The Four Freshmen - Love Songs

Released: 2012
Size: 80,0 MB
Time: 34:43
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Styles: Vocal Jazz Quartet,Easy Listening
Art: Big front

01. Stardust [3:36]
02. Body And Soul [4:11]
03. Only Trust Your Heart [3:08]
04. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me [2:41]
05. As Long As I'm Dreaming [3:29]
06. Plenty Of Money And You [2:39]
07. These Foolish Things [3:59]
08. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square [3:25]
09. On The Street Where You Live [4:29]
10. I Love You [3:03]

The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires (Glenn Miller), The Pied Pipers (Tommy Dorsey), and The Mel-Tones (Artie Shaw), founded in the barbershop tradition. The Four Freshmen is considered a vocal band because the singers accompany themselves on guitar, horns, bass, and drums, among other instrumental configurations.The last original member retired in 1993, but the group still tours internationally to sold-out audiences and has recorded jazz harmonies since its late '40s founding in the halls of the Jordan School of Music at Butler University (Indianapolis).

In early 1948, brothers Ross and Don Barbour, then at Butler University's Arthur Jordan Conservatory in Indianapolis, Indiana, formed a barbershop quartet called Hal's Harmonizers. The Harmonizers also included Marvin Pruitt — soon replaced by Ross and Don's cousin Bob Flanigan — and Hal Kratzsch (1925–70), replaced in 1953 by Ken Errair. The quartet soon adopted a more jazz-oriented repertoire and renamed itself the Toppers. At first, they were influenced by Glenn Miller's The Modernaires and Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones, but soon developed their own style of improvised vocal harmony. In September 1948, the quartet went on the road as The Four Freshmen, and soon drew the admiration of jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman.In 1950, The Four Freshmen got a break when band leader Stan Kenton heard the quartet in Dayton, Ohio, and arranged for an audition with his label, Capitol Records, which signed The Four later that year. In 1952, they released their first hit single "It's a Blue World". Further hits included "Mood Indigo" in 1954, "Day by Day" in 1955, and "Graduation Day" in 1956.The Four Freshmen won Best Vocal Group of the Year in Down Beat magazine's Readers' Polls in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 2000, and 2001.

The Four Freshmen were nominated in the Grammy Vocal Group Performance category in 1958 for "The Four Freshmen in Person" (Capitol), 1961 for "Voices in Fun" (Capitol), 1962 for "The Swingers" (Capitol), 1964 for "More Four Freshmen and Five Trombones" (Capitol), and in 1986 for "Fresh!" (Pausa).Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, The Four Freshmen released a number of recordings, made film and television appearances, and performed in concert. The group eventually lost their mainstream following with the advent of the British pop bands of the 1960s. The group did not disband, however, even after the last original member, Bob Flanigan, retired in 1993. After his retirement Flanigan managed the group and owned the rights to The Four Freshmen name. He died on May 15, 2011 at the age of 84 from congestive heart failure. Ross Barbour died on August 20, 2011 from cancer at the age of 82.During its 65-year history, The Four Freshmen had twenty-three different line-ups and twenty-four different members !! The 2013 Four Freshmen lineup of Brian Eichenberger (lead, bass, arranger), Stein Malvey (second voice, guitar), Curtis Calderon (third voice, trumpet, flugelhorn), and Bob Ferreira (fourth voice, drummer, soloist) was first established in 2013. They perform at upwards of 100 bookings a year.The Four Freshmen have been honored with the following designations: JazzTimes magazine's Readers Poll Best Vocal Group (multiple wins), Down Beat magazine's Readers Poll Best Vocal Group (multiple wins), and Down Beat magazine's Readers Poll Hall of Fame finals (multiple years).

Line-Up:
Brian Eichenberger: Guitar,Lead Vocals,Arranger
Vince Johnson: Upright Bass,2nd Voice
Curtis Calderon: Trumpet,Flugelhorn,3rd voice
Bob Ferreira: Drums,4th voice

Love Songs

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The Four Freshmen - Live At The Franklin Theatre

Size: 96,2 MB
Time: 40:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front & Back

01. Route 66 (3:20)
02. Poinciana (3:07)
03. Pick Up Your Tears (And Go Home) (2:13)
04. Now You Know (3:22)
05. Cold Cold Heart (2:45)
06. There Will Never Be Another You (3:23)
07. The Day Isn't Long Enough (3:03)
08. Day By Day (2:04)
09. In This Whole Wide World (2:44)
10. Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (4:28)
11. It's A Blue World (3:17)
12. Charmaine (2:34)
13. Give Me The Simple Life (2:04)
14. Graduation Day (2:18)

Personnel:
Brian Eichenberger
Stein Malvey
Curtis Calderon
Bob Ferreira

The Four Freshmen long tradition of 65 years continues into the 2014 performance season with a change in the group line-up.

After 13 years with America’s most enduring vocal group Vince Johnson has been called to pursue other musical interests. Johnson, well known for his overall musicality , talented bass playing, rounding out the third part in the vocal harmony, and most noted for his skillful whistling solos, will be missed.

