Customer Reviews

Everybody's Boppin

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was one of those totally unexpected mind-blowing experiences I've had while listening to something for the first time that I knew nothing about. These singers are AMAZING!! They are a (glorious) product of their time and place--this could NEVER be done today. And that's very sad!!

This is a must-have recording for jazz vocal buffs. I can't imagine you being without it. Once you hear it, you'll know why I say that.

Aside from the tremendous singing/scatting, the instrumentation on here is clean, lively and it's all just right to showcase the marvelous voices.

You gotta hear this! This remains one of the greatest surprises I've ever had.

If you were around during their heyday,and loved them as I did(I cut my jazz teeth on LHR}, You'll just love this album of songs. Anne's soulfull,haunting rendition of "Blue" is still one of my favorite songs,even after all these years. The name of CD "Everybody's Boppin' by Lambert Hendricks and Ross(LHR) When LHR does "Come On Home",with it's mid-tempo jazzy blues,you can feel a hurting soul trying not to blow his cool. Then there's "Cloudburst". Unbelievable! That fast tempo beat and the even faster toungue twisting lyrics.If you've never heard it,you must. Another one of my favorites is "Centerpiece" If there was ever a bop love song,this is it. In fact all the cuts are too tough. Check it out.

When I was a young art student in Boston in the late 50s, I discovered Lambert, Hendricks & Ross and absolutely loved them. I even got to see them perform live, which was astonishing and wonderful. But they kind of disappeared from my radar as I lived through my marriage to a classical guitarist, motherhood and the passage of decades immersed in what constituted my daily existence and real-time biography. However, recently my memory conjured them up again as I was talking to a young friend, a singer, who was telling me about plans for an a cappella singing group consisting of himself, another man and a woman. Suddenly, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross flashed into my mind, so I investigated, via the Internet, the possibility of finding any or all CDs of theirs that might be out there. I was so pleased to discover "Everybody's Boppin'" which includes some of the group's biggest hits and most popular numbers. When I received the CD and played it for my friend, he instantly fell in love with the sound, too. So now he's all inspired, and I'm listening to their amazingly convoluted, devilishly intricate harmonies and completely inventive singing on a daily basis. For anyone who loves vocal jazz or who has nostalgia for those glory days of the jazz-obsessed 1950s, rediscover this phenomenon. Their like will probably never again be among us (unless in the song stylings of my friend and his singing partners).

LH&R were a supergroup well before that term came into being. But the brilliant scatting, the vocalese versions of the classics, the beautiful harmonies and melodies here are a must for any jazz afficianado. I dare you to not snap your fingersor tap your toes whilst listening.

Tight vocals, beautiful tunes, a lot of talent
put to wonderful fruition. It's rare to run into
a compilation of 15 songs where each pleasantly
contributes something new and refreshing. The
recorded repertoire ranges from remakes of showtunes
(Summertime) to wild skatting (Everybody's Bopping)
with ease, comfort and enviable vocal prowess.
Manhattan Transfer must have been inspired by
this trio, as the style does have similarities.
LHR are as polished, but their expression is less

influenced by musical styles that did't exist
yet, resulting in performances that are truer to
vocalisms with greater presence and feeling.
The original recording is dated, but the quality
of the remastering is generally acceptable, with
a bit of hiss here and there--don't let that keep
you from enjoying this find.

I recently heard someone sing "Moanin'" and was reminded of this, one of my all-time favorite albums by one of my favorite groups.
It's as good as I remembered it - especially Annie Ross singing "Twisted."

This release is actually "The Hottest New Group In Jazz," and with the exception of the bonus tracks, is found on the 2-CD set of the same name. Lambert is a little off-mic, or not quite at the same volume as Ross and Hendricks on some of the bonus tracks, which may be why they weren't intially released.

The sound is superb, as are the performances. But take a look at the 2-CD set, which includes two additional albums.

