The Hottest New Group in Jazz (1960)
10 tracks, 29 minutes (original release); 39 tracks, 123 minutes (1996 extended edition)
Extended edition: Spotify ∙ iTunes
You know jazz is my bag, but it’s mostly the instrumental styles that stir me. While I appreciate the skills of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Sarah Vaughan and the likes, they never raise my heart-rate in the same way as a crack small-band hard-bop group does. The crooner style of the Rat Pack does even less for me.
That said, there is one group of jazz singers that really turn me on in a way that can compare to Coltrane, Coleman, the MJQ and all the rest. That’s the trio of Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. And I reckon I know why – ‘singers’ isn’t strictly the right adjective. These musicians are vocal instrumentalists. They use their voices in the same way as those great soloists do, to create wonderful musical adventures that twist and turn and blossom forth from improvisation. They do this in two ways, and all three singers are masters of both.
Firstly there’s scatting. This is one of the most well-known types of jazz singing. The vocalist sings without using words; usually they use vocables (nonsense syllables), but they can also use open vowels or humming instead. This way they can improvise in the same manner as any other melodic instrument, and the syllables they employ allow them to shape the texture and timbre of the solo as well as its tune.
And then there’s vocalese. LHR didn’t invent this style, although they perfected it, and the term ‘vocalese’ was first coined to refer to their work. It’s essentially the practice of making songs – with real, sensible lyrics – out of jazz solos. That is, instrumental jazz solos are transcribed and lyrics are written for them that match the rhythms and melodies of that solo. It’s a ridiculous skill that is really uncanny when it’s pulled off well.
That’s exactly what Lambert, Hendricks and Ross do, and they show off the best of both techniques on their 1960 album The Hottest New Group in Jazz. There are 10 tracks on this album, and each of them is perfect. Their voices – each with their own qualities – weave between each other or huddle into close harmony or even jump about to create one multi-layered melody. They go through all sorts of jazz styles, from swing to bop to gospel to jump blues, and all of it suffused with incredible fun to match the virtuosity. It’s near impossible to pick a highlight of this album, as the quality never wavers, but on sheer impressiveness I’d have to point to ‘Cloudburst’. It’s performed at a blistering pace to start off with (I make it at 300 beats per minute) and then Hendricks takes off into his solo. In the main chunk of the solo, he spits 280 words in just under 48 seconds. That’s averaging 5.83 words per second, and that’s even including a few particularly tricky tongue twisters. And every single word is crystal clear. How one man’s tongue can move that fast I have no idea. It’s quite literally awesome. But that’s the party piece – every other track on the album lives up to it in sheer musical quality.
Although the original version of The Hottest New Group in Jazz is a perfect 10, nowadays it’s easiest to come across the extended edition, where that album is packaged together with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Sing Ellington from 1961 and High Flying from 1962 and a few extra tracks at the end too. That’s a total of 39 tracks and just over two hours of music. It’s a whole lot, and there’s so much to love in there too. I won’t go through the whole thing, but here are some particular favourites that I just had to pick out:
‘Come On Home’
One of two covers from Horace Silver’s Finger Poppin' with the Horace Silver Quintet to appear on High Flying (the other is ‘Cookin’ at the Continental’), I love this one because it’s a distillation of what vocalese can be. It is almost exactly the same as Silver’s original in every way. The solos are replicated note-for-note – Lambert takes Blue Mitchell’s trumpet solo, Hendricks takes Junior Cook’s tenor sax solo and Ross takes Silver’s own piano solo – and each one is sung with lyrics that reflect one situation as told from three points-of-view. I find that an incredible feat of songwriting. I also find it fun listening to it as a pair with the original, too; you can literally sing LHR’s lyrics along with the instrumental solos. Very satisfying.
‘Swingin’ Til The Girls Come Home’
This cover of Oscar Pettiford’s tune has two amazing solos. The first is Dave Lambert’s nod to Pettiford in the way he sings just like a bowed cello, with just the right amount of buzz from his tongue, and even incorporating a sneaky quote of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Then it’s Jon Hendricks’ turn and he takes things down a notch: he’s the double bass. After a few cycles of all-purpose double bass-like scatting over stop-time from the band, he stops and declares, "Percy Heath." Then he proceeds to solo using Heath’s inimitable phrasing and rhythms, before doing the same with "Paul Chambers," "Ray Brown," and, simply, "Mingus!" How ballsy is that?! He’s going through the best bassists of their generation, hitting each of their unique styles to a T. It could be heard as being so arrogant if it wasn’t done with such obvious love. After two minutes of this jaw-dropping stop-time solo, he brings the band back in, wraps up and they go back to the song. As so often with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, I come away from it thinking ‘well now, that’s just showing off.’ But I’m so glad they did.
‘Popity Pop’
This one stands out because of yet another Jon Hendricks genius moment. For the most part, it’s a typical LHR piece. Written by Slim Gaillard, it has a frenetic pace, uplifting tune, nonsense lyrics and a big bunch of unhinged and improvised scatting. But right in the middle of it all, everything drops out and it’s just left with Hendricks on his own, completely a cappella. He drops the tempo a little bit, and sings a melody that sounds as if it could be lifted from an American patriotic song. His voice is so pure and so sweet that you can’t help but pause when you listen to it. It makes you concentrate and reflect, and your mind just about begins to cloud over into whistfulness…until he’s back scatting at breakneck speed with the full band again and it’s like a bolt of electricity zaps it back into place. Magnificent.
I think I’ve used every superlative in my vocabulary to describe this package of albums, so I think I better stop. And you know what your job is now. I’ve hyped it – now get on to Lambert, Hendricks and Ross – there’s two thrilling hours of amazing vocal jazz waiting for you. How exciting!
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