Collectively ten-time GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal group The Manhattan Transfer celebrates its 50th anniversary with a new studio album, aptly titled Fifty. The set is physically released tomorrow, October 21, via Craft Recordings. The group recently embarked on their final global tour, celebrating their legacy and the new album. The cross-continental run includes a special performance on November 3 in Los Angeles at the GRAMMY® Museum as well as additional stops across the US, Europe, UK, Japan and Australasia, with dates continuing through 2023. An initial list of shows is below, with more dates to be announced shortly.
The albums 10-track set finds the best-selling act partnering with Germany’s renowned WDR Funkhausorchester Köln (WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne), plus symphony arrangers including GRAMMY® Award winners Jorge Callandreli and Vince Mendoza, as well as vocal arrangers including Amanda Taylor of säje, to revisit their biggest hits from throughout the decades, including new arrangements of “Chanson D’Amour,” “Twilight Zone / Twilight Tone” and “The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul.” Fifty also features two timeless classics: George and Ira Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” (recorded for the first time by the group) and The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” featured in a live video. Rounding out the album are brand-new liner notes from co-founder Alan Paul, who reflects on The Manhattan Transfer’s enduring career and matchless accomplishments.
“After FIFTY years of creating and singing harmony, we would like to celebrate with our
upcoming release—aptly named FIFTY—and acknowledge all the joy you have brought us on
our musical journey as we begin our 50th Anniversary & Final World Tour. We look forward to seeing you!”
When it came to narrowing down material from the group’s substantial catalog, Paul writes, “We wanted the choice of songs to somehow represent the significant transitions of our music over the span of five decades, which was a rather formidable task.” He continues, “What interested us was choosing material that either represented a significant moment in the group’s history, or songs that perhaps were not necessarily hits, but ones we really loved. Also, another major consideration was choosing songs that we felt would inspire and work well with the symphony because this was a collaboration.” The result is Fifty: an inspired and very worthy celebration of one of the greatest vocal groups in modern music.
Known for their trademark, jazz-infused harmonies, their dynamic performances and their stylistic range, The Manhattan Transfer has achieved an incomparable career of hits across the pop, jazz and dance charts. The group was the brainchild of singer Tim Hauser (1941–2014), who, as a New York City taxi driver in the late ’60s, aspired to form a vocal harmony quartet that could authentically embrace a variety of musical styles. In a uniquely New York moment, Hauser met singers Laurel Massé and Janis Siegel in his taxi. Rounding out the group was Alan Paul, who, at the time, was a cast member of Grease on Broadway. On October 1, 1972, the four vocalists became The Manhattan Transfer.
In 1979, Cheryl Bentyne replaced Massé, and the group evolved a vocal fusion embracing electronics with newly energized vocal arrangements. The group’s next album, Extensions (1980), produced the dance hit “Twilight Zone / Twilight Tone” and “Birdland,” which earned the group their first two GRAMMYS and became one of their signature tunes. Today, the quartet features Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, Cheryl Bentyne (pro. Ben-teen) and Trist Curless, who became a member of the group in 2014, following the death of Tim Hauser. Now, with Fifty, the group proudly honors the musical legacy that Hauser left behind, while celebrating their incredible artistic journey—one that includes 19 singles, 29 albums, 10 GRAMMY® Awards collectively for the group and its members, 20 GRAMMY® nominations and an induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Along the way, they’ve had music featured widely in major films and television shows, while they have collaborated with some of the biggest names in the jazz and pop worlds, including Tony Bennett, Bette Midler, Smokey Robinson, Laura Nyro, Phil Collins, Take 6, B.B. King, Chaka Khan, James Taylor, Frankie Valli, Joe Zawinul, Asleep at the Wheel, Stéphane Grappelli, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, and Dizzy Gillespie.
The Manhattan Transfer Tour Dates 2022–2023
October/November 2022 - U.S. TOUR
October 21 - Sarasota, FL - Sailor Circus Arena
October 22 - Pinecrest, FL - Pinecrest Gardens Banyon Bowl
October 23 - Stuart FL - Lyric Theatre
November 3 - Los Angeles, CA - The Grammy Museum
November 2022 - EUROPEAN TOUR
November 10 - Hyvinkäa, FINLAND
November 11 - Oulu, FINLAND
November 12 - Kuopio, FINLAND
November 14 - Tampere, FINLAND
November 15 - Turku, FINLAND
November 16 - Jyväskyla, FINLAND
November 17 - Helsinki, FINLAND
November 19 - Malmö, SWEDEN
November 20 - Malmö, SWEDEN
November 22 - Stockholm, SWEDEN
November 24 - London, UK
November 26 - Nordham, Denmark
December 2022 - U.S. TOUR
December 16-17 - Costa Mesa, CA - Symphony Christmas (with Symphony) - Segerstrom Hall
2023
January 2023
January 8 - Huntsville AL - Library Theatre
January 10 - Avon Park, FL - Alan J. Wildstein Center for the Performing Arts
January 12 - Tallahassee, FL - Ruby Diamond Concert Hall at Florida State Univ
January 13 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - The Parker Playhouse, Broward Center
January 14 - Clearwater, FL - Capitol Theatre
January 15 - Ocala, FL - Reilly Arts Center
January 26–29 - Seattle, WA Jazz Alley - (The Manhattan Transfer 50th and Farewell to Jazz Alley)
February 2023
February 21-22 - Honolulu, HI - The Blue Note
February 23-24 - Kona, HI - Wailea Theatre
March 2023
March 24 - Bethesda, MD - The Music Center at Strathmore
March 25 - Reading, PA - Berks Jazz Fest
March 26 - Greensburg, PA - Palace Theater
April 2023
April 12 - Columbia, MO - Jesse Auditorium
More dates TBA
