Four Freshmen
| The Four Freshmen | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, classic pop, barbershop |
| Years active | 1948–present |
| Labels | Capitol, Liberty, Pausa Records, Coronet, Stylist, Creative World, Kahoots, Phonorama, Pickwick, Sunset, Crystal, Four Freshmen Society |
| Website | http://www.4freshmen.com/ |
| Members | Tommy Boynton Stein Malvey Jon Gaines Bob Ferreira |
| Past members |
Ross Barbour Don Barbour Hal Kratzsch Bob Flanigan Ken Errair Bill Comstock Ken Albers Ray Brown Autie Goodman Dennis Grillo Mike Beisner Rod Henley Dave Jennings Newton Graber Kirk Marcy Gary Lee Rosenberg Greg Stegeman Kevin Stout Alan MacIntosh Vince Johnson Brian Eichenberger Curtis Calderon |
The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires (Glenn Miller), The Pied Pipers (Tommy Dorsey), and The Mel-Tones (Artie Shaw), founded in the barbershop tradition. The Four Freshmen is considered a vocal band because the singers accompany themselves on guitar, horns, bass, and drums, among other instrumental configurations.
The group was founded in 1948, and reached its peak popularity in the mid-1950s. The last original member retired in 1993, but the group still tours internationally and has recorded jazz harmonies since its late 1940s founding in the halls of the Jordan School of Music at Butler University (Indianapolis).
In early 1948, brothers Ross and Don Barbour, then at Butler University's Arthur Jordan Conservatory in Indianapolis, Indiana, formed a barbershop quartet called Hal's Harmonizers. The Harmonizers also included Marvin Pruitt—soon replaced by Ross and Don's cousin Bob Flanigan—and Hal Kratzsch (1925–70), replaced in 1953 by Ken Errair. The quartet soon adopted a more jazz-oriented repertoire and renamed itself the Toppers. At first, they were influenced by Glenn Miller's The Modernaires and Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones, but soon developed their own style of improvised vocal harmony. In September 1948, the quartet went on the road as The Four Freshmen, and soon drew the admiration of jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman.
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