Track Listing

1. Stomp of King Porter
2. Sing a Study in Brown
3. Sing Moten's Swing
4. A-Tisket, A-Tasket
5. I Know Why (And So Do You)
6. Sing You Sinners
7. Java Jive
8. Down South Camp Meetin'
9. Topsy
10. Clouds
11. Skyliner
12. It's Good Enought to Keep (Air Mail Special)
13. Choo Choo Ch'Boogie [Live]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80248 in Music
• Released on: 1997-06-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
All of the Manhattan Transfer's albums are laden with nostalgia, but few work as well as a time machine as Swing. This disc collects 13 classics from the swing era, from "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" to "Skyliner." All recall the past with the immediacy of a Burma Shave sign would. The Transfer felt the desire to recruit such talents as Ray Brown, Stephane Grappelli, Asleep at the Wheel, Ricky Skaggs, and Mark O'Connor this time out. The country contributions make these swing classics add interest to these covers, making this a Transfer CD that bears repeated listenings. --Charles R. Cross

Customer Reviews

The real thing, the real swing, it belongs in every home!
Too often vocal groups attempting swing get too cutsy, and tend to emphasize the pop aspects of Swing. This is not that.

This is the vocalese heirs of Lambert Hendricks and Ross blowing hard with their singing on all of these swing tunes as a great vocalese group. They mimick the arrangements, or create their new ones in the ensemble singing here.

If that isn't enough they have not the usual studio groups that accompany them, but a bunch of Swing stars and neoswingers accompanying them. My favorite here is Stephen Grappelli who does some nice work here. No less than Mark O'Conner, the great classical and bluegrass fiddler and composer, and Buddy Emmons join the Transfer for a live cut. It is also interesting that Ricky Scaggs does a lot of the rhythm guitar playing on this CD.

Of course, my friends in Asleep at the Wheel who would be terrific if they presented themselves as a jazz group, add an excitement I adore. On most selections, Asleep at the Wheel provides the basic band along with the Transfer's rhythm section. They also add to the harmony of the Transfer in several places. If you are a deep ASAW fan, you will be happy to know that this CD was made when the great Cindy Cashdollar was still with the band. She does some very nice fills and obligatoes on a number of the slower tunes. Working with the Transfer adds just like working with any good soloist or combo does.

If you are into chord rhythm guitar playing, a sometimes lost and forgotten art, you will delight in the standout work that is done on every cut of this album. Myself, I am thrilled with the work that Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel does on the selections he plays on. In the Wheel he usually ends up having to carry a big burden of both the singing and solo work, or is playing the kind leads and fills that typify Western Swing. Here, on the selections with Asleep at the Wheel, Ray is often the only guitarist, but creates a wonderful solid rhythm that matches what comes on other cuts where there are several guitarists.

The Transfer is not just a group that does a cute trick singing words to Jazz solos, but important improvisers, arrangers and soloists in their own right. They add somethign new musically, not just vocally!

All in all, this is about 500 times more swinging and useful than all the sad, pretentious, unswinging and musically ignorant neoswing that got served up in the 1990s.

This is the real thing, the real swing

....definitely worth the wait!
I've been an enthusiastic fan of the Manhattan Transfer since I first heard them in 1985, and own all but one of their many recordings.

Recently, I stood in line at the fabulous Biltmore Estate for three hours to get a first come, first serve front row center seat for their outdoor show there. Their swinging, happy-go-lucky rendition of "A-Tisket-A-Tasket" from this great CD alone was worth the wait.

That cut, plus the incomparably dreamy "Clouds" with its Stephane Grappelli solo, and smoothly blended teamwork with Asleep At the Wheel on the smokin' "Choo-Choo Ch-Boogie" make this a not-to-be-passed-up CD for any lover of swing. This is simply unmatched harmonious vocals and get-your-body-moving swing.

These Four JUST SING GOOD!
...In this cd, Manhattan transfer continue with a great history of blending voices they began back in 1975--yes, 75! They have a knack of picking songs in which you can hear all the words, and also put in some EMOTION--listen to "I Know Why" on this cd as an example...Yes, the M.T. were 'ahead of their time', swing-music wise,but their songs for the most part are "standards" sung in a new way--from this cd, the song "Topsy" is a great example of what MT is about--they're JAZZ SINGERS,they use their VOICES to emulate the various jazz instruments(clarinet,etc.)and DO IT VERY WELL---They have possibly the best VOICES of any Pop group in the past 30 years--You can't go wrong with this cd if you like vocals and like Jazz...