Four Freshmen still packing in audiences

For close to 60 years, the Four Freshmen have been proponents of cool vocal and instrumental jazz style. Not only have they survived changing musical tastes and changing singers over the decades, they remain as popular as ever.

Voted the number-one vocal group in a 2003 Jazz Times readers poll and Downbeat Magazine’s best vocal group in 2000 and 2001, the Four Freshmen will appear at the University April 6. BGSU’s own Jazz Lab Band will warm up the audience starting at 7:30 p.m., with the Four Freshmen taking the stage at 8 p.m. in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

The special event is part of Jazz Week ’05, a series of jazz performances presented each spring by the College of Musical Arts.

The original Four Freshmen, founded in 1948 at Butler University in Indiana, rose to national attention through the efforts of Big Band leader Stan Kenton and went on to influence jazz and pop groups of the '50s and beyond.

There have since been 22 versions of the group—but their unique sound remains.

In addition to singing time-honored hits from the past, the Four Freshmen are writing their own compositions and arrangements these days, keeping their talents focused on what they have always sought to do: make great sounds. Their latest CD, “The Four Freshmen: In Session,” was recently released.

The concert is sponsored by BGSU Trustee and Four Freshmen fan Bob Sebo and his wife, Karen. In addition to the public performance, members of the popular quartet will give instrumental and vocal clinics for University students during their campus visit. The event is part of a monthlong celebration of Building Dreams: The Centennial Campaign for Bowling Green State University.

Tickets are $25. For information, call the College of Musical Arts box office at 2-8171.