During the swinging, elegant, and expansive late-1950s, a lanky, brilliant, and gentle Bostonian named Dave Lambert connected with Jon Hendricks, an inventive wordsmith with a smoky voice and endless ability to improvise scat singing. In the instrumental jazz of Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and others, they heard the possibility of lyrics — and so they wrote them. Together with Annie Ross, with her far-reaching, nimble vocal range, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross redefined the very idea of what a singing group could be.
From the 1961 album High Flying, enjoy “Halloween Spooks,” Dave Lambert’s whimsical, bebop-infused tune delivered with the characteristic vocalese and giddily blended harmonies of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
