CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

As with all Swingle Singers repertoire, the pieces are performed using just the human voice, imitating numerous instruments ranging from drum kit and double bass to crumhorns. The recording also includes a rare appearance by Ward Swingle at the piano. ’82 Swingle Singers’ bass Simon Grant’s extraordinary vocal percussion also includes his (now legendary) simultaneous whistling and singing.

Current Soprano Julie Kench interviews former members of the ‘82 group Olive Simpson, Mike Dore and Ward Swingle on their memories of the concert at the Village Gate that resulted in the "Live in New York" CD release.



Q. What is your overriding memory of the Village Gate gig?

WS: For anyone interested in jazz, the Village Gate has been a kind of Mecca. The proprietor, Art d’Lugoff, established a reputation that attracted most of the big names in the jazz world. For me, just walking into the club was a special event. Even when the club was empty I could still hear echoes of great jazz being made.

OS: I seem to have very fond memories of "White Russians" provided by the Village Gate staff, which usually made our second set of the evening much more enjoyable than the first (for me, at least)!

MD: At the VG, all dressed up in our djs & gowns, we gathered, each night, to go on stage...in the kitchen! It was not glamorous!!

Q. Why was the CD not released straight away?

OS: We were no longer signed to any of the major labels, and decided to opt for DIY - but the recording only ever existed in cassette form to sell at venues.

MD: As it says in the sleeve notes, there were only 2 nights recorded and the best tracks from each night were taken to make the then cassette (CDS were only a glimmer in someone's eye in 1982!). There was no editing & no parts were replaced, as it wasn’t possible - it was recorded straight onto 2 track! What you hear is what we did! It is truly LIVE! It was a cottage industry after that. We often had “cassette stuffing" meetings. Regularly, when stuffed stocks were down, we all gathered in a hotel room with empty cassette boxes, sleeves & cassettes & put them all together to sell! All of the revenue went into group funds. No one took any money from it. All sales money was put back in for the future of the group!

Q. When was the decision made to release LINY and how did it come about?

OS: Unlike our earlier recordings, we owned the masters, so after many years of thinking how nice it would be to release it properly, we finally got it together to propose the idea to the current group. We had always had such good reaction - even to the rather mediocre sound quality on the cassette - that it seemed a shame not to make it available in a more attractive format.

WS: The decision was made about a year ago.The release of the CD was made possible by the dedication and perseverance of Olive Simpson. Olive was first soprano in the Swingle Singers for some thirteen years, and she was part of the group who made the recording. After the reel-to-reel tapes had been located she, with the help of David Hudson, who at that time was the group’s sound engineer, produced an excellent transfer to CD.

Q. What is your favourite track on the CD, and why?

OS: My favourite track on the CD is Ward's composition "Come Live with Me", which I think shows off his skill as a composer and the group's talent for precision singing, swing and clarity of diction to perfection. The version on the CD is great, but I vividly remember having to reject the other possible version - which was even better - because of a problem with the sound at the very end of the song. Sadly, editing was not an option way back in 1982!

WS: "It was "Lover & His Lass". Each singer has a solo, and I think the performances are first-rate.

MD: There are too many...But I suppose "Romance" (only joking, as it’s my solo!). Ward's 3 Shakespeare compositions are all great! (I think "Lover & His Lass" was our first real attempt at choreography!) Seriously, I think maybe my favourites on the CD would be "Come live with me" or "Country Dances", or "Blue Rondo"

Q. I believe the picture on the insert was taken from a photo shoot for a women’s magazine. Can you tell us anything about that experience?

OS: Sue Bickley had the idea of suggesting a "before and after" type feature, and Woman Magazine took up the idea. We were all sent off to trendy hairdressing salons, kitted out and made up to the nines. Colin Thomas took the pictures - and then the whole thing failed to make it into print! Nobody remembers why. Consequently, this is the first time they have been used. I thought it was a shame not to use one, given the chance, and Colin very kindly agreed to give me his permission. The picture on the front was taken outside St. Paul's Cathedral the day we recorded a concert of Duke Ellington's Sacred Music for TV. Again, it has never been used before and I happened to have it in transparency form. It is colourful and relaxed, and worked better than our official shots of the '82 team.

