Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Lore & Background

The group formed in 1957 and recorded their first album Sing a Song of Basie (1958) for Roulette Records. The album featured versions of Count Basie standards and was successful enough that the Count Basie Orchestra collaborated with them on Sing Along with Basie (1959), also on Roulette. Sing a Song of Basie was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998. Beginning in 1959, the trio recorded four LPs with Columbia Records: The Swingers! (1959), Lambert, Hendricks & Ross! (1960), High Flying (1961), and The Hottest New Group in Jazz (1962). They recorded a version of Ross's 1952 song 'Twisted', featuring her lyrics set to a Wardell Gray melody. Their High Flying album won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group in 1962.

Reader's Guide

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were a pioneering vocalese trio whose work brought jazz vocal harmony to new audiences. Their album Sing a Song of Basie (1958) was a critical and commercial success, leading to a collaboration with the Count Basie Orchestra. The group's High Flying album won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group in 1962, and they were voted Best Vocal Group in the DownBeat Readers Poll from 1959 to 1963. After Annie Ross left in 1962, the group continued as Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan, releasing three live albums before disbanding in 1964. The original trio's legacy was cemented by the Grammy Hall of Fame Award for Sing a Song of Basie in 1998, and a 2012 documentary about Annie Ross featured contributions from Jon Hendricks. The group's innovative approach to vocalese influenced later jazz vocal groups.

Did You Know?

• Sing a Song of Basie was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.
• High Flying won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group in 1962.
• Annie Ross was replaced by Yolande Bavan from 1962 to 1964.
• Dave Lambert died in a road accident in Connecticut on October 3, 1966.

Formation & the Basie Connection

The trio came together in 1957, uniting three jazz vocalists—Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross—into a group whose signature sound was vocalese, the art of singing instrumental lines as though they were lyrics. Their debut recording, Sing a Song of Basie, landed with ABC-Paramount Records in 1958 and showcased their interpretations of Count Basie standards. The album's success was immediate and tangible: it was substantial enough to draw the Count Basie Orchestra itself into a collaborative follow-up, Sing Along with Basie, released in 1959 on Roulette Records. That same year, Pacific Jazz issued The Swingers!, further cementing their presence in the jazz landscape. Nearly four decades later, in 1998, Sing a Song of Basie received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, a recognition that underscored how the group's early work had quietly become a cornerstone of vocal jazz history. What began as a small ensemble's take on a legendary bandleader's catalog had grown into a record that outlasted its era.

Creative Peak & Critical Acclaim

From 1959 onward, the trio moved to Columbia Records, where they recorded three LPs that defined their artistic identity. Among their most celebrated tracks was a vocalese rendering of "Twisted," a song Annie Ross had written in 1952, pairing her lyrics with a melody originally composed by Wardell Gray. Their 1961 release High Flying earned the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group, a landmark recognition for a group that had essentially pioneered a subgenre of jazz singing. The critical establishment echoed the industry's praise: Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were voted Best Vocal Group in the DownBeat Readers Poll for five consecutive years, from 1959 through 1963. Their 1961 Ellington album, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Sing Ellington, demonstrated their range beyond Basie, while The Hottest New Group in Jazz (1959) captured the energy that made them a sensation on the club circuit. Together, these recordings painted a picture of a group at the absolute zenith of vocal jazz innovation.

Personnel Shifts & the End of the Line

The group's lineup was never entirely stable. Before Annie Ross married Jackie Paris in 1961, Canadian jazz singer Anne Marie Moss stepped in for some early-1960s performances, and the ensemble briefly performed under the name Lambert, Hendricks and Moss. Ross ultimately departed for personal reasons in 1962, and Yolande Bavan took her place, prompting a rename to Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan. Under that configuration, the trio appeared at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, where their performances of "Comin' Home" and "Moanin'" were captured on film by Buddy Bregman. They went on to release four live albums—Recorded "Live" at Basin Street East, At Newport '63, Havin' a Ball at the Village Gate, and Swingin' Til the Girls Come Home—before disbanding in 1964. Any lingering hope of reuniting the original three was extinguished when Dave Lambert died in a road accident in Connecticut on October 3, 1966.

Legacy & Final Reunions

Even after the group's dissolution, the threads connecting its members never fully unraveled. In 2012, the documentary No One But Me, a film centered on Annie Ross's life and career, featured contributions from Jon Hendricks and included footage of the two of them reuniting for a performance—a bittersweet echo of the trio's earlier magic. That reunion, however, would be one of the last. Jon Hendricks passed away on November 22, 2017, and Annie Ross followed on July 21, 2020, bringing the final curtain down on a generation of vocalese pioneers. Their discography, spanning from the 1957 Basie sessions through the 1964 Village Gate recordings, remains a compact but extraordinary archive. The 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame induction of Sing a Song of Basie and the five-year run of DownBeat poll victories continue to remind listeners of the singular impact this small, short-lived ensemble had on the landscape of vocal jazz.