Swing

A study in the nature of swing, the Transfer have recorded a definitive musical treatise on the topic. Using their voices as instruments-specifically, the horn and reed sections-the group performs material that could be categorized broadly as either urban or rural swing. For example, on A-Ticket, A-Tasket, (featuring Asleep at the Wheel) the instrumentation includes steel guitar and fiddles. Java Jive is performed at a more relaxed tempo and with a warmer feel. Long time Manhattan Transfer collaborator Jon Hendricks stepped up to write lyrics to Jelly Roll Morton's King Porter Stomp and Basie's A Study in Brown. Clouds (music by Django Reinhardt) features a splendid violin solo by Stephane Grappelli and a breathy vocal solo passage that evokes the atmosphere of a smoky Paris nightclub. Wonderful listening.