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How can we even begin to describe the genius of Lambert Hendricks and Ross? The group was a jazz vocal supergroup that merged three talents that had already made a big name in the bebop vocalese field – Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and the lovely Annie Ross – and the project was an attempt to completely work the emerging vocalese style onto a full-blown jazz group. This album wasn't their first – but it was the first to really break them with the masses, and it's a vocal jazz classic if there ever was one. Backings are by the Ike Isaacs Trio, plus Harry Edison on trumpet – and titles include "Moanin", "Twisted", "Cloudburst", "Everybody's Boppin", and "Sermonette".

Excellent work from this fab French vocal group – their second LP, and infinitely harder to find than the first! The group was led by Blossom Dearie – the American singer, living in Paris at the time, and in the vein of groups they inspired (Les Double Six, The Swingle Singers) The Blue Stars sing vocalese versions of jazz standards, done in a romping groovy style that's a bit like Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, but perhaps less solo-oriented. Titles include "Move", 'I'll Remember April", "Please Be Kind", "Promises & Lies", "Don't Be That Way", and "Bernie's Tune". CD also features a huge amount of bonus tracks – 8 more cuts that include "Lola", "Lettre A Virgine", "Embrasse Moi Bien", "C'Est La Vie", and "Grapevine".

An obscure one from Annie Ross – recording here as a solo act back in England after leaving her famous group with Dave Lambert and John Hendricks! The style here is a bit like some of the solo work that Ross cut in the US at the end of the 50s – particularly her sides for Pacific Jazz – not as vocalese and solo-oriented as the sort of recordings that first got her noticed, but still a lot more dynamic than most straighter jazz singers of the time! Arrangements are pretty groovy overall – nicely jazzy, and penned by Johnnie Spence – also produced by John Barry, who really helps keep the right sort of "punch" in the set. Titles include "Fly Me To The Moon", "Nature Boy", "A Lot Of Livin To Do", "Like Someone In Love", "A Handful Of Songs", and "All Of You".

The Jazzwise cover feature takes a look into the "Lost Quintet" period of Miles Davis – which is the group recently spotlighted on the astounding Live In Europe 1969 (Bootleg Series Vol 2) box set – and featuring Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Wayne Shorter! Other features include piano jazz great Cedar Walton looking back it his 60+ year career, jazz-folk-fusion combo Quercus, singer and pianist Liane Carroll, Kurt Elling on the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross album that changed his life in Turning Point (good choice, Kurt!) and more.

One of our favorite of Verve's "genius of" collections of Charlie Parker's work – largely because it includes some wonderful and oft-overlooked vocal tunes! 4 of the tracks on the set feature Bird blowing with a vocal chorus arranged by Dave Lambert – in a style that shouldn't work, but does – thanks to Lambert's keen bop sensibilities (heard here before his Lambert Hendricks & Ross years), and to players in the group that include Hal McKusick, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus. Other tracks have Parker either playing in a quartet with Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, and Hank Jones – or in a different group with Kenny Dorham and Tommy Turk. Titles include "Cardboard", "Visa", "Segment", "Passport", "Diverse", "I'm In the Mood For Love", "If I Love Again", and "Star Eyes".

A key link in the early career of Blossom Dearie – and a fab album of jazzy vocal tracks throughout! Before Blossom recorded some of her 50s sides for Verve in the US, she was living in France and working with The Blue Stars – a cool male/female jazz vocal group that went onto become the prototype for later acts like The Swingle Singers, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, and Les Double Six! This 1954 album by the group was actually a minor hit in the US, where their swinging harmony version of "Lullaby Of Birdland" crept up the charts for a few weeks. The album's even cooler than the hit, though, and has lots of groovy jazz vocal tracks in French, with the sort of vocalese harmony scatting that you probably already know from the more famous groups mentioned above. You can always pick out Blossom's distinctive voice in the group, but the real strength is the groovy group vocals – shining beautifully in one of the first great recordings of vocalese harmony! Tracks include "Gina", "Embrasse Moi Bien", "La Danse Du Baiser", "Toute Ma Joie", and a version of "Mister Sandman" that's been renamed "Mister L'Amour".