Johnson has a Bachelors of Music in Performance from California State University, Long Beach, as well as a Masters of Music in Jazz Studies from the prestigious University of Southern California.

Succeeding Johnson will be Stein Malvey. Malvey has performed, toured, and recorded all over the U.S. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, and has been an integral part of the music scenes in both Minneapolis and New York City.

The Four Freshmen enter a new season of performance with their unique brand of vocal pop harmonies looking forward to continuing the legacy of headlining concerts around the globe. The Four Freshmen eagerly anticipate Malvey’s voice and guitar stylings.

The Four Freshmen remain the Acclaimed Masters of Harmony. As the Wall Street Journal proclaims, “Long live The Four Freshmen may they never graduate.”

Live At The Franklin Theatre

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The Four Freshmen - Return To Romance

Styles: Jazz, Crossover Jazz
Year: 1971
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 27:45
Size: 64,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:06) 1. Poinciana
(2:52) 2. Fools Rush In
(2:39) 3. In This Whole Wide World
(2:06) 4. Graduation Day
(1:55) 5. Day By Day
(3:09) 6. It's A Blue World
(3:00) 7. Angel Eyes
(3:41) 8. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
(2:58) 9. We'll Be Together Again
(2:14) 10. Candy

The Four Freshmen were one of the top vocal groups of the 1950s, and formed the bridge between '40s ensembles like the Mel-Tones and harmony-based rock & roll bands such as the Beach Boys as well as groups like Spanky & Our Gang and the Manhattan Transfer. The group's roots go back to the end of the 1940s and a barbershop quartet-influenced outfit called Hal's Harmonizers, organized at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Butler University in Indiana by two brothers, Ross and Don Barbour. Their repertoire centered on standards such as "Moonglow" and "The Christmas Song," and they began to show an unusually free, improvisational approach to their harmony singing. A couple of membership changes brought Bob Flanigan, a cousin, into the fold alongside Hal Kratzsch, and suddenly the Four Freshmen were assembled in all but name, and that fell into place a little later.

The group struggled for a long time, living hand-to-mouth while building a repertoire and a sound many people who've heard the group's records or are familiar with their sound are unaware that they were also completely self-contained instrumentally, each member playing more than one instrument and allowing the others to switch off to different roles. They came to attention of various jazz figures of the era, including Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton, and it was Kenton who took matters into his own hands, bringing the group to the attention of Capitol Records, where the bandleader had a longstanding relationship. Thus began a long and fruitful relationship with the label, initially under the guidance of arranger Pete Rugolo gigs followed on The Steve Allen Show (then one of the top-rated entertainment showcases on television) and with Ray Anthony's band; they also managed to make an appearance in the MGM movie Rich, Young and Pretty.

Their first hit single was "It's a Blue World," released in 1952, and they enjoyed further success with "Mood Indigo" (1954), "Day By Day" (1955), and "Graduation Day" (1956). They released their first LP, Voices in Modern, in 1955 (and some dozen more 12" discs over the next five years); that album was as impressive a jazz document as it was a vocal pop effort, showcasing the group members' playing as well as their singing and showing that these guys had lots of complex musical strings in their bow. It was on these albums that the quartet also showed itself to be a very smart outfit, not just in musical terms but logistically as well. Rather than simply doing any 12 songs that might have been working well in its stage act, the group made these releases into conceptual works, either musically (built around the sounds achieved by combinations of the group's sound and specific accompaniments, such as Four Freshmen and 5 Trombones, Four Freshmen and Five Guitars, etc.) or as thematic arrays of songs (such as Voices in Love and Voices in Latin).

This approach to devising and creating albums (which paralleled the kind of work that Frank Sinatra was doing concurrently on the same label) would have an influence on groups like the Beach Boys that was nearly as important as their harmony sound; it's also an important reason why, in combination with their virtuosity, their albums have held up so well across 40 years. Their sound and range were helped by the fact that their benefactor, Kenton, was on the same label, which made it possible for them to record together on occasion. Most of their late-'50s albums were good sellers most have been reissued several times on vinyl and CD and they had no shortage of top bookings and top pay to keep them going into the early '60s.

There were membership changes along the way Kratzsch left in the spring of 1953, to be replaced by Ken Errair who, in turn, was succeeded by Ken Albers in April of 1956, while Don Barbour left in 1960, replaced by Bill Comstock. That lineup lasted intact for nearly 13 years, into the 1970s, but by that time the group's influence had faded to almost nothing. The Four Freshmen had managed to stay competitive with other pop acts through the mid-'60s, and even got a very visible boost from the Beach Boys, in the form of Brian Wilson's frequent expressions of admiration for the quartet as part of his inspiration behind putting together the rock & roll group's sound, but following the arrival of the British Invasion, they were no longer anywhere near the cutting edge of pop music. They continued to record and perform, even assimilating such contemporary songs as Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," but they were effectively relegated to the "easy listening" stations. Their contract with Capitol ended in 1964, and the group's last affiliation with a major label was in the second half of the decade with Liberty Records, which yielded four LPs but no hits. By 1977, Bob Flanigan was the last original member, and he retired in 1992. Flanigan died of heart failure at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 15, 2011 and cousin Ross Barbour, the last of the original Four Freshmen, died of lung cancer in Simi Valley, California three months later, on August 20, 2011.

