960), which earned them another Grammy Award nomination, 'Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Sing Ellington' (1961) and 'High Flying' (1962), for which they won the Grammy Award for Best Performance By a Vocal Group. The trio broke up in 1962 and both Ross and Hendricks, who died in 2017, went on to successful solo careers. Lambert was killed in a road accident aged 49 in 1966. A collection of their recordings titled '7 Classic Albums' was released in 2013.

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