Tim Hauser, Manhattan Transfer member, RIP

Don't know how I missed this, but thanks Brad for bringing it up.

Assembling a group with this much talent and staying power is herculean. Surely there are a lot of you who don't care a smidge for this stuff (I admit I tire very quickly of their grown-uppy/tux-n'-tails/vo-dee-oh side, always felt their best accomplishments were works done "in the now", even if others felt those dated quickly), but Hauser built a group that did more than fill a niche - they MADE the niche. Those two albums made with Jay Graydon were my favorites for many years, and I appreciated the band's understanding of the difference between nostalgia, and giving listeners a reason to look for something more in those old influences.

Of course the world didn't necessarily get that, and so you see videos trying to replicate film noir; Coke commercials staged in speakeasy-like environments; and TV appearances catering to the donations-for-tote-bags crowd: style over substance.

But nevertheless...what substance.

"A Nightingale Sang In Berkley Square" reminds us of how much we missed the Singers Unlimited...covering Tom Waits' "Foreign Affair", again with Gene Peurling arrangement, shows how much farther they took those influences. Working with Jon (Lambert) Hendricks (and Ross) on those vocalese pieces, was like Tim Burton trusting Michael Keaton to play Batman, and fans seeing a whole different set of tricks in the artists' utility belt. Reprising Tubby The Tuba?! Then, \Brasil? They just couldn't stop thinking outside the box. Then their first album for Columbia, The Offbeat of Avenues, offered a little something of all the best things this band did in every track: an album which on paper, looked like something your grandfather might dig, but in practice would leave him gobsmacked (probably right about the time the whale songs come in...). And with Telarc's Vibrate (in 5.1! ), they're still coloring outside the lines.

At the end of the day...Tim Hauser built that.

I just hope the choir Up There is ready for some sight-reading, because they're gonna have to do a lotta wood-shedding to keep up...

 

Got all of their autographs

I've seen Janis solo


I've seen the group from the late '70's on - five times with a band with and orchestra and..



the last time for me



Manhattan Transfer (Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel, Alan Paul & Cheryl Bentyne)

with their long-time pianist and music director Yaron Gershovsky

The Living Room Sessions: Thursday - May 9, 2013 7:30pm – 10:00pm

The Majestic Theatre – Dallas, Texas

First Set:

Tuxedo Junction- MANHATTAN TRANSFER, LIVE

That Cat Is High – MANHATTAN TRANSFER

Keep On Doing What You’re Doing (1934 Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby - deconstruction – CJAT) - TV

Blue Champaign – MANHATTAN TRANSFER

Let’s Go Slumming On Park Avenue (1937 Irving Berlin) - TV

Foo-Gee ( 1941 Ink Spots) – Tim - RADIO

Chanson d’ Amour – COMING OUT

Rosianna – JUKIN’

San Fernando Valley (1944 Gordon Jenkins - Bing Crosby - TAC) - NPR

Guided Missiles (My Enemy Is You) JUKIN’- Alan

You’re My Heart’s Desire – MANHATTAN TRANSFER, BOP DOO WOP - Cheryl

Operator – MANHATTAN TRANSFER - Janis

Second Set:

Birdland - EXTENSIONS

Nothing You Can Do About It- EXTENSIONS

Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone – EXTENSIONS – Alan and Janis

Corner Pocket (Until I Met You) – MECCA FOR MODERNS

Why Not? (Manhattan Carnival) – BODIES AND SOULS – just Janis and Cheryl

Eldorado Caddy/Killer Joe – VOCALESE - Tim

Nuages (Clouds) - SWING – Cheryl and Alan

Stomp Of King Porter - SWING

Soul Food To Go (Sina) - BRASIL

Route 66 – BOP DOO WOP

Encore:

Java Jive – MANHATTAN TRANSFER, SWING

Concert review: Manhattan Transfer weaves tight harmonies in Dallas


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Brandon Wade/Special Contributor

Tim Hauser (from left), Janis Siegel, Alan Paul and Cheryl Bentyne of the the Manhattan Transfer perform at The Majestic Theatre Thursday.


Mario Tarradell

Music Critic

[email protected]

Published: 10 May 2013 03:08 PM

Updated: 10 May 2013 03:08 PM

Vinyl records are back in vogue, so New York’s Manhattan Transfer took a discography approach to its two-hour concert Thursday night at Majestic Theatre. The jazz-pop vocal quartet consisting of Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, Tim Hauser and Cheryl Bentyne, accompanied by their piano-playing musical director Yaron Gershovsky, brought with them an array of LP covers tracing the first half of a long recording career.

