Manhattan Transfer at The Civic Theatre

By FEDERICO MONSALVE

The Manhattan Transfer have maintained a committed following, a recognisable repertoire, and a niche market of fiftysomethings with a passion for sweetened-up jazz vocal classics.

They have epitomised the small-band, poppish version of classic jazz by hyping the happy elements, the sappy, showbiz, sugary tones of their arrangements, and bringing an almost theatrical musical feel to their renditions.

Their performance at the Civic epitomised all those characteristics.

With an almost sold-out venue, Manhattan Transfer proved that even after 20 years of re-running through the Louis Armstrong standards, putting a bit of Hollywood showbiz flavour to bossanova, swing and bebop, they can still make the audience join in clapping bouts and foot-stomping.

Tim Hause, Alan Paul, Cheryl Bentyne and Janis Siegel scatted and frolicked through Route 66, Operator and Stompin' At Mahogany Hall.

The show concentrated on Louis Armstrong and the Transfer's most popular album, Vocalese, which put them at the top end of jazz pop music charts for generations.

The most exciting pieces came in the form of re-interpreting Django and working through some of their personal compositions with arrangements that put an uneven focus on the drum, guitar and sax back-up musicians as opposed to giving an extra chance for the Auckland Philharmonia to explore their swing-era big-band powers.

Bentyne was the diva of the evening, with a youthful voice that jumped from scale to scale and scatted with the agility and energy of the Transfer's early years. Her rendition of Mahogany Hall and her physical presence and bouncing around upstaged many of the other performers.

Although the length of their career has not reduced the quality and energy of their collective effort, one can notice the strain of individual performers - for instance, Paul's voice as he tries to hit the higher end of the scale.

The Auckland Philharmonia maintained a low profile for the first half of the performance, while Wayne Johnson on guitar and the rest of the back-up musicians stole the limelight from an orchestra that was far too large for the arrangements. Their musicianship did come together with a majestic introduction to the second half of the concert. A very together string section managed to punctuate the mood and direct the crowd to the Transfer's renditions of the Armstrong songbook.

The Transfer amaze audiences every time, not just by the flexibility of genres but also by their ability to reinvent themselves, bring something new to each rendition of such classics as Operator .

Combining the jazzy sounds of the Transfer and the classic big-band sound and swing of the Philharmonia ensured a spellbinding performance.