New lineups of the group (including the latter-day quartet of Brian Eichenberger, Curtis Calderon, Bob Ferreira, and Vince Johnson) have continued to perform into the second decade of the 21st century, however, and have been considered an artistically valid ensemble. (In 2000 the Four Freshmen were voted Vocal Group of the Year by Down Beat magazine's readers.) And in 2001, no less a label than Mosaic Records the company that issues complete catalogs of jazz legends going back to the 1930s, in deluxe packaging released a multi-CD box of the Four Freshmen's complete 1950s recordings, proudly (and even defiantly, given the label's catalog) proclaiming the quartet's validity as a jazz outfit. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-four-freshmen/530730

Return To Romance

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The Four Freshmen - Four Freshmen and Friends

Styles: Jazz, Crossover Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:38
Size: 84,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:48) 1. Avalon
(5:19) 2. Moonglow
(2:06) 3. Central Park West
(7:17) 4. Don't Be That Way
(5:10) 5. Stompin' At the Savoy
(2:59) 6. Here's That Rainy Day
(5:12) 7. So Danco Samba
(2:44) 8. It's a Blue World

In 1948, four young men created a sound that forever changed the way vocal jazz harmony was heard and performed. Known as The Four Freshmen, the group started with two brothers, Don and Ross Barbour, their cousin Bob Flanigan, and friend Hal Kratzsch. With a soaring, true tenor in Bob Flanigan, the group created a sound that has endured for over 6 decades. Hal Kratzsch sang the bass part and played trumpet. He sang the bass part with a big sound, laying the foundation for the Barbour brothers to add their beautiful inner part stylings. Ross sang the 3rd part and played drums. Don sang the 2nd part and played guitar. Thus, the original Four Freshmen was born and began touring, playing bowling alleys and small clubs across the country.

Early on in their career, the Freshmen met Stan Kenton. He had heard the rumors of a vocal group that sounded like his band. The Freshmen were all fans of Kenton and in many ways, modeled their sound after the Kenton trombone section. Once Kenton heard them, he was hooked. He loved the group and believed in them so much that he approached Capitol and essentially got the Freshmen signed in 1950. This led to a fruitful partnership between Capitol Records and the Freshmen for over 10 years. During the Capitol years, the Freshmen had some of their biggest hits, including their first hit with Capitol called "It's A Blue World." https://fourfreshmen.com/history

Personel:Tommy Boynton - Lead voice; Stein Malvey - 2nd voice; Curtis Calderon - 3rd voice + Trumpet; Bob Ferreira - bass voice; Ken Peplowski - Clarinet; Chuck Redd - Vibes;Ron Eschete - Guitar; Katie Theroux - Bass; Butch Miles - Drums.

Four Freshmen and Friends

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Various - Capitol Sings Johnny Mercer

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:03
Size: 162.7 MB
Styles: Vocal, Easy Listening
Year: 1991
Art: Front

[3:17] 1. Ella Mae Morse - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
[3:11] 2. Martha Tilton - And The Angels Sing
[2:49] 3. Gordon MacRae - Autumn Leaves
[3:12] 4. Jo Stafford - Blues In The Night
[1:53] 5. Blossom Dearie - Charade
[3:40] 6. Judy Garland - Come Rain Or Come Shine
[2:22] 7. Nat King Cole - Day In-Day Out
[3:16] 8. Matt Monro - Days Of Wine And Roses
[2:47] 9. The Pied Pipers - Dream
[2:32] 10. Benny Goodman - Goody Goody
[2:52] 11. Johnny Mercer - Glow Worm
[2:55] 12. The Four Freshmen - I Thought About You
[2:49] 13. Dinah Shore - I'm Old Fashioned
[2:57] 14. Dean Martin - In The Cool Cool Cool Of The Evening
[2:16] 15. Stan Kenton & His Orchestra - Jeepers Creepers
[2:22] 16. Vic Damone - Laura
[3:26] 17. Lena Horne - Moon River
[3:03] 18. Johnny Mercer - On The Atchison, Topeka & The Sante Fe
[4:13] 19. Harold Arlen - One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
[2:58] 20. Kay Starr - P.S. I Love You
[2:21] 21. Nancy Wilson - Satin Doll
[4:00] 22. Hoagy Carmichael - Skylark
[2:54] 23. Keely Smith - That Old Black Magic
[2:47] 24. Andy Russell - Too Marvelous For Words

