# Swingle Singers



## Guest (Apr 16, 2015)

For you Eskimos and remote island inmates who have never heard of them, you have now. Actually, they have been around many years--since 1962--doing all kinds of a cappella arrangements. You can look them up if you want. It isn't necessary for me to give a big history. What I am more concerned with is their unique jazz arrangements of Bach and Mozart.

We have, of course, heard many jazz arrangements of classical music. But I am impressed with how "seamless" the Swingle Singers' arrangements are. They sound as though the composers had written them that way:
















It's as though they have discovered a "natural" bridge between jazz and classical that perhaps only a cappella arrangements reveal. After all, the figured bass of baroque music is really the same thing as a jazz chart. The notation is different. It is up to the arranger or musicians to decide what notes go into the tenor, alto and soprano voices. Figured bass is the foundation of the basso continuo and no two orchestras will play it quite the same because some degree of improv is introduced. There's more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.

The Swingle Singers get surprisingly little recognition for their discovery.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Amen!

Plus their collabs with the Modern Jazz Quartet are A1 sauce to me.


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've liked the Swingle Singers for some time. The name was more clever in the 1960s. (Do people get the play on words now? I wouldn't know.) But the originator's name really was Swingle. They are kind of a fun guilty pleasure, but serious too.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Also they continue their legacy until today as well.






A more recent performance.


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Please don't confuse the (brilliant) original group with the current (okay if you like that sort of thing) lineup using their name. 

Different creatures entirely.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

SimonNZ said:


> Please don't confuse the (brilliant) original group with the current (okay if you like that sort of thing) lineup using their name.
> 
> Different creatures entirely.


Indeed that is true. According to Wikipedia, we have:

Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson (soprano, UK)
Sara Brimer (soprano, US)
Clare Wheeler (alto, UK)
Oliver Griffiths (tenor, UK) (Replaced Richard Eteson mid-2010)[3]
Christopher Jay (tenor, UK)
Kevin Fox (baritone, Canada)
Edward Randell (bass, UK)
Sound engineer: Hugh Walker (UK)

And they even have been doing Berio? I have yet to even find a clip of that because that would be a priceless moment.


----------



## Guest (Apr 16, 2015)

The first time I ever heard of the Swingle Singers was in the 70s when Christiane Legrand appeared on Procul Harum's "Grand Hotel" album. She is mentioned in the credits as being from the group. I thought the group's name was a play on Single Swingers but a few years later I read about Ward Swingle.

I so loved this:






Still do.

And kudos to Procul Harum for doing what a responsible rock band should do--turn their fans onto other artists and music they might otherwise have missed.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Bingo. Finally located that Swingle Sisters and Berio mash-up.






Victory dance lap.


----------

