9 Aug 2020

Annie Ross - a jazz diva remembered

From New Horizons, 5:00 pm on 9 August 2020

William Dart pays tribute to a very special jazz singer (and much more), who passed away in July 2020.

Annie Ross, You and Me Baby, cover image

Annie Ross, You and Me Baby, cover image Photo: Decca Records

In 1952, Annie Ross introduced her song 'Twisted' to an unsuspecting world. It displayed her impeccable timing and hippest of hip nuancing.

The song became her calling-card and a regular concert item in the decades that followed. It was later covered by Bette Midler and Joni Mitchell.

Here, and later with her vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, she explored the outer limits of virtuosity in much the same way as other jazz musicians of the time were doing.

William Dart presents a personal selection of favourites - solos, LH&R oddities, her collaboration with Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth presenting William Walton's Façade, a riotous take on a defenseless Mozart Rondo, and her crucial contributions to the soundtrack of Robert Altman's film Short Cuts.

Music Details

'Song title' (Composer) – Performers
Album title
(Label)

'Music Is Forever' (Freeman, Ross) – London, Meader, Pramuk & Ross, feat Annie Ross
The Royal Bopsters Project
(Motema)

'Jackie' (Ross, Gray) – Lambert Hendricks and Ross
The Swingers
(Real Gone Jazz)

'Twisted' (Freeman, Ross) – Joni Mitchell
Court and Spark
(Reprise)

'Amor' (Strauss) – Kathleen Battle
At Carnegie Hall
(DG)

'Twisted' (Freeman, Ross) – Annie Ross
King Pleasure Sings/Annie Ross Sings
(Real Gone Jazz)

'All Too Soon' (Ellington) – Lambert Hendricks and Ross
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Sing Ellington
(Real Gone Jazz)

'I feel pretty' (Bernstein, Sondhem) – Annie Ross
Sings a Song with Mulligan
(Real Gone Jazz)

'A Lot Of Livin' To Do' (Strouse, Adams) – John Barry, Annie Ross
John Barry and Guests, Vol. 4
(Fat Boy)

'Let's Fly' (Ross) – Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers
Jazz Roots Ultimate Collection
(MGMPD)

'He' (Logue, Myers) – Annie Ross, Tony Kinsey Quintet
Loguerhythms
(Transatlantic)

'Scotch Rhapsody' (Walton, Sitwell) – Annie Ross, Johnny Dankworth
Façade - An Entertainment
(Fontana)

'Rondo a la Turk' (Mozart, Solly) – Annie Ross
You and Me Baby
(Decca)

'Pirate Jenny' (Weill) – Broadway ensemble
The Threepenny Opera Original Cast Recording
(Polydor)

'Conversation on a Barstool' (Bono, The Edge) – Annie Ross
Short Cuts
(Imago)

'Blue' (Hendricks, Mahones) – Annie Ross
Short Cuts
(Imago)

'To Hell with Love' (Pomus, Rebenack) – Annie Ross
Short Cuts
(Imago)

'Evil California' (Adams, Pop) – Iggy Pop, Annie Ross
Short Cuts
(Imago)

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