Singer/songwriter Johnny Mercer was one of the founders of Capitol Records in the early '40s, so it's appropriate that he rates his own volume in the label's various-artists songbook compilation series of the 1990s (one that has already had discs devoted to Cole Porter and George Gershwin). As a lyricist working over a long career, Mercer provides a varied range of material for inclusion. This is a man who was setting words to 1930s swing hits like "And the Angels Sing," "Goody Goody," and "Satin Doll," and was still going strong in the 1960s, when he was writing movie themes like "Moon River" and "The Days of Wine and Roses" with Henry Mancini. In between, there were standards of the ‘40s such as "Blues in the Night" and "That Old Black Magic," and ‘50s favorites like "Autumn Leaves" and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening." Capitol was devoted to singers, which allowed it to take advantage of the post-swing era of the late ‘40s and ‘50s when singers ruled. Tops among them was Frank Sinatra, a Capitol artist, who apparently didn't allow his recordings to be compiled on this sort of collection. But many other important singers are included, among them Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Dinah Shore, and Dean Martin. And Mercer himself pops in several times, as do a couple of his composer collaborators, Harold Arlen and Hoagy Carmichael. Although Mercer has an identifiable writing style, full of a self-invented Southern slang ("swingeroonie!," "my huckleberry friend"), his teaming with different sorts of composers allows for many different musical styles on this disc, making it one of the rangier volumes in the series. ~William Ruhlmann

Capitol Sings Johnny Mercer

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Various - Capitol Sings Harry Warren

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:33
Size: 127.2 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Vocal
Year: 1995
Art: Front

[2:49] 1. Nat King Cole - I Found A Million Dollar Baby (In A Five And Ten Cent Store)
[2:36] 2. Ray Anthony & His Orchestra - Chattanooga Choo Choo
[2:53] 3. Bobby Darin - You'll Never Know
[2:22] 4. Dakota Staton - September In The Rain
[2:39] 5. Helen Forrest - I Had The Craziest Dream
[3:07] 6. The Four Freshmen - Lulu's Back In Town
[3:09] 7. Ethel Ennis - Serenade In Blue
[2:59] 8. Chet Baker - There Will Never Be Another You
[2:12] 9. Nancy Wilson - The More I See You
[3:10] 10. Nat King Cole Trio - I'll String Along With You
[3:02] 11. Al Belletto - Jeepers Creepers
[2:56] 12. Ann Richards - Lullaby Of Broadway
[3:01] 13. Time-Life Orchestra - At Last
[2:09] 14. June Christy - I Know Why (And So Do You)
[1:32] 15. Count Basie - With Plenty Of Money And You
[3:35] 16. Dinah Shore - I Only Have Eyes For You
[2:26] 17. The Four Freshmen - On The Atchison, Topeka & The Santa Fe
[2:41] 18. Peggy Lee - You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me
[3:00] 19. Nat King Cole - An Affair To Remember
[3:06] 20. Dean Martin - That's Amore

If this era and genre of music is your taste then you will love this collection. The various singers add a wonderful blend of variety and the orchestrations are time capsules of a day long gone by. (Sad). But this music will bring you back and make you appreciate popular music again. ~Aurexia

Capitol Sings Harry Warren

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The Four Freshmen - First Affair

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:28
Size: 76.6 MB
Styles: Jazz/pop harmony vocals
Year: 1960/2011
Art: Front

[2:57] 1. Please Be Kind
[2:02] 2. I Hadn't Anyone Till You
[3:02] 3. At Last
[2:38] 4. I Didn't Know About You
[4:04] 5. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
[2:38] 6. I'm Beginning To See The Light
[2:29] 7. Long Ago
[2:54] 8. I've Never Been In Love Before
[2:38] 9. Be Careful It's My Heart
[3:02] 10. It's A New World
[2:17] 11. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
[2:42] 12. First Affair

The Four Freshmen were one of the top vocal groups of the 1950s, and formed the bridge between '40s ensembles like the Mel-Tones and harmony-based rock & roll bands such as the Beach Boys as well as groups like Spanky & Our Gang and the Manhattan Transfer. The group's roots go back to the end of the 1940s and a barbershop quartet-influenced outfit called Hal's Harmonizers, organized at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Butler University in Indiana by two brothers, Ross and Don Barbour. Their repertoire centered on standards such as "Moonglow" and "The Christmas Song," and they began to show an unusually free, improvisational approach to their harmony singing. A couple of membership changes brought Bob Flanigan, a cousin, into the fold alongside Hal Kratzsch, and suddenly the Four Freshmen were assembled in all but name, and that fell into place a little later.

