Manhattan Transfer Sings Swing With A Little Country

The jazz vocal group Manhattan Transfer takes a different route on PBS’ “Austin City Limits,” with country artists Asleep at the Wheel and Ricky Scaggs along for the ride.

Swing is the thing, with a touch of country flair.

“If you leave out Texas swing you’re not telling the whole story,” says Manhattan Transfer leader Tim Hauser.

“We wanted to really try to represent swing music the way we felt it really was,” Hauser said. “A lot of people think swing was played by guys in an orchestra in white jackets and black ties. Those were the bands that came out of New York.

“Texas swing was a very specific kind of music. It definitely was swing. We wanted to bring in both urban and rural swing music. I like traditional rural American music as much as I like urban jazz.”

When Manhattan Transfer cut its new CD, titled “Swing,” the Austin-based Asleep at the Wheel and Scaggs were guests on it. So it was logical that they would be guests again on “Austin City Limits” (airing tonight at 11 p.m. on KSPS-7 in Spokane; Friday at 9 p.m. on KUID-12 in Moscow and KCDT-26 in Coeur d’Alene, and Friday at 11 p.m. on KWSU-10 in Pullman).

“When we got to Austin, they were so prepared,” Hauser says. “There wasn’t any special rehearsing we had to do. It was just smokin’. They really had it together. It came out real nice.”

On the show, Manhattan Transfer sings and scats jazz tunes, among them Jelly Roll Morton’s “King Porter Stomp” and Glenn Miller’s “Tuxedo Junction.” And Scaggs sings lead on Bill Monroe’s bluegrass song, “Uncle Pen.”

“Ricky is Bill Monroe’s torch bearer,” Hauser says.

The rest of the time, Hauser and Manhattan Transfer members Cheryl Bentyne, Alan Paul and Janis Siegel take turns singing lead.

Just over 25 years ago, when Hauser put together Manhattan Transfer, he was advised by his music theory teacher that, since he intended jazz to be sung by two men and two women, he should pattern their harmonies on Count Basie’s saxophone section. It had two tenor and two alto saxes, playing in block harmony.

On “Austin City Limits,” they perform two tunes of Basie’s: “Moten’s Swing,” their opener, and “Blee Blop Blues.” Asleep at the Wheel joins the group on Ella Fitzgerald’s “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” and the Ink Spots’ smoothly light-hearted “Java Jive.”

Scaggs plays a jazz solo on mandolin on “Air Mail Special.” Everybody takes part in the lively finale, Louis Jordan’s “Choo Cha-Boogie.”

A couple of years ago, Hauser and Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson had talked while waiting for their cars after a Hollywood awards show. Hauser mentioned that the quartet was planning to make a swing record. Benson said, “Call me.”

About that time, Scaggs invited Manhattan Transfer to perform on his “Live at the Ryman” TV show in Nashville. “Why don’t we do swing tunes and see how it sounds,” Hauser proposed.

“It was so joyful,” he says. “We knew this really works.”

Hauser told the group’s agent to suggest to “Austin City Limits” that they appear on the show. “I think it’s one of the best musical programs in America,” he says. “It’s basically American acoustic music.

“It focuses on the people that perform and the music. That’s why I like it. It’s a straight-ahead concert, an as-is situation. You walk out, do your show, walk off and that’s it. You don’t go back in afterwards and re-record the voices.”