I recall the Columbia LP--"The Hottest New Group in Jazz"--along with my initial, less-than-overwhelmed reaction. To someone accustomed to the close, full harmonies of the 4 Freshman and their lush trombone-like tenor, Bob Flanigan, LHR sounded a bit on the thin side. And compared to the Hi Lo's, another Columbia property (the Freshmen and their trombones were under contract to Capitol), LHR were somewhat lacking in technical precision.

But learning to love the group was a quick study--especially once you went back to the source of their material--the real, honest, unadulterated art of jazz, from swing to, and sometimes through, bop. And what a "democratic" group. You didn't focus so much on the "group sound" as on the colorful individual personalities producing it. Annie Ross was, and still probably is, just about the "hippest chick" on the scene, and Dave Lambert was so laid-back and understated that you knew he was the harbinger of "cool" if not its living essence. Perhaps he owes his persona in great part to the opposite, excited and extroverted one of Jon Hendricks, who has always worn his passion for the music on his sleeve, the better for listeners to take notice and grab on to it.

No one would expect Dave Lambert to have a solo career were it not for the collaborative opportunity presented by the group (in fact, he died while being a good Samaritan when he came upon a lady with a flat tire on a busy highway). But it would be hard to say the same about either Ross or Hendricks, both of whom have been involved in numerous solo projects. But though I've caught both individually--live as well as recorded--they were surprisingly weak as solo acts. A harsh statement, but meant more as a tribute to the inimitable chemistry of the group.

Annie was the first to leave, and her successors--Bavan, Hendricks' daughter, and others whose names elude me--were always full-ranged, highly proficient singers. But none had the slightly inebriated manner yet dead-on delivery of Ross, whose trumpet shakes and little shrieks were a constant source of surprise and delight. And Hendricks by himself is, I'm afraid, not about to be mistaken any time soon for Joe Williams or Johnny Hartman. Still he responded well in recent years when called upon by Wynton Marsalis to perform in an epic African-American history project (in fact, he arguably was the highlight), and he created and performed one of the most unfairly neglected masterworks since any of the Duke Ellington masterpieces that are no longer in print. In the early '60s he was called upon by the Monterey Jazz Festival producers to perform a history of jazz for children, who gathered around him on stage. "Evolution of the Blues" should be required listening in every grade school.

The present collection is a pleasant surprise. It doubles the amount of material from the original LP, includes the most original, provocative take (how insulting that overused word "cover" sounds) of Ellington's "Mood Indigo" that you're likely to hear, and the sound is better than I remember it from the LP. For a while in the 1990s, Sony-Columbia was throwing big bucks at restoration projects, the crowning jewel of which is "Ellington at Newport 1956."

Grab this before it becomes another microbyte in cyberspace (with any luck, perhaps some unsuspecting youngster will accidentally download it and catch Hendricks' message). But you've never fully experienced LHR if you haven't seen Lambert's stage presence and the little thing he had going with his heels and toes, the right thumb and forefinger, and the tilt of the left ear lobe--as mesmerizing as Astaire in "Swing Time" or O'Connor in "Singin' in the Rain." I practiced it but soon gave up. Dave was talented in ways that were not always obvious.

If you like be-bop, jazz vocals, vocalese, Jon Hendricks and you haven't really met Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, or if you like Harry "Sweets" Edison (yes, he is here as well, making the deal even sweeter), this album is a golden opportunity!

There are few very spirited originals, but the backbone of the CD is the vocal reinterpetation of instrumental classics, mostly with the lyrics of one and only Jon Hendricks, the "James Joyce of Jive".... Beautifully recorded, swinging very hard with the rhythm section lead by Gildo Mahones (p), Lambert Hendricks and Ross prove that they are one of the true treasures of the second half of 20th century music. The liner notes by Jon Hendricks and bonus tracks recorded the following year (without Harry Edison) help this CD become one of essential items in my jazz collection....

"Everybody's Boppin" with some wild scatting is one of the highlights, but the wild delivery of (often zany lyrics)... WOW!

This has been one of my favorite vocal perfomances for a couple of decades. The fun never lessens, everytime I listen it becomes even more enjoyable. This CD has nice clarity, and is a good reproduction. Hard to beat the entertainment value for the price.