The 2005
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
boxed set, ''Swingle Singers'' is a compilation of all eleven of the Paris-based
Swingle Singers' recordings made for Philips between 1963 and 1972. Ten of the eleven disks included in this boxed set had also been re-issued previously by Philips (Emarcy) in five "two-fer" compilation sets over the preceding five years.
Contents
* Disk 1: ''
Jazz Sébastien Bach
''Jazz Sébastien Bach'' (released as ''Bach's Greatest Hits'' in North America) is the debut album released by the Paris-based Swingle Singers. The album was a 1964 Grammy award winner for " Best Performance by a Chorus" and the group also won ...
'' a.k.a. ''Bach's Greatest Hits'' (1963)
* Disk 2: ''
Jazz Sébastien Bach Vol. 2'' a.k.a. ''Back to Bach'' (1968)
* Disk 3: ''
Noëls Sans Passeport'' a.k.a. ''Christmastime'' (1968)
* Disk 4: ''
Going Baroque / de Bach aux Baroques'' (1964)
* Disk 5: ''
Swinging Mozart'' a.k.a. ''Anyone for Mozart?'' (1965)
* Disk 6: ''
Les Romantiques'' a.k.a. ''Getting Romantic'' (1965)
* Disk 7: ''
Swingling Telemann'' a.k.a. ''Rococo Á Go Go'' (1966)
* Disk 8: ''
Les Quatre Saisons'' a.k.a. ''The Joy of Singing'' (1972)
* Disk 9: ''
Sounds of Spain: Concerto d'Aranjuez'' a.k.a. ''Spanish Masters'' (1967)
* Disk 10: ''
American Look'' (1969)
* Disk 11: ''
Place Vendôme
The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It i ...
'' a.k.a. ''Encounter'' (1966)
Personnel
The Swingle Singers = 8 voices: 2 sopranos, 2 altos, 2 tenors and 2 basses (accompanied by only a drummer and double bassist
[except on 1966's ''Place Vendôme'' with the Modern Jazz Quartet])
*
Christiane Legrand
Christiane Legrand (21 August 1930 – 1 November 2011) was a French soprano.
Biography
Legrand was born in Paris. Her father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as ''Irma la douce'', and her mother was Mar ...
– soprano
* Jeanette Baucomont – soprano (1963–1968)
* Nicole Darde – soprano (1969–1972)
* Claudine Meunier – alto
* Anne Germain – alto (1963–1965)
[except 1965's ''Les Romantiques'']
* Alice Herald – alto (1965–1966)
* Hélène Devos – alto (1967–1972)
*
Ward Swingle
Ward Lamar Swingle (September 21, 1927 – January 19, 2015) was an American vocalist and jazz musician who founded The Swingle Singers in France in 1962.
Life and career
Born in Mobile, Alabama, Swingle studied music, particularly jazz, from a ...
– tenor, arranger
* Claude Germain – tenor (1963–1966)
* Joseph Noves – tenor (1967–1972)
*
Jean Cussac
Jean Cussac (born 31 May 1922) is a French baritone and music director.
Biography
Born in Paris, Jean Cussac studied lyrical singing at the Conservatoire de Paris, and subsequently turned to jazz and joined The Swingle Singers at their creatio ...
– bass
* Jean Claude Briodin – bass (1963–1964)
* José Germain – bass (1965–1972)
Rhythm section:
* Andre Arpino –
drums (1963)
* Gus Wallez – drums (1963–1964)
* Daniel Humair – drums (1965–1968)
* Bernard Lubat – drums (1968)
* Roger Fugen – drums (1969–1972)
* Pierre Michelot –
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...
(1963)
* Guy Pedersen – double bass (1964–1968)
* Jacky Cavallero – double bass (1969–1972)
The
Modern Jazz Quartet (on ''Encounter'' / ''Place Vendôme'' only):
*
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
–
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
*
Milt Jackson –
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
*
Percy Heath
Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout ...
– double bass
*
Connie Kay
Conrad Henry Kirnon (April 27, 1927 – November 30, 1994) known professionally as Connie Kay, was an American jazz and R&B drummer, who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Self-taught on drums, he began performing in Los Angeles in the mid ...
– drums
Notes
References
* Philips 9826325
* ''Swingle Singers'' info at
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
.com including
complete track listingand general
discography
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
* Disc-by-disc track listing a
answers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swingle Singers (Philips Boxed Set)
The Swingle Singers albums
2005 compilation albums
Philips Records albums