eJazzNews Archive

JazzTrenzz: Between Sets with Tim Hauser and Alan Paul

Originally published on eJazzNews · · By Karl Stober · Interviews

In November 2004, eJazzNews columnist Karl Stober interviewed Tim Hauser and Alan Paul of the Manhattan Transfer for his JazzTrenzz series about Vibrate, the vocal group’s first album after a four-year break, released by Telarc in September 2004. Hauser, who founded the group, died on October 16, 2014, at the age of 72; the Manhattan Transfer continued with Trist Curless in his place.

What Hauser and Paul said in 2004

Both men said they never expected the group to last more than 30 years. Hauser described the early Manhattan Transfer as a kind of workshop, built on the idea that a group of men and women together offered more possibilities. Paul recalled that he was appearing in Grease on Broadway, and bored, when the group came along.

For Hauser the turning point was the album Extensions, with “Birdland” and “Twilight Zone.” It did badly in England, he said, but broke the group in America and Japan and brought its first Grammy, for “Birdland.” Vibrate was a deliberate return to the mix of unrelated styles on their first albums; Hauser said he had wanted another vocalese record but went with the group’s wish for something eclectic. Paul brought in three Rufus Wainwright songs, “Poses,” “The Greek Song” and “Vibrate.” Janis Siegel brought “Walkin’ in N.Y.,” a song by her friend Brenda Russell, and Hauser, who mixed the album, said he mixed that track about six times. “Doodlin'” had been in their repertoire since 1972 or 1973 but had never been recorded. Paul also announced an a cappella Christmas album, to be released first in Japan with King Records.

Who Tim Hauser was

Hauser was born in Troy, New York, on December 12, 1941, and grew up on the Jersey Shore. He sang doo-wop as a teenager, sang in folk groups at Villanova University, served in the Air Force and worked in market research for Nabisco before forming the first Manhattan Transfer in 1969, named after John Dos Passos’s 1925 novel. While driving a cab to support himself he met Laurel Massé and Janis Siegel, and in 1972 they and Alan Paul formed the version of the group that became famous. Ahmet Ertegun signed them to Atlantic and co-produced their first album with Hauser. Their version of “Chanson d’Amour” topped the British singles chart in 1977, and Cheryl Bentyne replaced Massé in 1978 after a road accident. The group’s first Grammy came for its vocalese version of Weather Report’s “Birdland,” on which Hauser’s voice followed Jaco Pastorius’s bass line note for note, and its 1985 album Vocalese received 12 Grammy nominations.

After the interview

The Christmas album came out as An Acapella Christmas, with a US release on Rhino in 2006. Hauser made a solo album, Love Stories (2007), for the Japanese label King. He died on October 16, 2014, of cardiac arrest at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania, where he had been admitted with pneumonia after falling ill on the way to a show. Trist Curless of the a cappella group m-pact took his place, and the group’s later albums included The Junction (2018) and Fifty (2022). For other songs the group recorded, see our list of the most famous jazz songs.

Where to start listening

  • Extensions (Atlantic, 1979): the album with “Birdland” that Hauser called the turning point.
  • Vocalese (Atlantic, 1985): the group’s vocalese project, nominated for 12 Grammys.
  • Vibrate (Telarc, 2004): the album discussed in this interview.

Sources

This page is based on an article from the original eJazzNews archive (2001 to 2018), with background and sources added in 2026. The original text is not republished here. You can read the original as it appeared on eJazzNews via the Internet Archive.
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