They were like placards, tools for show-and-tell that Transfer members used to take the audience to a certain period in its artistic history. Sometimes a quick embellishment to their stage clothes was in order. That was easily done with the help of a well-stocked wardrobe rack. Mostly it was about setting a storytelling mood and offering a song to go with it. A quick look at the 1975 self-titled album, not to mention the donning of tails, furs and ankle-length skirts, led them to “Blue Champagne,” a spectacular vocal piece that quickly showcased the Transfer’s harmonies.

When it comes to vocal power, the Manhattan Transfer set the bar. Soprano, alto, tenor and bass come together to create a smooth, thick and rich concoction that’s both refreshing and riveting. They can sing jazz, pop, R&B and world beat music. Once the harmonies kick in, they are so tightly wound that even a bulldozer couldn’t bust through.

Paul, Siegel, Hauser and Bentyne, the solid Transfer lineup since Bentyne replaced Laurel Massé for 1979’sExtensions, complement one another as a long-running, well-oiled creative entity should. When one has a showstopping solo turn, such as Bentyne did during “Heart’s Desire” or Siegel during “Operator,” the rest rally around the spotlight. Ultimately the applause is for all of them.

Gems such as “Route 66,” “Birdland,” “Nothin’ You Can Do About It” and the exquisite “Chanson D’Amour” got full-passion love from the appreciative crowd. “Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone,” the group’s quirky fun homage to the famed TV series’ theme, was completely cool. The Grammy-winning “Soul Food to Go” was stunning, as was the encore tune, “Java Jive.”

I was surprised that the Transfer skipped “The Boy From New York City,” given that it is the group’s biggest pop hit and they were certainly flaunting its accompanying Mecca for Moderns album cover on the platform. In the Manhattan Transfer vinyl records listening party, that one’s a must-have classic.

 

I never gave them much attention in their day, but I have grown to appreciate them due to my daughters singing group who is covering some of their material. Some of it is very complex stuff.

 

is this the future?

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… TRIST CURLESS!
Posted on November 1, 2013 by The Manhattan Transfer



TMT NEWS – The Manhattan Transfer’s Tim Hauser will be at home until the new year, in order to fully recover from a recent spinal surgery. We’re sending lots of love and healing thoughts Tim’s way. For the next couple of months we are pleased to share the stage with another remarkably talented bass, Trist Curless…



Trist Ethan Curless – A native of Cheyenne, WY, Trist is no stranger to vocal harmonies! He attended the University of Northern Colorado, majoring in music education. In 1995, he co-founded the pop-jazz vocal groupm-pact, with which Trist has performed in festivals and concert halls around the world. He’s also written, arranged and produced many of the group’s songs. www.m-pact.com

Trist can be found on the other side of the microphone as well, working as an audio engineer for several vocal groups and bands, including Straight No Chaser andTake 6.

When he’s not performing and mixing, Trist also finds time to teach private voice and participate as a clinician and adjudicator in clinics and festivals worldwide.

Trist is having the time of his life making music with m-pact, Straight No Chaser, Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, New York Voices, Vox Audio, VoicePlay, and now The Manhattan Transfer!

 

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2014/10/19/manhattan-transfers-tim-hauser-10-essential-performances/

 

Tim Hauser, founder of vocal group Manhattan Transfer, dies at 72

By Matt Schudel, Washington Post
Posted Oct. 19, 2014, at 6:08 p.m.


Tim Hauser, the founder and guiding force behind the Manhattan Transfer, a Grammy-winning pop-jazz vocal group that enjoyed decades of worldwide acclaim, died Oct. 16 at a hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania. He was 72.

His death was confirmed by Dan Rahilly of Ed Keane Associates, Hauser’s management agency. The cause was variously reported as cardiac arrest or complications from pneumonia.

Hauser, a one-time advertising and marketing executive, formed the Manhattan Transfer in 1972 as a modern-day throwback to the intricate vocal harmonies of an earlier era. With few changes in personnel and none since 1979, the two men and two women of Manhattan Transfer became one of the most successful and enduring vocal groups in history, recording more than 20 albums and winning 10 Grammy Awards.

