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The Collegiate Vocal Jazz Ensemble: A Foundational History

by Gregory Amerind

In the beginning, there was Mount Hood. In the tips from the appreciative patrons. “When I was first
fall of 1967 at a relatively new community college in singing, I would forget the words and then make up
Gresham, Oregon, a vocal jazz ensemble was formed ones I thought would fit. I got to the point where I put
for the first time as an accredited college course un- in my own words, and I found out that as long as they
der the direction of a thirty-nine-year-old drummer rhymed, people didn’t know the difference.” He has
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turned music educator named Hal Malcolm. Although described this time in his life in various interviews as
we all love a classic “once upon a time” beginning to the origination of his interest in vocalese.
a tale, this was not a random singularity that popped Vocalese is a term coined by the renowned jazz crit-
into existence without preamble. Vocal groups of this ic and historian Leonard Feather in his description of
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kind had been part of college campus environments the singing done by Hendricks with his partners, Dave
for decades as clubs—usually student-run and always Lambert and Annie Ross. Their recording of a classic
extracurricular. At that time in Gresham, however, the song by the Woody Herman Band called “Four Broth-
stars had aligned to initiate a movement in the colle- ers” with Hendricks’s words garnered the attention
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giate choral community of the Northwest that would and accolades of many in the New York jazz scene.
eventually spread nationwide. A class of professional As Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, they recorded sev-
artists provided the necessary spark of inspiration. At en LPs and performed around the world from 1957 to
the head of that class were Jon Hendricks (b.1921) and 1962, when Ross left the group for a solo career. In
Gene Puerling (1929–2008), two exceptional innova- 1964, Lambert and Hendricks amiably parted compa-
tors who were considered to be the most influential by ny, each pursuing solo careers. Lambert briefly formed
educators and performers within the Vocal Jazz genre. a new group, a quintet called The New Dave Lambert
Most believe that without their innovations, Vocal Jazz Singers; the group auditioned for but failed to get a
as we have come to understand and perform it would contract with RCA. Tragically, Lambert passed away
likely not exist. two years later in an automobile accident, but Hen-
Hendricks and Puerling began their careers at a dricks kept the flame alive. He continued to write and
time when jazz was undergoing a radical change, mov- perform as a soloist and with his wife and daughters,
ing away from the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s spreading his unique gospel of Vocal Jazz. The Man-
to the more urban sounds of bebop, exemplified by in- hattan Transfer and New York Voices, among others,
strumentalists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie “Bird” have recorded his arrangements.
Parker, and Bud Powell. Likewise, Hendricks and Puer- Puerling approached reimagining through the use of
ling concocted their own recipes that gave birth to a alternative rhythmic and harmonic structures. In 1997,
form of arranging popular and jazz standards this au- Puerling described his arranging philosophy simply as
thor calls “reimagining.” Hendricks reimagined songs “taking the basic melody and basic chord structure of
by adding lyrics to instrumental “heads” and impro- the song from the lead sheet, and making something
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vised solos, a technique that would come to be known creative. I like to add color by varying the texture.”
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as vocalese. For Hendricks, this began as a way of earn- One of the ways he varied texture was through the use
ing spending money during his impoverished youth in of what he called “wrong chords” or, more accurately,
Depression-era Toledo, Ohio. He learned all the solos by substituting chords that work with both the melody
and band parts from popular records of the day by re- and the bass line. Puerling took the typical voicings of
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peated listening at the local diner’s jukebox. He would traditional vocal groups and Barbershop style further
sing along with them, note-perfect, when customers by altering the structure of the chords, which result-
would put in their nickels, and his act would earn him ed in a more sophisticated sound. For instance, where
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CHORAL JOURNAL September 2025 Volume 66 Number 2 55