Sunday night I saw the greatest Vocal-based/Crossover act of the last 40 years at the One World Theater for the third time. Most are ambivalent about the Manhattan Transfer but I know they can draw out a really some serious hostility from certain people, namely my brother. As for me, they’re a huge, guilty musical pleasure I got hooked on in college which tends to surprise friends and co-workers because they’re accustomed to my tastes hovering around Alternative and Power Pop. I give the credit to WBZN, a long gone Milwaukee radio station that really tried to make a go of the Smooth Jazz format (or what one friend called Hot Tub Jazz) in a city whose dwindling Jazz fan base was predominantly composed of purists. The Manhattan Transfer was a major staple on the air, namely (at the time) their last album Brasil.
About this time 20 years ago I made the shift too. An internship with WQFM and Stardate Promotions really ate away at my interest in pursuing a career in radio. Milwaukee radio was just awful in general as well. Then I decided to tune to WBZN because WQFM, WLZR, WKTI, WKLH and WLUM only made me feel sadder about the near future and how I wasn’t destined to work for them.
Oddly, when I took a class on radio programming, my presentation and paper about which format I would pursue if I had a radio station was…hold on to your seat, hat, whatever…tweaking WBZN and making Smooth Jazz reach a larger audience. Many of my classmates who shared my main tastes went with the obvious choices: an Alternative format modeled after WXRT (especially if they were from Chicago) or KROQ (the gold standard from LA). I wanted to stand out from the crowd, demonstrate to Dr. Grams I wasn’t a sheep, I understood radio is a business and the key to success is to find a gap, fill it and get that audience secure, then expand. I think I received an A on it. I do know Dr. Grams praised me to the class because “I got it” with my arguments of how my format modifications were in pursuit of capturing the right demographic, not the masses or more often with the other students, their own personal tastes.
So I gave up on “contemporary” music for WBZN. After a couple weeks I discovered how soothing, relaxing and fascinating it could be. Through it I became well versed in the Manhattan Transfer, Rick Braun, Acoustic Alchemy, David Benoit, Keiko Matsui, etc. But the first group turned into a new favorite during my final two semesters at Marquette (1990). By the end of the year, I saw they were coming to Milwaukee and through a mutual friend, I landed a pair of tickets (one for me and the other for my girlfriend, if I didn’t take her, I’d get the eye of death).
Their live show hooked me forever. Despite the lack of money I had after graduation, I scraped up the means to buy a copy of Brasil on CD and practically played it to death in 1991.
Then I didn’t get to see them again for 14 years. Either I was in the wrong city (they performed in Austin during the time I was in North Carolina) or it was an exclusive engagement (some special set up at UT earlier in the decade, another around 1991 with the University of Illinois). When I had my lucky break in 2005, second-row seats at the One World Theater, I didn’t get to share my joy with Somara, she was away in Phoenix completing her externship for culinary school. Our friend Deborah accompanied me which was equally wonderful; I only wanted to share the experience with someone I knew would appreciate the Manhattan Transfer’s sound.
Meanwhile, many of the Smooth Jazz acts the One World Theater books continued to appear almost every year but never the Manhattan Transfer. Every week I would scan the Austin Chronicle to see if the upcoming season had changed, hoping to spot my faves. Nothing.
Last April I got my wish when I saw the ad and I pounced on a pair of tickets online as soon as the virtual box office opened. FIRST ROW! How much? is probably your next question. One hundred apiece, still a bargain compared to Prince in Las Vegas or what others cough up to be treated like cattle at a U2 stadium concert. Better yet, Somara got to tag along and she was a great sport about dressing up. Seeing the Manhattan Transfer to me is equal to going to see a Broadway show or the opera. It’s a habit Sonia instilled in me.
As for the show, they’re still incredible! Hard to believe Tim, Alan, Janis and Cheryl have been performing together for over 30 years (technically Cheryl replaced someone a couple years in but I’ll round up in her favor). They opened with “Spain” from their new album, it’s a song I’m accustomed to hearing Al Jarreau perform. The rest of the evening was a mix of songs from their catalog over the decades and a couple Christmas tunes since the holiday is coming. Tim amused the crowd with his anecdote about meeting Austin’s very own Ray Benson (of Asleep at the Wheel fame) in the Nineties. Thanks to their chance meeting, the Manhattan Transfer came to Austin to get Ray’s assistance on making their 1997 album Swing. With Tim’s story concluded, Cindy Cash Dollar joined them on stage to play her pedal-steel guitar on several numbers. Her expertise helped the band nail down that Western Swing sound Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys spearheaded in my grandparents’ day.
Then there was another treat. Before the performance began, the MC pointed to a blank canvas on the stage’s right side. It was put in place for this Cuban-American painter accompanying the Manhattan Transfer on their tour. At every show, he paints something unique and is finished before the encore. Afterwards it could be purchased…for a mere $7500. If had that much scratch lying around, I wouldn’t be driving an old VW. In the painter’s defense though, he did make a very impressive piece incorporating buildings, music and the bird on the current album cover. A print of it is more along the lines of my budget.
Other than the wonderful night of song, I came away with two things from this concert. First was an increased curiosity about Count Basie’s music, the dilemma is where to start, there’s 100+ selections on iTunes alone. Second was talking to the Manhattan Transfer’s pianist/band leader. He had a MacBook Pro with his piano and Korgs. I asked him what the computer did. He replied that he Logic on it for coordinating the musicians and the band. He was also nice enough to give an official set list from that night! It’s not the exact order of what they did yet it’s correct on what they sang.
Our seats were worth every penny too. I was inches from Janis and Alan as they walked about the stage during their solos. One day I hope to meet them so I can tell them personally how much they’ve enriched my life with their singing, writing and introducing to me to other people’s material.
Sorry if I don’t have any pictures. It’s One World Theater policy not to allow flash photography and I felt it would be just rude to use my iPhone while the Manhattan Transfer were on stage. I don’t think they’re accustomed to what younger audiences do continuously with their cell phones.