This article appeared on the Arts page of the December 6, 1995 Tech Talk. The photographer is Justin Knight.
When Solomon Douglas and Rosemary McNaughton met at MIT and began talking about forming a vocal jazz group, their original plans were modest. ``Last summer, we sent email to several carefully chosen mailing lists asking for volunteers for a group we thought would include five singers and three instrumentalists,'' recalled Mr. Douglas, a senior majoring in music and mathematics. But the response was ``tremendous,'' he said. The concept was expanded to include 12 to 16 singers, and after holding open rehearsals at the end of the summer, a group called the Tech Jazz Singers was born.
The Tech Jazz Singers (TJS), MIT's newest vocal ensemble, debuts with two public performances this week. Made up of 13 voices (seven women and six men) and a rhythm section (piano, bass and drum), the TJS performs music from the tradition of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Mel Tormé, Manhattan Transfer and others.
``Here on the East Coast, the idea of a 12-voice choir with a rhythm section doing jazz seems unknown,'' said Mr. Douglas, who played piano in his high school jazz band in Toronto. ``People who are hip to the idea have commented on how great it is to hear that vocal jazz lives in the east,'' he remarked. ``I get the feeling we're spreading the gospel of vocal jazz to people who've never heard of it before.''
The TJS' arrangements come from a variety of sources. MIT Lecturer Edward Cohen contributed an arrangement he wrote of Duke Ellington's Satin Doll. An expedition to the MIT Music Library netted a transcription of the original 1941 arrangement of Take the `A' Train, written and arranged by Billy Strayhorn for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The instrumentation includes words to all the sax, trombone and trumpet parts written by Jon Hendricks, a master of vocalese - the art of putting words to instrumental jazz solos and composition.
``We come more or less equally from either instrumental jazz or vocal backgrounds,'' said Adam Lindsay, a graduate student in the Media Lab. ``We all share an interest in what the `other half' has to offer - vocalists are interested in learning about jazz and jazzers in learning more about singing,'' he continued.
``Being rather new to jazz, I quickly grew fond of the freedom involved in working with the music, listening to the other voices and blending with them to create a unique and pleasing sound,'' said Jeri Champion, a junior in chemical engineering whose previous experience was in larger choirs. ``Working with other singers so closely is also really nice.''
The TJS is completely student-run. Janis Stipins, a junior in mathematics, directs, and Mr. Douglas obtains and distributes the music and organizes behind-the-scenes details with Ms. McNaughton, president of TJS and a junior in earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences who sang in her high school jazz chorus in California. ``We've been fortunate to get input from MIT music faculty members Pamela Ambush, Marcus Thompson and John Harbison, and lecturers Bill Cutter and Jim O'Dell of the music faculty have visited our rehearsals,'' she added. The group has rehearsed twice a week through the fall.
The TJS will make a guest appearance at the Festival Jazz Ensemble concert on Friday, Dec. 8, at 8pm in Kresge Auditorium (admission $2), and perform a free concert on Sunday, Dec. 10, at 8pm in Kresge Little Theater. For the December 10 concert, they'll share billing with the MIT Jazz Collective, a 6-piece jazz combo made up of musicians who are also in the TJS. The MIT Jazz Collective concentrates on original compositions and original arrangements of jazz standards.
The TJS have already been invited to participate in a jazz festival in Durham, NH, in March 1996 by Chris Humphrey, director of vocal jazz at the University of New Hampshire who has given the group arrangements and advice.
To learn more about the Tech Jazz Singers, see their Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/tjs/www/home.html, e-mail <tech-jazz-singers-acl@mit.edu>, add yourself to the <tech-jazz-singers-announce> mailing list or call Mr. Douglas at x5-6400.