Product Description:
Manhattan Transfer: Cheryl Bentyne, Tim Hauser, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel (vocals).
Additional guest artists: Ben E. King, Smokey Robinson, Felix Cavaliere (vocals); Paul Jackson, Jr. (guitar); Jimmy Johnson (bass); Luis Conte, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion).
Additional personnel includes: Rene Toledo, Mike Landau, Dean Parks (guitar); Tommy Morgan (harmonica); Chris Hunter, Roger Rosenberg (saxophone); Jim Hines, Tony Cadlic (trumpet); Herb Besson (trombone); Robbie Buchanan (synthesizer, keyboards); Clay Ostwald (keyboards, programming); Abe Laboriel, Will Lee (bass); Jorge Casas (bass, programming); John Robinson, Mike Baird, Chris Parker, Carlos Vega (drums); Edwin Bonila, Lenny Castro (percussion); Steve Skinner (programming).
One would suspect that the Manhattan Transfer had as much fun recording TONIN' as the listener will have savoring its many attributes. This album is an uninhibited tribute to the Transfer's pop influences and favorite recording artists, effectively achieved by recording the golden oldies with the original artists. The familiar falsetto of Frankie Valli permeates "Let's Hang On," while the smooth '60s pop-soul voice of Felix Cavaliere carries the Young Rascals' "Groovin'." But there are many surprises. In one of her best recorded efforts, the reclusive Laura Nyro reminds us of her own great past reworkings of oldies. And things really heat up with the dynamic vocals of R&B great Ruth Brown, B.B. King and Chaka Khan, who rips "Hot Fun In The Summertime" to awesome bits.
But two songs performed on their own show the true talent and the sophisticated harmonies of Manhattan Transfer. The songs are both strongly identified with their original artists, and yet the quartet honors and interprets them properly.
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