Cheryl Bentyne – Among Friends
A member of the well-know, chart-topping vocal ensembler The Manhattan Transfer, Cheryl Bentyne is a unique voice and talent.
This time the connection is the drummer David Tull, a friend of mine from our days at California State University at Northridge. After hooking back up during the Paul Smith project, I asked if there were other musicians/singers that might want to make a DVD with us. He immediately mentioned that he worked with Cheryl Bentyne and her pianist, producer Corey Allen. A couple of phone calls later and experiencing what AIX Records is doing on other releases and Cheryl was excited to proceed. The session was held in January of 2003…and what joy it was to see and hear someone with such amazing talent. As a member of The Manhattan Transfer, she made fantastic harmony and established herself as a premier artist, but on her own with this ensemble things really take off.
Born into a musical family, Bentyne started singing at age 13. At the encouragement of her mother she joined her father’s Dixieland and swing band, performing weekends at the local Elks Lodge. She honed her stage skills and developed her jazz and swing-style singing. Following graduation from Mount Vernon High School, Bentyne enrolled at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon. After studying theatre and music there she moved south to Seattle. While in the Seattle area she joined the New Deal Rhythm Band as the only female and singer, playing in local clubs as well as in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. After four years with the New Deal Rhythm Band, she set her eyes on a career in L.A.
Bentyne left Washington for Los Angeles, found a manager, and started playing local clubs. In 1978 she learned of an audition opportunity with The Manhattan Transfer, a group she had listened to and loved. The day after her audition, Bentyne was working at her daytime waitressing job when her manager phoned to inform her that she had passed the audition. Bentyne joined the group as the replacement for soprano Laurel Massé, who had been seriously injured in an automobile accident. Her professional recording debut was on the group’s 1979 album, Extensions which won them their first Grammy for “Birdland”, for “Best Jazz Fusion Performance”. To date the group has won a total of 10 Grammys.
Bentyne later shared another Grammy with Bobby McFerrin for “Another Night in Tunisia” from the album Vocalese, and received her own Grammy Award as the composer/writer of “Sassy”.
AIX Records’ premium DVD-Audio/Video have two sides. The first side in an interactive DVD-Video disc and the other side is a DVD-Audio disc [which requires a DVD-Audio capable machine to play it back].
The sound of this recording brings Cheryl’s special talent and her band into your listening space. The HD-Audio surround mixes immerse you in the musical interplay with full range frequency response and dynamics.
Corey Allen, Cheryl Bentyne, David Tull, Grant Geissman and Kevin Axt
Audio Samples
- They Can’t Take That Away From Me –
- The Very Thought Of You –
- Farmers Market –
- It Might As Well Be Spring –
- These Foolish Things –
- Still Good Friends –
- Loves River –
- Senor Blues –
- Get Out Of Town –
- Love Or Leave Me –
