Image follows talent and creates a unique mood whenever and wherever the Manhattan Transfer performs. From the early days of their now 40 years in the business, the quartet’s appearance has oozed New York-style, night-on-the-town class; an image matched flawlessly with their talent for vocal harmony and syncopated rhythm. The mood recalls 1940s big band singing and swinging. This time, the stop is the Kennedy Center Concert Hall Sunday.
“The last time we played D.C. was early in the year,” said the group’s founder, Tim Hauser. “We’re all looking forward to playing the Kennedy Center.”
| Onstage |
| The Manhattan Transfer with John Hendricks |
| Where: Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, NW |
| When: 7 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $20 to $65, 800-444-1324 or 202-467-4600, kennedy-center.org |
The “we” includes himself and fellow crooners, Cheryl Bentyne, Alan Paul and Janis Siegel. A four-piece band traveling along to back them up completes the large sound of another era in musical history.
“Our sound is nostalgic; we’re not trendy,” noted Hauser of his Grammy Award winning quartet. “We’re influenced by traditional American music. We’re old-fashioned [and] stylistically American rooted. And it works.”
It does indeed, as illustrated in one of his favorite songs, “Snowfall,” from “The Christmas Album” that became one of the five best-selling Christmas albums on the Columbia label.
“We’re not songwriters, but some of the ‘vocalese’ we do are interesting jazz instrumentals that were never meant to be sung originally, like Count Basie’s ‘Corner Pocket,'” Hauser continued. “You put words to it so you can tell a story.”
Those words come from the pen of Jon Hendricks, a classic lyricist in the genre. Time magazine has called him “The James Joyce of Jive.” For example, “Birdland,” one of the group’s hallmark pieces, was originally an instrumental by the group, Weather Report, from their album “Heavy Weather.”
“Jon Hendricks wrote the words to every single note that they played and that was our recording,” Hauser said. “It was really the story of the club, Birdland in New York.”
The Kennedy Center show will be an overview of their career according to Hauser, who explains, “There are certain songs in our repertoire that we have to do because people request them.”
He teased there may even be a few pieces from “The Christmas Album.”
“‘Snowfall’ by Claude Thornhill,” he said. “It’s the signature piece of his big band. Look it up on iTunes.”