MD: The photo on the front of the CD cover was taken in the grounds as we were rehearsing the Duke Ellington Concert at St Pauls Cathedral, i.e. In London & not in New York!. Originally it was a picture of just the seven of us and a separate one of Ward, and SL Chai, who designed the artwork, dropped Ward into a space. Modern technology!! Something else that would have been hard to do in 1982! The one inside was originally intended for Woman Magazine. This was one of the "after" shots - after we had been dressed, haircutted & made up...best you don’t see one of the "before" shots! Unfortunately, the article never happened and don't think we ever knew why. Maybe they didn’t like the yellow jackets or something! There was another shot, that we nearly used instead, even more camp (can you believe it?) with me lying on the floor & the girls all standing above & resting their heels on me. Quite naughty!

WS: There aren’t many pictures of that particular group, so it’s nice to have. I suppose you can say that it’s typical of the Swingling Eighties.



Q. How do you think the group has changed since '82, if at all?

OS: The biggest change is of course that the '82 team included Ward, and his arrangements and compositions formed the bulk of the repertoire. In more recent years, many of the arrangements have come from within the group, which makes for more variations in style. We also included some numbers which featured Ward on piano, whereas the group now works totally a cappella. Microphones and sound systems are so much more sophisticated and portable nowadays. The '82 team was coping with mic leads whose greatest desire in life was to become entwined, with the result that unless every move was carefully thought through, we finished up with a maypole effect and ever-shortening leads. We were never quite brought to our knees, but it was a close call occasionally. Radio mics didn't happen until after I left, alas - but made a huge difference to choreography when they arrived.

WS: In my humble opinion there have been too many changes in the personnel, but on the flip side the new people have brought new ideas, new sounds and new enthusiasm.

MD: The group since '82...Well, in terms of what it is, I don’t think the group has changed. The ethic is still the same. The best music of all types, sung by a great team of singers and led by one of the greatest musicians of his generation, Ward Swingle. I think the diversity of its material makes it unique and I think that’s one of the reasons it has survived for so long! Also, new members arriving have kept the average age of the group down, which means it’s forever young. It has always been evolving, but Ward has always been there to oversee, so that it remains one of the finest vocal groups in the world

Q. Did the recording take place on one night or was it done over a series of performances?

WS: We had shows every night for a week, but Olive, David Hudson (Sound Engineer) and Carol Canning chose the best from the shows of October 15th and 16th, because by then we were nicely settled in.

Q. How did you choose the repertoire for this particular gig?

WS: Most of the repertoire was chosen from what we were singing at that time, with a slight preponderance of jazz pieces.

Q. Can you describe the venue (Village Gate)?

WS: Dark, a bit shabby, with overly active acoustics, but nonetheless quite magical.

OS: The Village Gate was a glass-fronted cafe-bar in Greenwich Village. The Jazz Club was downstairs, and was quite small and intimate with the front tables inches from the stage. When not on stage we lurked in the kitchen area - and if this description is entirely inaccurate, blame it on the generosity of the bar staff. (See Q1)

MD: It was dark, like Ronnie Scott’s, not much lighting and not quite as glamorous!! They were a great friendly staff, the waiters & waitresses, and two of them threw us a party at their apartment in Greenwich village when we finished our time there, and even baked us a cake! I remember eating bagels for the very first time whilst at the VG

Q. When you started the group did you ever imagine it would still be going 40 years on?

WS: Heavens no!

Q. Are there any other unreleased treasures from the Swingle Singers?

WS: CBS and EMI have quite a few Swingle recordings e.g. "Madrigals", "Rags and all that Jazz", "Skyliner", "Lovin’ You", "Swingle Bells", "No Time to Talk" - all languishing on dusty CBS-EMI shelves.

Q. What mark would you like the Swingle Singers to leave on the musical world?

WS: It's a tiny mark, but a worthy one. We seized the opportunities and had a good go!

"Live in New York" is available now from the Swingle Singers, via their website www.swinglesingers.com.