Was the Manhattan Transfer ever cool?

[progmom]

Or were they always kind of dorky?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Definitely dorky

but good :D

[progmom]

3. should i refrain from revealing

that i idolized them as a teenager?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Not at all...I love em

[progmom]

12. one of them even sang at my wedding

i'm glad you don't think less of me! :loveya:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. Janis?

[progmom]

14. yup.

She has become a good friend.

on edit - here's some pics of her with my kid last fall...

[RevolutionaryActs]

22. awww progspawn is too flipping cute!!

:)

[progmom]

29. thanks!

:D

[bertha katzenengel]

42. LOL Progspawn

:rofl: Excellent!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

47. I went to bed before I saw this

GOD I ADORE HE!!! that's so cooool and the progspawn is SOOOOOOO cute!

[progmom]

48. gotta tell you...

she is a really cool person, and has always been very kind to me. so much of the development of my musical tastes has come with her guidance. for years she sent me mix tapes - all kinds of music - jazz, soul, brazilian, kooky & bizarre stuff, singers etc, or she would have me over to her place to listen to hop records and drink wine. i'm not sure i know a hipper and kinder person than Janis.

[mark414]

23. first hanson; now this?

i am beginning to lose faith in you progmom...x(

B-)

[RevolutionaryActs]

24. Hanson?

She liked Hanson? :wtf:

[progmom]

25. i gave props to hanson for a well-crafted pop song

i'm a music connoisseur, not a music snob. :P

[mark414]

26. no excuses

:mad:

and now if you'll excuse me, i have other people's tastes to belittle

:P

[RevolutionaryActs]

30. Mmmbop, *random noises* mmmbop.

Yes, brilliant. :silly:

Actually the lyrics are kind of sad.

You have so many relationships in this life
Only one or two will last
You're going through all this pain and strife
Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast
And they're gone so fast
So hold on the ones who really care
In the end they'll be the only ones there
When you get old and start losing your hair
Can you tell me who will still care
Can you tell me who will still care

Refrain:

Mmm bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du

Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a rose
You can plant any one of those
Keep planting to find out which one grows
It's a secret no one knows
It's a secret no one knows

In an mm bop they're gone, in an mmm bop they're not there
In an mm bop they're gone, in an mmm bop they're not there
Until you lose your hair
But you don't care

Refrain

Can you tell me? You say you can but you don't know
Can you tell me which flower's going to grow?
Can you tell me if it's going to be a daisy or a rose?

Can you tell me which flower's going to grow?
Can you tell me? You say you can but you don't know

[progmom]

27. don't lose faith, grasshopper

my youthful love for manhattan transfer is what made me the mondo jazz fan that i am today.

and my friendship with one of their members has lead me to many many great music discoveries.

[mark414]

31. aw i can't stay mad at you

how could i not like anyone who still gets chills everytime they hear 'pt. 1 acknowledgement'?

[progmom]

39. yay!

Not just goosebumps. I can't drive while listening to that...I always close my eyes to appreciate the beauty of the tune.

[pinto]

2. LOL, totally dorky, but great voices.

[Wapsie B]

4. Costumes, kinda dorky.

But singing is off the hook.

[RevolutionaryActs]

5. *ahem* Dorkette... are you really one to talk about being dorky?

[progmom]

6. yes.

Kind of like it's ok for Catholics to talk about Catholics. Dig?

[RevolutionaryActs]

8. Ahh, I get it!

:crazy:

[LoZoccolo]

7. Ugh.

Reminds me of high school, when I was in the musicals (it was easy to get in if you were a guy), and there'd be those people who were really into being in the musical and they'd have voice lessons and stuff.

I should go back some. My dad actually suggested before the musical my freshman year that I sign up as a stage hand, as he did in high school, because it was funny to watch peoples' egos fly up on opening night. I did and had a lot of fun, and saw some of that too. So like, the Mannhattan Transfer reminds me of the people and their egos, because they'd be all into stuff like that.

But yeah, after the second year of working backstage, a friend who was onstage convinced me to be as well, and I'd do like little bit parts and chorus parts for singing. So I still kinda got to sit back and watch the egos.

[progmom]

9. I wasn't much into a lot of the theater people

But I was one of those kids who took voice lessons. I adored Manhattan Transfer and (ack) wanted to be just like them. :blush:

[LoZoccolo]

11. We actually pulled off good musicals, really.

I remember one year we did Bye Bye Birdie, and some other high school was doing it too so we went and saw theirs and it sucked so bad it made us feel good. We had this strict director and she would do all this drama queen stuff and start crying and yelling and stuff, but by the end we'd be so disciplined it came off real well, plus we had talented people. But it was funny watching people talk about themselves, or like, talk about each other, which would promote a general atmosphere of people complimenting each other and thus would therefore bring compliments back to them.

[progmom]

15. you get more and more interesting as we go along

:hi:

[Tom Kitten]

16. Remember "Mary's Incredible Dream"?

It was a weird tv special I saw once when i was a kid, it was a Mary Tyler Moore special and the Manhattan Transfer did all the music...

