Music: Lambert, Hendricks and Ross at the Playboy mansion, 1959

I was going to offer you quite the treatise on a particular version of the Beach Boys' wonderful "Vegetables" — a version I have on my iPod from god-knows-where. But I couldn't find that version on the iTubes, so there you go — five-part-harmony and episodic-contrapuntal analysis down the drain. Oh well.

In its place, this treat. Lambert, Hendricks & Ross — the geniuses of three-part jazz scat — performing on the earliest Playboy TV show, Playboy's Penthouse (not Playboy After Dark, a later show that included clips of the earlier show).

The first video is the three of them scatting away. If you don't know what scat-singing is, just watch. Genius stuff. The piano is Count Basie, which you'll see if you watch the second vid (below). First this:



Now Annie Ross sings the ever-popular "Twisted". Not their best, but far from their worst, and perhaps their most famous. Note Count Basie's piano solo — the man has touch:



And now, if you want to hear the LH&R recorded version of "Twisted" click here (opens big in a new tab). It's excellent — a triumph of professional producing.

Five-part contrapuntal analysis at a later date. (If anyone can locate the 3:30 version of "Vegetables" that includes the cross-fade to the last (fifth) section, please email or Twitter me. I've got the whole post written. Sigh. And thanks.)

I hope you noticed, by the way, that this is an inter-racial trio — in 1959. Courage, folks; and persistence.

GP

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