First Affair mc
First Affair zippy

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Various - Capitol Sings Rodgers & Hart

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:24
Size: 165.8 MB
Styles: Easy Listening
Year: 1992
Art: Front

[1:51] 1. Susan Barrett - Manhattan
[2:27] 2. June Christy - You Took Advantage Of Me
[2:32] 3. Vic Damone - I Could Write A Book
[2:37] 4. The Dinning Sisters - Where Or When
[2:49] 5. Nancy Wilson - Little Girl Blue
[3:09] 6. Mel Tormé - Blue Moon
[3:04] 7. Margaret Whiting - Lover
[2:18] 8. Sarah Vaughan - Have You Met Miss Jones
[3:30] 9. Gordon MacRae - My Funny Valentine
[2:38] 10. The Andrews Sisters - My Romance
[2:41] 11. Peggy Lee - My Heart Stood Still
[2:28] 12. Nat King Cole - This Can't Be Love
[4:56] 13. June Christy - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
[2:42] 14. Margaret Whiting - Thou Swell
[3:15] 15. Dean Martin - It's Easy To Remember
[2:49] 16. Nancy Wilson - It Never Entered My Mind
[2:34] 17. Dolores Gray - Isn't It Romantic
[2:08] 18. Vic Damone - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
[4:10] 19. Sarah Vaughan - Glad To Be Unhappy
[2:31] 20. Peggy Lee - The Lady Is A Tramp
[3:43] 21. The Four Freshmen - Spring Is Here
[2:58] 22. Dinah Shore - Falling In Love With Love
[2:26] 23. Jane Froman - With A Song In My Heart
[5:57] 24. Les Brown & His Band Of Renown - Slaughter On Tenth Avenue

The songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart ended with Hart's death on November 22, 1943. The earliest track on this album of Rodgers & Hart songs from the Capitol Records vaults, the Dinning Sisters' version of the 1937 copyright "Where or When" (from the Broadway musical Babes in Arms), was recorded less than a month later, on December 17, 1943, and the latest one, Nancy Wilson's reading of "It Never Entered My Mind" (from the 1940 show Higher and Higher), on November 3, 1967. So, the collection consists of recordings made in the quarter-century after the Rodgers & Hart era. That's appropriate, since Capitol was co-founded by singer/songwriter Johnny Mercer to showcase the rise of individual pop singers in the waning days of the big-band period, and they often sang old show tunes with new, post-swing arrangements like those here, written by the likes of Billy May and Nelson Riddle. The leader in this sort of thing, of course, was Frank Sinatra, who was a Capitol artist. But he must have had a contractual right of refusal to have his recordings used on compilations like this, since he appears only as the conductor of Peggy Lee's version of "My Heart Stood Still." Most of the rest of Capitol's roster of singers is included, however, such as June Christy, Margaret Whiting, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin. Only four of the tracks date from the 1940s, so this is really the music of the ‘50s and early ‘60s primarily, with the swing charts varied occasionally by a Latin treatment (Lee's "The Lady Is a Tramp") or a bongos-and-flute accompaniment (Dinah Shore's "Falling in Love with Love"). Variety is also provided by vocal groups like the Andrews Sisters and the Four Freshmen. Most of these performers are not jazz singers, but Mel Tormé gets to apply his pipes to "Blue Moon," and Sarah Vaughan goes all-out on an individual treatment of "Have You Met Miss Jones?" (or "old Jones," as she alters it), scatting like crazy. Richard Rodgers was notoriously hostile to liberal rearrangements of his songs, but he and Hart were done many favors by the Capitol singers who helped keep their copyrights alive and flourishing decades after the tunes were written. ~William Ruhlmann

Capitol Sings Rodgers & Hart

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Stan Kenton, June Christy, The Four Freshmen - Road Show

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 76:15

Size: 174.6 MB

Styles: Big band, Vocal jazz

Year: 1959/1991

Art: Front

[3:24] 1. Artistry In Rhythm

[3:27] 2. Stompin' At The Savoy

[5:16] 3. My Old Flame

[9:38] 4. The Big Chase

[1:39] 5. I Want To Be Happy

[2:49] 6. It's A Most Unusual Day

[4:14] 7. Midnight Sun

[2:26] 8. Kissing Bug

[5:22] 9. Bewitched

[3:05] 10. How High The Moon

[3:11] 11. Day In Day Out

[4:06] 12. Angel Eyes

[3:04] 13. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows

[1:36] 14. Paper Doll

[3:20] 15. Them There Eyes

[3:41] 16. Love For Sale

[4:57] 17. September Song

[3:47] 18. Walking Shoes

[5:12] 19. The Peanut Vendor

[1:50] 20. Artistry In Rhythm (Reprise)

A great example of the Kenton powerhouse in action – a live recording that really set a new standard for jazz sets of its type! The album features a side apiece dedicated to each of the three acts – one by Kenton's orchestra, one by Christy on vocals, and one by the Four Freshmen – the latter two supported by Kenton's group on their own sides, then joining together for a final fourth side that features all artists together. The approach is a great one – very vibrant, and certainly crowd-pleasing – and titles include "Artistry In Rhythm", "My Old Flame", "I Want To Be Happy", "Midnight Sun", "Day In Day Out", "Angel Eyes", and "Love For Sale".