Other than that, I have to say jazz accapella is an acquired taste but I happen to like the better stuff I've heard...

[progmom]

17. i've seen references to it, but never saw it

It sounded like a really trippy show!

Most of what the Transfer does is not a capella, btw.

[Tom Kitten]

20. ok...vocal harmonies then...

I was never a very good jazz dj because I wanted to rock out, silly me!

I remember my first jazz show on KBOO, following Don Manning (I suppose he's kind of a be bob legend), I happened to say I liked seeing Ornette Coleman in concert a few weeks before, he berated me so much about it I honestly felt like walking out of the station, telling me I needed to learn how to get a bullshit detector...The program director had to separate us!

[progmom]

21. well that's ridiculous

Ornette rocks. I don't know who DOn Manning is, but he sounds like an asshole.

[Tom Kitten]

28. jeez you're quick in your response

the guys is like 80 years old now but has had a program every Wednesday from noon to 2 on KBOO since the early 80s...To him it's all Bird, Diz, Bud, Monk, Swing is OK but anything later is awful unless it worships the flatted fifth...

I mean he is very much admired but he has tunnel vision, musical progress ended for him in the mid fifties.

[Robeson]

18. I remember seeing them on either Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, or....

...The Midnight Special back in the 70's. They were thought of as kind of avant garde, in a Cabaret kind of way, back then.

[progmom]

19. that's cool

I started listening to them as a 9 yr-old in 1981...so I was not aware of how they were perceived until they were way past cool.

[Hissyspit]

32. Someone had to sing the vocal version of 'Birdland'

They were always intended to be kind of dorky.

[GalleryGod]

33. Saw them at the Keswick Theatre! Still good, IMHO

:popcorn: but that's me, of ocurse:spray:

[progmom]

34. recently?

:hi:

[bertha katzenengel]

35. Don't look, and only listen: HELL YES.

For a vocalist, anyway. :hi:

[progmom]

37. honestly? it was a silly question.

I've been a fan since I was 9 years old. :blush: Just trying to discern how much of a dork I really am.

[bertha katzenengel]

38. You're not a dork. MT rock, they really do.

And obviously I didn't realize it was a silly question. :eyes: at self

[progmom]

40. look up in the thread

there's a pic of Janis Siegel - one of the members of the group, and a good friend of mine - with my kid.

[Huckebein the Raven]

36. Not familiar with them

:shrug:

[Blue-Jay]

41. Meh. They added WORDS to "Birdland".

As well as a bunch of other of my favorite jazz standards. It ain't natural, I tells ya.

[CO Liberal]

43. They've Always Sung Incredibly Well

I have their "Swing" CD, which they recorded with many Nashville musicians, including Ricky Skaggs. Excellent.

[terrya]

44. They always were.

I saw the Manhattan Transfer perform in my hometown of Decatur, Illinois in the early 80's. The show was fabulous...great theatrical show. They have the best vocal harmonizing. And consistently nice choices in tunes. :-)

[bbernardini]

45. Their "Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square" is PERFECT.

Visually, they've always been a bit dorky, yes. Vocally, no. Their arrangement and performance of "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square" makes me want to weep with joy every time I hear it. One of the most beautiful things ever to exist in the history of the universe.

[tigereye]

46. yes that is beautiful

I think there is much more to them than their image. Very talented. And for some reason, they make me think of The Bobs. That's where my mind went next..... nothing like musical free association.

[mcscajun]

49. I'll drink to that!

Amazing stuff.

and I don't care that they added words to Birdland. Doesn't impair the outstanding classic instrumental versions; it's just another interpretation, is all.

Their clothes may have been dorky, they may have been dorky offstage in real life, but damn! They can sing.

[progmom]

50. initially, the clothes were supposed to be dorky

It was all part of their ironic nostalgia revival schtick.
And personally? Most of them aren't dorky offstage. :D

[mcscajun]

54. Good. Glad to hear they're cool off the stage.

:)

[Beaverhausen]

51. NO WAY!! They are and always have been awesome

Their vocal version of Weather Report's Birdland is so fucking KILLER!!!

They are great. They did have some stupid hits but man, do they deliver live!!!

[progmom]

57. I'm glad I'm not the only one

Starting to feel less dorky... :hi:

[MadHound]

52. Love Manhattan Transfer

I think that one of the reasons they went so big is that there was a mini resurgence of Big Band/Swing Jazz Age style and taste in the late '70s, early 80s that fit their style perfectly. Nothing like cruising the clubs in a zoot suit;)

Hey progmom, if you're into jazz vocals, etc, I've got a group for you to check out. They're from Cuba, called Vocal Sampling. Everything they do, rhythm, instruments, etc is a cappela. Very very cool stuff. Check it out sometime. <http://www.putmeon2.com/artists/vocalsampling/index.asp>

[progmom]

55. I love Vocal Sampling

Janis Siegel from Manhattan Transfer turned me on to them about 10 years ago. They rock!

[MissMillie]

53. If they're cool to you then they're cool

who cares what anyone else thinks?

[progmom]

56. thanks, Miss Millie

They've always been the musical skeleton in my closet. My jazz geek friends tease me about it. x(