The Four Freshmen


The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires, The Pied Pipers, and The Mel-Tones, 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 group was founded in 1948 in Indiana and reached its peak popularity in the mid-1950s. The last original member retired in 1993, but the group stills tours internationally and has recorded jazz harmonies since its late 1940s founding in the halls of the Jordan School of Music at Butler University in Indianapolis.

History

In early 1948, brothers Ross and Don Barbour formed a barbershop quartet called Hal's Harmonizers at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Harmonizers also included Marvin Pruitt—soon replaced by Ross and Don's cousin Bob Flanigan—and Hal Kratzsch, 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.
On March 21, 1950, Stan Kenton heard the quartet at the Esquire Lounge in Dayton, Ohio. He "had been told at his own show earlier that night about a quartet in town that sounded like his 43-piece ensemble", and was sufficiently impressed that he arranged for an audition with his label, Capitol Records, which signed them later that year. The demo included "Laura", "Basin' Street Blues", "Dry Bones", and two other songs. In 1950, they released a single, "Mr. B's Blues", and appeared in their first and only film, Rich, Young and Pretty. The Freshmen released another single in 1951, '"Now You Know", which was not a commercial success. Later in the year Capitol rejected their proposed next single, "It's a Blue World", and dropped them from the label. In May of the following year, a furious Stan Kenton demanded that the record company send them the demo tapes so that they could promote the song themselves. They managed to get the song onto the radio, and in 1952, "It's a Blue World" became their first charted single. Capitol re-signed the group in July of the same year.
In 1953, Hal Kratzsch, tired of touring, asked the group to replace him, and they selected Ken Errair. Their single to chart was "It Happened Once Before", and the year ended with them winning the Down Beat magazine poll as Best Jazz Vocal Group of 1953.
In 1954, the Freshmen recorded their first album, Voices in Modern; "Mood Indigo", a single from this album, charted. The following year, they released "How Can I Tell Her" and "Charmaine", followed by "Graduation Day" in 1956. Their album Four Freshmen and 5 Trombones "set the standard for modern jazz vocal groups" and reached number 6.
After only a short time with the group, Ken Errair left the band to get married, and was replaced by Ken Albers. Around this time, the group started playing at college auditoriums and pursuing a younger audience.
In 1960, the Freshmen recorded "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring", a song which, with different lyrics, later became The Beach Boys' "A Young Man Is Gone" in 1963. The group eventually lost their mainstream following with the advent of the rock bands of the 1960s, even as one of those bands, the Beach Boys, cited the Four Freshmen as one of their main influences. The next Freshmen to leave was Don Barbour, who left in 1960 and was replaced by Bill Comstock.
The group did not disband after the last original member, Bob Flanigan, retired in 1993. After his retirement, Flanigan managed the group. 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.
The Four Freshmen have had many different members. Bob Ferreira joined the legacy of the Four Freshmen in 1993 with Curtis Calderon becoming part in 2001. Stein Malvey's contributions began in 2013. Tommy Boynton took over the lead voice in 2015 and the band welcomed Jon Gaines in 2016.

Style

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians says that "The group represented a modernizing force in the sphere of close harmony quartets in American popular music, moving away from the barbershop style to introduce elements of jazz. In doing so, they influenced younger groups such as the Hi-Los and the Beach Boys."
The Oxford Companion to Popular Music says, "They sing with great variety, in quiet unison or full-throated harmony, using modern jazz harmonies and varied dynamics, a considerable advance on the typical close-harmony quartets that had preceded them."

Influence

The Four Freshmen were an important influence on Brian Wilson, beginning in the mid-50s. He listened to one of their albums, The Four Freshmen and the Five Trombones, and it "mesmerized" him. He spoke very highly of it: "'It brings a feeling of love inside me.... That feeling of harmony.'" Aside from listening to their music, the teenage Wilson made a point of seeing the Four Freshmen perform live: "he made solitary pilgrimages to the resort hotels of Catalina Island to see the Four Freshmen."
The Four Freshmen are also credited with influencing The Lettermen, The Four Preps and The Manhattan Transfer, among other vocal groups.
The Donald Fagen song "Maxine", from his 1982 50s-themed album The Nightfly, in which Fagen accompanies himself on four-part harmonies, has been described as inspired by the Four Freshmen. The Four Freshmen covered the song on their 1986 album Fresh!

Awards and honors

The Four Freshmen have won JazzTimes magazine's Readers Poll for Best Vocal Group multiple years.
They have also won Down Beat magazine's Readers Poll for Best Vocal Group in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 2000, and 2001.
They have been nominated for a Grammy Award six times.

Members



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Discography