Swing is a studio album released by The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...

 in 1997 on the Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 label. This album is a collection of 1930's and 1940s swing music with The Manhattan Transfer's jazz twist.

Track listing

#	Title	Writers	Length
1	Stomp of King Porter	Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists... , Jelly Roll Morton Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....	3:12
2	Sing a Study in Brown	Count Basie Count Basie William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years... , Larry Clinton Larry Clinton Larry Clinton was a trumpeter who became a prominent American bandleader.-Biography:Clinton was born in Brooklyn, New York. He became a versatile musician, capable of playing trumpet, trombone, and clarinet... , Jon Hendricks	2:51
3	Sing Moten's Swing	Jon Hendricks, Buster Moten, Bennie Moten Bennie Moten Bennie Moten was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of...	3:36
4	A-Tisket, A-Tasket A-Tisket, A-Tasket A Tisket A Tasket is a nursery rhyme first recorded in America in the late nineteenth century. It was used as the basis for a very successful and highly regarded 1938 recording by Ella Fitzgerald...	Al Feldman, Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist... .	2:57
5	I Know Why (And So Do You)	Mack Gordon Mack Gordon Mack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"... , Harry Warren Harry Warren Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...	3:34
6	Sing You Sinners	Sam Coslow Sam Coslow Sam Coslow was an American songwriter, singer, film producer, publisher, and market analyst. Coslow was born in New York City. He began writing songs as a teenager... , W. Frank Harling	2:45
7	Java Jive	Milton Drake, Ben Oakland Ben Oakland Ben Oakland was an American composer, lyricist and pianist most active from the 1920s through the 1940s. He composed mainly for Broadway and vaudeville, though he also worked on several Hollywood scores including for the film My Little Chickadee.Oakland often composed music only, collaborating...	2:51
8	Down South Camp Meetin'	Fletcher Henderson Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast... , Jon Hendricks, Irving Mills Irving Mills Irving Mills was a jazz music publisher, also known by the name of "Joe Primrose."Mills was born to Jewish parents in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919...	3:15
9	Topsy	Edgar Battle Edgar Battle Edgar "Puddinghead" Battle was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. He performed on trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and keyboard.... , Eddie Durham Eddie Durham Eddie Durham was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer and musical arranger of the swing music medium born in San Marcos, Texas, probably best known for his work with musicians like Cab Calloway, Willie Bryant, Andy Kirk, Glenn Miller, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie, among others...	3:14
10	Clouds	Jon Hendricks, Django Reinhardt Django Reinhardt Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...	7:12
11	Skyliner	Charlie Barnet Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...	3:11
12	It's Good Enough to Keep (Air Mail Special)	Charlie Christian Charlie Christian Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra... , Benny Goodman Benny Goodman Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America... , Jimmy Mundy Jimmy Mundy Jimmy Mundy was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Earl Hines.... , Alan Paul Alan Paul Alan Paul is a Grammy Award- winning singer and composer, best known as one of the founding members of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer. He played Teen Angel and Johnny Casino in the original Broadway cast of Grease where he introduced the songs "Beauty School Dropout" and "Born to Hand Jive"...	3:11
13	Choo Choo Ch'Boogie Choo Choo Ch'Boogie "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is a popular song first recorded in January 1946 by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five. It topped the R&B charts for 18 weeks from August 1946, a record only equalled by one other hit, "The Honeydripper"...  [live]	Denver Darling, Milt Gabler Milt Gabler Milton Gabler was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century.-Early life:... , Vaughn Horton	3:00

Guest artists

• Sing Moten's Swing, A-Tisket, A-Tasket, and Java Jive were recorded with Asleep At The Wheel
  Asleep at the Wheel
  Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
  
  .

• Sing A Study In Brown, Topsy, and Nuages were recorded with The Rosenberg Trio
  Rosenberg Trio
  The Rosenberg Trio are two guitarists and one bassist—Stochelo Rosenberg , Nous'che Rosenberg and Nonnie Rosenberg from the Netherlands. Their inspiration is Django Reinhardt, the legendary gypsy guitarist of the 1930s...
  
  . Nuages also features Stephane Grappelli
  Stéphane Grappelli
  Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
  
  .

• Ricky Skaggs
  Ricky Skaggs
  Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
  
   is featured on Skyliner and It's Good Enough To Keep.

• Mark O'Connor
  Mark O'Connor
  Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
  
   is featured on I Know Why, It's Good Enough To Keep, and Choo Choo Ch' Boogie.

• Many of the tracks feature lyrics by Jon Hendricks
  Jon Hendricks
  Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
  
  . The re-mix engineer was Ed Cherney and the album was produced by Tim Hauser
  Tim Hauser
  Tim Hauser is an accomplished singer who was a member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.-Early life:He was born in Troy, New York. Hauser, his sister Fayette, and their parents moved to the Jersey Shore when he was seven years old. He lived in Ocean Township, New Jersey and Asbury Park,...
  
  .

Cover Art

The cover art for Swing comes from a matchbook cover advertising "Hollywood's Jitterbug House" which was located at 875 North Vine Street in Hollywood. This venue featured Louis Prima

Louis Prima

Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...

and his band.