Jazz Articles about The Four Freshmen

The Four Freshmen: Tradition and Innovation in a New Century

by Richard J Salvucci
February 28, 2014

The year was 1963. The President of the United States was John F Kennedy. It was late Summer. I was riding back from the Jersey shore, returning from vacation. I was twelve years old. My Dad always had music on, always and everywhere, but especially, in the car, a two-tone 1955 Buick Special. I'm pretty sure the tuner had push buttons. I was, as usual, in the back seat. One reason the scene from fifty years ...

The Four Freshmen: The Four Freshmen and Live Trombones

by Robert J. Robbins
December 31, 2009

Over six decades ago, four undergraduates at Indiana's Butler University first joined their voices in song as The Four Freshmen and, in 1950, the quartet was heard by Stan Kenton, on whose trombone section the “Frosh" had modeled their sound. Kenton immediately demanded that the group be signed by his label, Capitol, and began an association which lasted over fifteen years. During that time, the Four Freshmen blossomed into a vocal group whose influence ranged from the Beach Boys to ...

The Four Freshmen: Celebrating 50 Years

by Dave Nathan
February 1, 2001

The Four Freshmen were extraordinarily popular during the 1950's and 60's when they worked with Woody Herman and were part of those elaborate Stan Kenton road shows. Not only did they feature extra close harmony, but they were unique in that they were also pretty good instrumentalists as well.

The occasion for this performance was a massive jazz concert in Clearwater, FL in 1971 which had Stan Kenton and Woody Herman, as well as other jazz artists on the bill. ...