''Mecca for Moderns'' is the sixth studio album by

the Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer was an American vocal group founded in 1969 in New York City, performing music genres like a cappella, Brazilian jazz, Swing music, swing, vocalese, rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, and standards. They have won eleven G ...

. It was released in 1981 by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. This album was the highest-charting album to date for the group, peaking on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine's

Top Pop Catalog Albums Catalog Albums, previously Top Pop Catalog Albums, is a 50-position weekly albums chart produced by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the best-selling catalog albums in the United States, regardless of genre. ''Billboard'' defines a catalog titl ...

chart at No. 22. With this album, the Manhattan Transfer became the first group to win

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s in both the pop and jazz categories in the same year.

Awards

The song "

The Boy from New York City "The Boy from New York City" is a song originally recorded by the American soul group The Ad Libs, released in 1964 as their first single. Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song peaked at No. 8 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on th ...

" became their first top 10 hit, reaching number 7 on

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

chart. This song also won the group the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. The song "Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)" also earned them a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. The song "

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" is a British romantic popular song written in 1939 and published in 1940, with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz and music by Manning Sherwin. Setting Berkeley Square is a large leafy square in Mayfair, a part ...

" which was arranged by

Gene Puerling Eugene Thomas Puerling (March 31, 1929 – March 25, 2008) was an American vocal performer and arranger. Puerling created and led two prominent vocal quartets, The Hi-Lo's and The Singers Unlimited. He was nominated for 14 Grammys and awarded the ...

, won the Grammy Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices. The song "Spies in the Night", which incorporates the "

James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the List of James Bond films, James Bond films and has been used in every Bond film, starting with ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'' in 1962. Composed in E minor by Monty Norman, the piece has ...

", also charted on

Bubbling Under Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main Billboar ...

chart, peaking at number 103.

Album name

According to

Tim Hauser Timothy DuPron Hauser (December 12, 1941 – October 16, 2014) was a singer and founding member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer. He won 10 Grammy Awards as a member of The Manhattan Transfer. Early life Hauser was born in Troy, New Y ...

, he picked up the name for this album from a

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

album entitled ''Live at the Blue Note 1952''. "While reading the cover, he noticed it said 'The Blue Note was a haven for the smart set, in fact, the real mecca for moderns.' The group liked the phrase, and it fit well with the album concept.""Mecca For Moderns." The Manhattan Transfer. February 7, 2011. Accessed July 22, 2015. http://manhattantransfer.net/discography/mecca-for-moderns/

Track listing

Personnel

The Manhattan Transfer

Cheryl Bentyne Cheryl Bentyne (born Cheryl Benthien; January 17, 1954) is a jazz singer who spent much of her career with The Manhattan Transfer. Early years Bentyne started singing at age 13 with her father's Dixieland and swing band. Following graduation fr ...

– vocals *

Alan Paul Alan Paul Wichinsky (born November 23, 1949) is an American Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstan ...

– vocals, vocal arrangement (2, 4) *

Janis Siegel Janis Siegel (born July 23, 1952) is a multiple grammy-winning American jazz singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer. Musical career In 1965, Siegel made her recording debut with a group called Young Generation ...

– vocals, vocal arrangement (6)

Musicians

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

– Fender Rhodes (1), acoustic piano (1) *

Jay Graydon Jay Joseph Graydon (born October 8, 1949, Burbank, California) is an American songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards (in the R&B category) ...

– synthesizers (1, 3), guitar (1-4, 8), arrangements (1, 3, 5, 8), horn arrangements (2), rhythm arrangements (2, 4, 6), vocal arrangements (4, 6) *

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

– acoustic piano (2, 4, 5), keyboards (5), synthesizers (5) * Greg Mathieson – organ (3), synthesizers (3) *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthes ...

– synthesizers (4, 8) * Yaron Gershovsky – acoustic piano (6, 8) *

Milcho Leviev Milcho Leviev ( ; December 19, 1937 – October 12, 2019) was a Bulgarian composer, arranger, and jazz pianist. Leviev was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, into a Bulgarian Jewish family; his father was Izak Leviev and his brother was the artist Yoan ...

– acoustic piano (7, 8), arrangements (7) * Steve George – synthesizers (8) *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

– guitar (1, 4, 5) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

– guitar (2, 8) *

Al Viola Alfred Viola (June 16, 1919 – February 21, 2007) was an American jazz guitarist who worked with Frank Sinatra for 25 years. He played the mandolin on the soundtrack of the film ''The Godfather''. Biography Viola grew up in an Italian famil ...

– guitar (6) *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the fathe ...

– bass (1-8) *

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American jazz fusion drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and most highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction i ...

– drums (1, 3–8) *

Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Mini ...

– drums (2) *

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian–American jazz drummer and percussionist. He has also worked as an educator at University of California, Los Angeles, and Berklee College of ...

– percussion (3) *

Andy Narell Andy Narell (born March 18, 1954) is an American jazz steel pannist, composer and producer. Biography Narell took up the steelpan at a young age in Queens, New York. His father, who was a social worker, had started a program of steelpan playing ...

– cowbell (3), steel drums (3) * Don Roberts – saxophone (2) * Tom Scott – saxophone (3),

Lyricon The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first wind controller to be constructed. Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184) of Shadowfax, file ...

(3) * Richie Cole – saxophone (7) *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...

– trumpet (2) * Bernard Kafka – arrangements (8) *

– arrangements (9) *

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

– scatting (7)

Production

* Producer, Remix – Jay Graydon * Engineer – Joseph Bogan * Assistant Engineers – Bob Bullock and Deborah Thompson * Recorded at Dawnbreaker Studios (San Fernando, CA). * Overdubbed and Mixed at Garden Rake Studios (Studio City, CA). * Mastered by Bernie Grundman at

A&M Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served as C ...

(Hollywood, CA). * Musical Contractor – Frank DeCaro * Art Direction – Steve Arnold, Richard DeGussie and Sarah Richardson. * Photography – Steve Arnold

References

External links

The Manhattan Transfer Official Website

Mecca for Moderns
Retrieved from discogs October 16, 2010 {{Authority control 1981 albums The Manhattan Transfer albums Atlantic Records albums