Remembering the great Jon Hendricks on his birthday. TIME Magazine called him "James Joyce of jive." First and foremost, he was a storyteller: funny, dexterous with language and erudite. Jon Hendricks could reference practically anything in his lyrics – from the controversy over Shakespeare's identity to the Spanish Civil War – and make them swing. He was the innovator of "Vocalise" and with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, set the standard to so many jazz groups and singers to follow. #JonHendricks

In 1957, Annie Ross, a chic redhead with a cool, tart sound, teamed with Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks to explore a genre known as vocalese — the setting of lyrics to modern jazz solos. The debut album of Lambert, Henricks and Ross; 'Sing a Song of Basie,' the singers overdubbed themselves into a replica of the whole Count Basie orchestra. Ross could lurch into the vocal stratosphere, imitating trumpets and saxophones and tearing through bebop lines with swinging rhythm. The song that made her