Vocalist

Ten-time Grammy Award-winning vocal group The Manhattan Transfer is hitting the road for the final time. As they celebrate their 50th anniversary, the group looks back on a career that has spanned genres from pop to jazz to rock and roll and more. After their recording debut in 1975, the group was primarily known as an East Coast cult act, but quickly expanded their following after starring in their own 1975 CBS-TV variety series. Trist Curless, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, and Cheryl Bentyne are joined by guests The DIVA Jazz Orchestra for a very special evening.

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The Manhattan Transfer

Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts

The ride is ending for The Manhattan Transfer, but the legendary jazz ensemble has kept the vocalese flame burning brightly for half a century, and there will be fireworks aplenty before they’re done.

With 10 GRAMMY Awards, including an unprecedented double win in 1981 in both popular and jazz categories, The Manhattan Transfer draws on a vast trove of hits and jazz favorites. From their 1975 gospel-powered breakthrough single “Operator,” and “Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone” through the vocalese masterpiece “Birdland,” the Transfer has made an indelible contribution to vocal jazz.

SFJAZZ Center

They’ve always been known as the epitome of cool. The Manhattan Transfer, with its harmonies and versatility that incorporates a variety of genres from pop to rock to jazz, R & B and rock ‘n roll, swing, symphonic and a cappella music, has been hard to pigeon-hole, and they like it that way. They were the first group to win Grammy Awards in the pop and jazz categories in one year, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with vocals for “Boy from New York City” and Best Jazz Performance by a Duo or Group for “Until I Met You.” Their 1985 album, Vocalese, made Grammy history as the most-nominated album in one year with 12 nominations. The album featured Dizzy Gillespie, Ron Carter and the County Basie Orchestra and changed the perception of The Manhattan Transfer from huge pop artists to formidable jazz singers.

Trist Curless

Vocalist

Events

Past events

Oct 26, 2023

The Manhattan Transfer · Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts

29 - 30 Sep, 2023

The Manhattan Transfer · San Francisco Jazz

About

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