The quartet became known for its supple harmonies and smooth stage style, but the choreographed dance moves and flashy costumes always took a back seat to the vocal arrangements that featured Janis Siegel, Cheryl Bentyne, Alan Paul and Hauser.

“We never started out with one lead singer,” Hauser told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. “Everybody gets their shot. We understand that if everybody’s not happy, it’s not going to work.”

As the group’s leader, Hauser drew from a deep and diverse musical well. The Four Freshmen and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, two jazz vocal groups of the 1950s, were important forerunners, but Manhattan Transfer also borrowed from the World War II harmonies of the Andrews Sisters, the doo-wop trend of the 1950s and the girl-group sound of the ’60s.

Hauser developed the concept for the group as a college student at Villanova University outside Philadelphia, he told The Washington Post in 1986. He told one of his music professors he wanted two men and two women singing complex, interweaving parts.

“He said, ‘Well, what you’re basically talking about is two tenor and two alto saxophones, singing in close harmony — that’s the Count Basie sax section,” Hauser recalled.

In 1981, the Manhattan Transfer became the first group ever to win Grammy Awards for best pop vocal (for “The Boy From New York City,” the group’s biggest hit) and best jazz vocal (for a version of “Corner Pocket,” first performed in the 1950s by the Count Basie Orchestra).

The Transfer’s 1985 album, “Vocalese,” which put words to 11 instrumental jazz numbers, received 12 Grammy nominations — second only to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for the most in history.

Critic Geoffrey Himes praised Manhattan Transfer’s “precision harmonies and playful irreverence” in The Post in 1995, but others were not always as kind. One of the group’s better-known tunes, a 1979 vocal version of Weather Report’s “Birdland,” was seen by detractors as emblematic of the jazz-fusion excesses of the 1970s. Nonetheless, Manhattan Transfer was considered the pre-eminent vocal group in jazz for decades, repeatedly winning polls and other honors.

“At this point in our lives, what else are we going to do?” Hauser said in 1991. “When you do something and people say you’re one of the best at it, it’s too late to change your mind and say, ‘I want to be sales executive.’”

Timothy DuPron Hauser was born Dec. 12, 1941, in Troy, New York, and went to high school in Belmar, New Jersey.

In a 2012 interview with the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey, he recalled sitting in on a rehearsal in 1956 with the popular doo-wop group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

“They sang ‘I Promise to Remember,’ a cappella,” Hauser said. “I swear that was my turning point. That was God’s way of saying, ‘Here’s your gig, son, and if you don’t get it, it’s not my fault.’”

Hauser formed his first band at 15 years old and sang in various groups through college, before graduating from Villanova in 1963. He later worked for a New York advertising agency and for the Nabisco food conglomerate before forming the first incarnation of Manhattan Transfer — named for a novel by John Dos Passos — in 1969.

After that group broke up, Hauser was driving a taxi when he met singer Laurel Masse. She introduced him to Siegel, and they later invited Paul to complete the quartet. Masse left the group in the late 1970s and was replaced by Bentyne.

Hauser lived in Southern California since the late 1970s. He occasionally produced albums for other performers and also marketed a line of tomato sauces.

Survivors include his third wife, Barb Sennet Hauser; two children; and a sister.

With its eclectic blend of styles, the Transfer was an exotic musical flower in its early years, playing at small New York clubs and underground venues.

“Salvador Dali came to see us,” Hauser told the Idaho Statesman in 2005. “And Rex Harrison. I remember when Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson were sitting in the front, both wearing dark glasses. Faye Dunaway came into our dressing room by mistake — she was looking for the ladies’ room — and we wouldn’t let her leave.”

 

I saw them do this tune with the Count Basie band, and it blew the doors off!

 

I love Janis Siegel. She's my favorite member of The Manhattan Transfer.

 

I just saw the Manhattan Transfer live in concert last night. They put on a very nice show with a lot of tributes to Tim. I really enjoyed the show.

 

Who was the substitute for Tim?

 

https://www.facebook.com/tristethan

 

It was Trist Ethan, and he has been touring with the Manhattan Transfer for a little while. He did a great job and it was a great show.

 

What tributes did they do?

 

I am sorry, I can't really tell you the specific songs. Each member of the band had a spotlight moment, when all of the other band members would leave the stage, and they would tell a little story about Tim and play a song that was special to them and Tim. There were a lot of emotions on stage last night.

 

I wish I was there. I would've loved to hear Boy From New York City.