Road Show 

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The Four Freshmen - Capitol Collectors Series

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:09
Size: 133.2 MB
Styles: Harmony vocal group
Year: 1991
Art: Front

[2:53] 1. It's A Blue World
[2:52] 2. The Day Isn't Long Enough
[3:09] 3. Poinciana (Song Of The Tree)
[2:26] 4. It Happened Once Before
[2:49] 5. Please Remember
[3:07] 6. We'll Be Together Again
[2:40] 7. Mood Indigo
[3:02] 8. It Never Occurred To Me
[1:56] 9. Day By Day
[2:35] 10. How Can I Tell Her
[2:14] 11. Charmaine
[2:44] 12. In This Whole Wide World
[3:31] 13. Angel Eyes
[1:59] 14. Love Is Just Around The Corner
[3:05] 15. Graduation Day
[2:33] 16. Whistle Me Some Blues
[3:23] 17. It Could Happen To You
[2:15] 18. Candy
[2:44] 19. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
[3:11] 20. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring
[2:52] 21. And So It's Over

This quartet has developed a sound that is at once smooth, controlled and sweet. Yet for all its mainstream and popular appeal, the Four Freshmen's crooning harmonics is a force of nature, unlike anything that came before or after it. These are trained voices, full and pervasive, and the strength is quadrupled when thy sing in close unity. The exotic "Poinciana" relied solely on the four voices in harmony to create the powerful feeling of this song, and a guitar only aids them.

Old favorites, like the wartime classic "We'll Be together Again" shows how the Four Freshmen are both faithful to the melody and add their own cool musical signature on the number with a subtle atonality in the harmonized melody. The close harmonies have a profound depth that is equally adept at extolling the sentiments of such disparate themes as the perky "Love Is Just Around The Corner" and the gloomy "Angel Eyes."

Capitol Collectors Series

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Various - Capitol Sings Around The World: Far Away Places

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:01
Size: 132.8 MB
Styles: Vocal pop
Year: 1994
Art: Front

[2:31] 1. Nat King Cole - Around The World
[3:18] 2. Lena Horne - I Love Paris
[3:08] 3. The Andrews Sisters - Tulip Time
[2:18] 4. Vic Damone - The Moon Of Manakoora
[2:16] 5. Dakota Staton - A Foggy Day
[3:16] 6. Dean Martin - Canadian Sunset
[3:24] 7. Bing Crosby - New Vienna Woods
[2:39] 8. The Dinning Sisters - Brazil
[2:30] 9. Bobby Darin - Sunday In New York
[1:54] 10. Kay Starr - On A Slow Boat To China
[2:11] 11. Nancy Wilson - The Boy From Ipanema
[3:07] 12. Peggy Lee - Bali Ha'i
[2:47] 13. The Four Freshmen - Frenesi
[2:54] 14. Dinah Shore - April In Paris
[3:12] 15. The Andrews Sisters - The Japanese Sandman
[4:45] 16. Nat King Cole - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
[2:49] 17. June Christy - A Night In Tunisia
[2:39] 18. Dean Martin - Arrivederci Roma
[3:13] 19. Margaret Whiting - Far Away Places
[3:01] 20. The King Sisters - Aloha Oe (Hawaiian Farewell Song)

Capitol Sings Around The World: Far Away Places

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Various - Capitol Records From The Vaults: The Best Of '56

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:33
Size: 145.5 MB
Styles: R&B, Easy Listening, Pop-Rock
Year: 2000
Art: Front


[2:35] 1. Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
[2:32] 2. Nelson Riddle - Lisbon Antigua
[2:16] 3. Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This
[2:33] 4. Kit Carson - Band Of Gold
[2:24] 5. Les Paul - Moritat
[2:25] 6. Les Baxter - The Poor People Of Paris (Jean's Song)
[2:10] 7. The Cheers - Black Denim Trousers & Motorcycle Boots
[2:49] 8. Billy May - Man With The Golden Arm
[2:33] 9. Gordon Macrae - I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
[2:51] 10. Nat King Cole - Too Young To Go Steady
[2:58] 11. Nat King Cole - Never Let Me Go
[2:24] 12. Don Robertson - The Happy Whistler
[3:04] 13. The Four Freshmen - Graduation Day
[2:46] 14. Dean Martin - Standing On The Corner
[2:43] 15. Tex Ritter - The Wayward Wind
[2:16] 16. Nat King Cole - That's All There Is To That
[2:28] 17. Margaret Whiting - True Love
[2:17] 18. Stan Freberg - Heartbreak Hotel
[2:36] 19. Woody Herman - I Don't Want Nobody (To Have My Love But You)
[2:15] 20. The Five Keys - Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
[3:02] 21. Dick Haymes - Two Different Worlds
[2:08] 22. Louis Prima - Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days
[2:20] 23. The Four Preps - Dreamy Eyes
[2:28] 24. The Five Keys - Wisdom Of A Fool
[2:28] 25. Sonny James - Young Love

