SING A SONG OF BASIE
Lambert, Hendricks
& Ross
VERVE 543
827-2
Crotchet
Full Price
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Everyday
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It's Sand, Man!
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Two for the Blues
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One O'Clock Jump
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Little Pony
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Down for Double
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Fiesta in Blue
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Down for the Count
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Blues Backstage
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Avenue C
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Four Brothers
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Cloudburst
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Standin' on the Corner(Whistlin' at the Pretty Girls)
Vocals - Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross
Piano -Nat Pierce
Guitar - Freddie Green
Bass - Eddie Jones
Drums - Sonny Payne
The original 'Sing A Song of Basie' LP was released in 1958 after being recorded
in 1957. The early 1950's were a time of great change in the jazz world;
the LP record had caused all the jazz names to re-think their performances,
to accommodate the new media. The term vocalese was invented at that time,
to mean the use of the human voice, to replace the instruments of the Orchestra.
Roy Krall and Jackie Caine were featuring vocalese with the Charlie Ventura
Band, Annie Ross had a hit with 'Twisted, which was a vocalese version of
the Wardell Gray blues composition. King Pleasure was also into the vocalese
business at that time, but what had not been done was to use the human voice
to replace all the horns in a Big Band. Lambert and Hendricks were great
Basie fans and they wrote out the Basie arrangements for voices and rhythm
section. They hired studio singers and were ready to record but it just didn't
work the studio singers could 'sight-sing', but they couldn't swing! Annie
Ross was brought into the group and it was decided that the three singers
would multi-track record all the parts. Multi tracking was unknown at that
time, but eventually the album was complete and the rest is history. Lambert,
Hendricks and Ross became the most famous vocal group in jazz and appeared
throughout the world!
The music has stood the test of time very well, if you missed it in 1957;
this is a must for any jazz record collection. Tracks 11 to 13 record previous
attempts Lambert and Hendricks made prior to joining up with Ross. To me
only 'Four Brothers' is worthy of inclusion, but the others help to explain
the way vocalese happened.
Don Mather
Don Mather is a Saxophone Player and Bandleader in Coventry
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