Annie Ross

This album was originally recorded in 1971. You might guess that date roughly from the songs that Annie Ross sings, with hippie anthems like Stoned Soul Picnic and touches of love and peace in the last two items. The date is also given away by the boogaloo rhythms and the jazz-rock in many items. Yet somehow Annie Ross transcends any particular time, as her vocals have long-lasting appeal.
Of course, she is best known as an exponent of vocalese in the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, but she left them in 1962 and has since continued her career as a solo singer and seems inexhaustible: still wowing audiences at the age of 89…

Although most of her best performances came in tandem with Jon Hendricks and Dave Lambert, Annie Ross recorded a lot of quality material on her own, and most of it is right here. A collection of her (mostly) solo material from the '50s, Four Classic Albums finds Ross close to the height of her vocal powers, with excellent interpretive skills and a quickly shifting tone (sometimes caressing, other times catty). The two highlights of these classic albums are Gypsy, her run-through of the classic musical, and Sings a Song with Mulligan!, her duet album with Gerry Mulligan that ranks as one of the finest jazz vocalist/instrumentalist pairings ever (and thereby, one of the best vocal albums of all time). “I Feel Pretty” is impossibly spry and bouncy, with both Ross and Mulligan showing off their musical dexterity, playing off each other's notes with kittenish glee…

This CD reissue brings back one of Annie Ross' most obscure albums of the 1950's. Recorded at a time when the singer was just starting to get known for her work with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, the set is a swinging but largely straight rendition of the score from the play "Gypsy." The all-star backup band mostly functions as an ensemble during the Buddy Bregman arrangements (although altoist Herb Geller and trombonist Frank Rosolino have short spots on "All I Need Is A Boy"), taking "Overture" as an instrumental that introduces some of the main melodies. Ross is in excellent form, performing a memorable version of the score's one real hit "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and somehow sounding serious on "Let Me Entertain You." Still, this release is mostly recommended to fans of show tunes and Annie Ross completists.