This sixth installment of Capitol records' label retrospective -- Capitol From the Vaults -- concentrates on the transitional and influential music released in 1956, as rock & roll began to show continual staying power on the pop music charts. However, as the 25 tracks on this volume illustrate, adults and even young people were still buying and listening to traditional popular music, and that is exactly what "the tower" was releasing. The set kicks off with a chart-topping entry from Tennessee Ernie Ford singing "Sixteen Tons" -- which had also been recorded by Merle Travis, who not only wrote the song, but was also a fellow Capitol recording artist. Although it had been a regional hit for Travis, it is Ford's version that became most memorable. There were several other notable male vocalists who also climbed the charts for Capitol in 1956. As Dean Martin's popularity continued to soar, "Memories Are Made of This" -- featuring the Terry Gilkyson-led Easy Riders -- was not only his first Top 40, but also first number-one hit. The disc ushered in 1956 firmly atop most pop-music and jukebox charts. Although not a number one, the show tune "Standing on the Corner" was another hit for Martin during March of that year, and is likewise featured on this collection. Another male vocalist who dominated the upper echelons of the pop singles chart during 1956 was newcomer Sonny James. The catchy "Young Love" -- James' entrée into pop music -- became one of his signature tunes and racked up hit singles on Capitol's country charts well into the 1970s. Jazz vocal fans continued as huge proponents of the label. Nat "King" Cole -- whose "Too Young to Go Steady," "Never Let Me Go," and "That's All There Is to That" are featured here -- was one reason. Another are Stan Kenton alumni the Four Freshmen -- heard here on their Top 20 hit "Graduation Day." Other notable inclusions on Capitol From the Vaults, Vol. 6: The Best of '56 are the novelty "The Happy Whistler" -- a Top Ten hit for one-hit wonder Don Robertson. Also worth noting is the biting, satirical view of Stan Freberg as he disassembles Elvis on his decidedly derogatory rendition of "Heartbreak Hotel." Recording engineer Bob Norberg lovingly remastered this entire series from the best possible source materials, and the results are uniformly spectacular. Music historian and musician Billy Vera produced Capitol From the Vaults and likewise penned some highly informative and entertaining liner notes for each volume. ~Lindsay Planer

Capitol Records From The Vaults: The Best Of '56

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Various - Puttin' On The Ritz: Capitol Sings Irving Berlin

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:03
Size: 158.1 MB
Styles: Vocal, Traditional pop, Easy Listening
Year: 1992/2007
Art: Front

[1:11] 1. Mary Martin, John Raitt - There's No Business Like Show Business
[1:47] 2. Judy Garland - Puttin' On The Ritz
[1:59] 3. Vic Damone - Marie
[3:19] 4. Dinah Shore - The Song Is Ended
[2:31] 5. Crew Chiefs - Heat Wave
[2:32] 6. Dick Haymes - Isn't This A Lovely Day
[2:31] 7. The Starlighters - Play A Simple Melody
[3:01] 8. Nat King Cole - What'll I Do
[3:07] 9. Bobby Darin - All By Myself
[4:39] 10. Nancy Wilson - You Can Have Him
[2:27] 11. Gordon MacRae - Steppin' Out With My Baby
[3:23] 12. Kay Starr - You're Just In Love
[3:08] 13. Andy Russell - Easter Parade
[2:30] 14. Johnny Mercer - Alexander's Ragtime Band
[2:44] 15. Peggy Lee - Cheek To Cheek
[2:37] 16. The Four Freshmen - Be Careful, It's My Heart
[2:50] 17. Betty Hutton - Blue Skies
[3:23] 18. Ian Bernard - How Deep Is The Ocean
[2:23] 19. Nat King Cole - Let's Face The Music And Dance
[3:27] 20. Sue Raney - How About Me
[2:25] 21. Vic Damone - Change Partners
[2:41] 22. Dean Martin - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
[3:00] 23. Jo Stafford - White Christmas
[2:33] 24. Gordon MacRae - Always
[2:43] 25. Margaret Whiting - God Bless America

The songs of Irving Berlin are I-beams in the towering edifice of 20th century popular music. This sampler of predominately pop recordings from the Capitol catalog may serve as both a grab bag of enjoyable entertainments and a useful introduction to some of this composer's nicest tunes. Each of the 25 tracks perfectly illustrates the essence of a given song, and would be especially useful for anyone seeking to learn the rudimentary contours. Jazz is only marginally represented here, in spite of the fact that jazz grew up on Irving Berlin's often jazz-inspired melodies, many of which survive today primarily as jazz standards. Certainly jazz is manifested in Nat King Cole (with both trio and big band), Nancy Wilson, Johnny Mercer and bandleaders Red Norvo and Billy May. Several ex-big-band singers are in the mix, including Peggy Lee and Kay Starr. Jo Stafford sings like an angel, Dinah Shore's gentle rendering of "The Song Is Ended" comes across as a marvel of sensitivity, and Betty Hutton's handling of "Blue Skies" is among her prettiest performances on record. The timeline represented here (1944-1963) almost exactly traces the golden age of the post-WWII, pre-Beatles star pop vocalists. The core sample contains measurable amounts of Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Margaret Whiting, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Gordon MacRae, Dick Haymes and Vic Damone, as well as pearly white group vocals by the Starlighters, the Crew Chiefs, the Pied Pipers and the Four Freshmen. ~arwulf arwulf

