Lambert, Hendricks & Ross - The Swingers! with Zoot Sims

A standout early album from the legendary vocal jazz trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, featuring tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims and an exceptional supporting band. The Swingers! captures the group during the period when Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross were transforming vocalese—putting sophisticated lyrics to the lines and solos of jazz instrumentalists—into an art form of its own.

The album features “Four,” “Now's the Time,” “This Here,” “Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home,” “Little Niles” and “Love Makes the World Go Round,” drawing on music associated with Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Oscar Pettiford, Randy Weston and others.

The instrumental lineup is equally impressive, with Zoot Sims, Russ Freeman, Freddie Green, Jim Hall, Ed Jones and Sonny Payne accompanying the trio. Recorded in Hollywood at the Crescendo and released by World Pacific Records in 1959, this is an excellent piece of late-1950s West Coast jazz history and a strong title for collectors of vocal jazz.