Vinyl Vault: The Swingle Singers, “Anyone for Mozart?”

On the next Vinyl Vault, we’ll have a little night music, courtesy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as interpreted by The Swingle Singers on their 1965 Philips album, “Anyone for Mozart?”

Ward Swingle originally established The Swingle Singers in France in 1962. The group consisted of four men and four women, one of which was Chrisiane Legrand, sister of Michel Legrand. “Anyone for Mozart?” features Legrand and the original lineup. The album also features Daniel Humair on drums and Guy Pedersen on bass to propel the ensemble to an infectious swing.

All the Mozart compositions on this album are instrumentals, so the singers merely sing wordless vocals, not quite scat, but not a frivolous fa-la-la either.

Over the years, the group has changed names to “Swingle II” and more recently, “The New Swingle Singers.” The group, now a septet, still performs although Ward Swingle passed away in 2015. “Anyone for Mozart” was the group’s third album in a discography that now numbers nearly 50.

Check out some swinging Mozart this Tuesday, March 25 at 8:30 p.m. on the Vinyl Vault with Geoff Anderson on KUVO JAZZ.

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