Puttin' On The Ritz: Capitol Sings Irving Berlin

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The Four Freshmen - The EP Collection

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:44
Size: 152.8 MB
Styles: Vocal harmonies
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[1:56] 1. Day By Day
[2:15] 2. Charmaine
[2:23] 3. Graduation Day
[3:31] 4. Angel Eyes
[3:02] 5. Mam'selle
[3:03] 6. Speak Low
[2:16] 7. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
[3:09] 8. I Remember You
[2:37] 9. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
[2:07] 10. Easy Street
[1:57] 11. Give Me The Simple Life
[2:37] 12. I May Be Wrong
[2:12] 13. Lullaby In Rhythm
[2:48] 14. Frenesi
[3:02] 15. If I Should Lose You
[3:23] 16. It Could Happen To You
[2:40] 17. Out Of Nowhere
[2:13] 18. The October
[3:12] 19. The More I See You
[3:05] 20. Invitation
[2:49] 21. If I Knew Then
[2:35] 22. Teach Me Tonight
[2:07] 23. Opus One
[2:39] 24. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring
[2:53] 25. It's A Blue World

The light vocal harmonies of the Four Freshmen are the focus of this See for Miles EP Collection, pulled from various extended-play 45s released in the U.K. Among the highlights are "Day by Day," "Angel Eyes," "You Stepped Out of a Dream," "Lullaby in Rhythm," "It Could Happen to You," and their first hit from 1952 "It's a Blue World." Fans of the Beach Boys should note the inclusion of "Graduation Day" and "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring." This collection is far from perfect, but it does contain the original Capitol recordings and several first-rate songs. ~Al Campbell

The EP Collection

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The Four Freshmen - In Session

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:34
Size: 95.2 MB
Styles: Vocal harmony group
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[3:21] 1. It's All Right With Me
[4:50] 2. My One And Only Love
[3:11] 3. Skylark
[3:33] 4. If I Only Had A Brain
[4:34] 5. Early Autumn
[2:40] 6. Something's Gotta Give
[5:01] 7. How Do You Keep The Music Playing
[2:29] 8. That Old Feeling
[4:33] 9. September Song
[3:15] 10. If I Had You
[4:03] 11. You've Changed

Vocals – Bob Ferreira, Brian Eichenberger, Curtis Calderon, Vince Johnson

The Four Freshmen were one of the top vocal groups of the 1950s, and formed the bridge between '40s ensembles like the Mel-Tones and harmony-based rock & roll bands such as the Beach Boys as well as groups like Spanky & Our Gang and the Manhattan Transfer. The group's roots go back to the end of the 1940s and a barbershop quartet-influenced outfit called Hal's Harmonizers, organized at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Butler University in Indiana by two brothers, Ross and Don Barbour. Their repertoire centered on standards such as "Moonglow" and "The Christmas Song," and they began to show an unusually free, improvisational approach to their harmony singing. A couple of membership changes brought Bob Flanigan, a cousin, into the fold alongside Hal Kratzsch, and suddenly the Four Freshmen were assembled in all but name, and that fell into place a little later.

There were membership changes along the way -- Kratzsch left in the spring of 1953, to be replaced by Ken Errair who, in turn, was succeeded by Ken Albers in April of 1956, while Don Barbour left in 1960, replaced by Bill Comstock. That lineup lasted intact for nearly 13 years, into the 1970s, but by that time the group's influence had faded to almost nothing. The Four Freshmen had managed to stay competitive with other pop acts through the mid-'60s, and even got a very visible boost from the Beach Boys, in the form of Brian Wilson's frequent expressions of admiration for the quartet as part of his inspiration behind putting together the rock & roll group's sound, but following the arrival of the British Invasion, they were no longer anywhere near the cutting edge of pop music. They continued to record and perform, even assimilating such contemporary songs as Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," but they were effectively relegated to the "easy listening" stations. Their contract with Capitol ended in 1964, and the group's last affiliation with a major label was in the second half of the decade with Liberty Records, which yielded four LPs but no hits. By 1977, Bob Flanigan was the last original member, and he retired in 1992.

New lineups of the group have continued to perform into the 21st century, however, and are considered an artistically valid ensemble -- in 2000 the Four Freshmen were voted Vocal Group of the Year by Down Beat magazine's readers. And in 2001, no less a label than Mosaic Records -- the company that issues complete catalogs of jazz legends going back to the 1930s, in deluxe packaging -- released a multi-CD box of the Four Freshmen's complete 1950s recordings, proudly (and even defiantly, given the label's catalog) proclaiming the quartet's validity as a jazz outfit. ~ Bruce Eder

In Session  

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