The Princeton Katzenjammers are the oldest co-educational collegiate a cappella group in the Ivy League. The group consists of fourteen to eighteen

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

students and holds auditions at the beginning of each semester. Its repertoire includes a wide variety of musical styles, with an emphasis on

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

, and classical. Their fifth album, "Midnight Comes Around" (1995), earned the group nominations in all Mixed Collegiate categories of the 1996 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, winning the Best Arrangement award for Rick Hoffenberg '94's arrangement of Thelonious Monk's

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive li ...

" 'Round Midnight," which was also selected for the "Best of College A Cappella" collection in 1996. CASA declared it "one of the finest vocal jazz tracks ever recorded by a collegiate group."

About the group

The group was founded by Peter Urquhart '74, a member of the Princeton Nassoons, and Mimi Danley '74, a member of the Princeton Tigerlilies, in 1973, the same year that undergraduate women first graduated from Princeton. The Katzenjammers joined four other Princeton a cappella singing groups in existence at the time: the Nassoons, Tigertones,

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, and the Tigerlilies. These groups, along with the Tigressions, the Wildcats, and the Roaring Twenty, form ''Acaprez'', an organization of eight Princeton University a cappella groups that organize arch sings and abide by regulations regarding the audition process and song ownership. The Katzenjammers have performed at numerous events on Princeton’s campus, in the surrounding community, across the United States and abroad. They participate in charitable events such as the 2014 "Sing Out for Shelter" benefit concert in Washington DC.

Origin of the name

Peter Urquhart recalls, "Somehow the name Katzenjammer came up, was overlooked briefly, and then considered again. I looked it up in the OED, and got excited about the confusion of meanings: 1. distress, depression; 2. a hangover, or symptoms of one; 3. a discordant clamor; 4. '' enfants terribles'', as in the Katzenjammer Kids from the cartoon strip. Images of wailing, drinking, trouble-making, cats, jamming, Katz: a little degenerate maybe, but otherwise perfect. That was it!"

Music

The Katzenjammer repertoire spans a wide range of genres, including jazz, classical, secular, sacred, folk, and pop music, with over one hundred arrangements in the complete repertoire. Undergraduate members and alumni alike continue to contribute new arrangements at a regular pace. Two of Peter Urquhart's first arrangements written specifically for the Katzenjammers, "Ticket to Ride" and "Stoned Soul Picnic", remain traditional favorites and are always featured at reunions of Katzenjammer alumni.

Discography

With samples of selected tracks: * ''Take One'', 1977 (LP) * ''Double Take'', 1984 (LP) * ''Time after Time'', 1989 (CD, Cassette) * ''Sense and Muses'', 1992 (CD, Cassette) * ''Midnight Comes Around'', 1995 (CD, Cassette) �
On Broadway
* ''XXV'' (25th Anniversary Compilation), 1998 (CD) * ''Traffic Jam'', 1998 (CD) �
Route 66
�
I Caught a Touch of Your Love
* ''Autumn Leaves'', 2001 (CD) �
Autumn Leaves
�
Misty
�
In the Mood
�
A Red, Red Rose
�
Do the Walls Come Down?
�
A Foggy Day
* ''Sassafras & Moonshine'', 2004 (CD) �
Stoned Soul Picnic
�
To Make You Feel My Love
�
You're No Good
�
In the Mood
�
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
�
O Magnum Mysterium
* ''Scratching Out a Tune'', 2008 (CD) �
Gospel Tropes
�
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
�
'Round Midnight
* ''I Want It To Be'', 2011 (Single) * ''Thoughts of Reminiscing'', 2013 (CD)

Recent Tours

The Katzenjammers tour both domestically and internationally, usually during Princeton's fall and spring breaks, and occasionally during

Intersession Intersession is a short break or mini-term between the traditional, standard academic terms. An intersession may be a period of a few weeks between semesters or quarters during which students can take short, accelerated classes or complete other ...

in January, between the winter break and first semester examinations. * Fall 2016:

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

* Fall 2015:

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...

* Fall 2014:

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

* Spring 2013:

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

* Fall 2012: Sarasota, FL * Fall 2011:

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

* Intersession 2010:

San Francisco, CA San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

* Fall 2008:

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

* Spring 2008:

Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

* Fall 2007:

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

* Spring 2007: Georgia * Fall 2006:

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

* Fall 2005:

* Spring 2005:

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

* Fall 2004:

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

* Intersession 2004:

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

* Spring 2001:

Notable alumni

* Todd Purdum '82: national editor and political correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine * Valerie Vigoda '87: composer and member of musical group GrooveLily
Zachary Knower '88
actor * Ryan Brandau '03: choral composer, arranger, director, and professional singer * Geoff McDonald '07:

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

player in the band Miracles of Modern Science * Evan Younger '08:

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

player and vocalist in the band Miracles of Modern Science * Kim Riether Coupounas '89, founder of GoLite, outdoor industry entrepreneur, global sustainable business leader * G. Scott Clemons '90
Chief Investment Strategist
at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. * Ben Taub '14: contestant in Season 3 of The Voice Brooke Shields '87 auditioned for The Katzenjammers in the fall of 1983, but either declined a callback or was rejected.

Awards

References

External links

The Princeton Katzenjammers

Princeton University Katzenjammers on iTunes
* https://www.youtube.com/user/PrincetonKJs * https://www.facebook.com/princetonkjs * https://www.instagram.com/princetonkjs {{authority control Collegiate a cappella groups Princeton University Musical groups established in 1973