The 10th Anniversary season of Fitz's Jazz Cafe series at the McCallum Theatre continues with The Manhattan Transfer. With their mix of jazz, pop, be-bop, doo-wop, and swing, the four talented singers from The Manhattan Transfer have been providing first-rate vocal entertainment that has produced 25 albums and won numerous Grammy Awards.
In the early 1970s, Tim Hauser, a former Madison Avenue marketing executive, paid his bills by driving a cab while aspiring to form a harmony vocal quartet. Tim had been in doo-wop groups, folk groups, and even in a short-lived quintet named The Manhattan Transfer, but as the sounds of jazz, R&B, pop, rock 'n roll, salsa and swing poured out of brownstones, Tim dreamt of four-part harmonies without limits. In the fall of 1972, Tim's taxi fare was a young singer named Laurel Masse, who knew of the sole album by his earlier Manhattan Transfer combo and joined his group. A few weeks later, another of Tim's fares invited him to a party where he met Janis Siegel, and before long, she was the third member of the Manhattan Transfer. Laurel's boyfriend, Alan Paul, also joined, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The group released their self-titled debut album in 1975 which produced their first national hit, "Operator." Their next two albums, Coming Out and Pastiche also brought them a string of Top 10 hits. In 1978, Laurel was injured in a car accident and did not rejoin the group. She was replaced by Cheryl Bentyne and the Transfer's second phase began. The first album with the new quartet was Extensions which featured a vocal remake of the classic "Birdland" that earned them their first two Grammy Awards.
In 1981, the Transfer became the first group to win Grammy Awards in both Pop and Jazz categories in the same year. In 1982 and 1983, they won additional Grammys for "Route 66" and ""Why Not!" The praise and success of the Transfer's first seven albums could hardly have prepared them for 12 Grammy nominations in 1985 for Vocalese which became the single greatest Grammy nominated album in one year. The group's next album, Brasil, won yet another Grammy. They closed out the decade by completing a 10 year sweep (1980-1990) as "Best Vocal Group" in both the DownBeat and Playboy jazz polls.
In the 1990s, the group released The Offbeat of Avenues (another Grammy win); The Christmas Album; a children's album The Manhattan Transfer Meets Tubby the Tuba; Tonin', and Swing. Heading into the new millennium, they recorded their tribute to the music of Louis Armstrong, The Spirit of St. Louis; a 2003 live album Couldn't Be Hotter; 2004's Vibrate; An Acapella Christmas; and, in 2006, The Symphony Sessions. The release of The Definitive Pop Collection, a 2-disc retrospective of the group's greatest hits celebrated the 35th anniversary of a group that embraced varied musical styles and created something wholly unique in the field of American popular song
This performance by The Manhattan Transfer, as part of the 10th Anniversary Fitz's Jazz Cafe series at McCallum Theatre, is sponsored by Desert Lexus, Time Warner Cable Media Sales, and KJJZ 102.3-FM.
The Manhattan Transfer will appear at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, on Thursday, March 26 at 8:00pm. Tickets are priced at $85, $65, $55 and $45. -- www.mccallumtheatre.com
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