|
 Beachfront
Property
“Jingle Jam”
News Article and Concert Review by TG
The 31st season of the Homestead Community Concerts opened
Saturday, December 15, 2007 with a southern California-based
vocal quartet called Beachfront Property. Their Homestead
performance entitled “Jingle Jam” put a jazzy twist on some of
the holiday’s most familiar and favorite music.
“Beachfront” is not a piece of real estate along the ocean, but
it is a hot property nonetheless. Sounding like “Manhattan
Transfer” meets “Take 6”, their smooth singing style combines
the rich sounds of jazz and the fun and energy of pop music. The
group was formed in 1979 to record commercial jingles. They
debuted “live” as the show opener for “The Hi-lo’s” in 1988 and
in 1990 released their first CD. They have shared the stage with
Mel Torme, “The Four Freshman”, “the Hi-lo’s, Kenny Rankin,
Crystal Lewis, “The Brothers Four”, and “Emerson Lake & Palmer”.
The members sound like a family reunion: Tom Dustman is the bass
and artistic director, soprano Jennifer is his wife, mezzo Jill
Mumaw and tenor husband Bill are Dustman relatives,
percussionist Cooper is Tom and Jennifer’s son, eleven year old
singer-dancer Mackenzie is Tom and Jennifer’s daughter, and nine
year old singer Max is Bill and Jill’s son. Are you thoroughly
confused yet? It gets easier now. The bass player is Carl
McVicker and the pianist is Clint Rusich.
Their performance came from their newest release, “A Beachfront
Christmas”. The CD has begun to show up on Jazz polls and is
getting play from radio stations across the country.
“Not everyone can sing in a group like this”, says Tom. “It
requires a special person to give, and give, and give.” His
performing philosophy is to entertain while at the same time
preserving some of America’s most beloved classics. “No one
person is the star.” Whether they are singing classic standards,
or cartoon tunes (his term for a piece they sang called “Linus &
Lucy”), or a Beach Boy medley the goal is to sing “with
impeccable precision along with ever so subtle purposeful
hesitation and syncopated timing.”
The success in achieving these goals was in part the combination
of family and non-family members that worked well together, and,
a consistent style whether accompanied or a cappella. Jazz vocal
pedagogy by its very definition must often ignore traditional
vocal training in favor of style. The often very bright straight
tone in close harmony requires incredible attention to balance
between parts, tuning, and blend. The “locking” of chords while
not unlike Barbershop is more difficult because the chords
usually are not structured to follow the natural harmonic
overtone series.
OK! Enough background, performance philosophy, and technical
pedagogical “stuff”. The concert was delightful. There was a
nice mix of up-tempo verses ballads, a cappella verses trio
accompaniment, and a sprinkling of solos. The trio of piano,
bass, and percussion were superb as support without “driving”
the vocal quartet. I was particularly impressed with the
drummer’s sensitive work staying inside the total ensemble
sound. Tom referred the vocal approach as being
“woven-together-like-cloth chords.” This expression could easily
be used to characterize the total ensemble.
One of the surprises was twelve year old Makenzie who presented
a graceful ballet to “Once Upon a December.” She also appeared
later in red “jammies” and pigtails and sang a cute audience
pleasing version of “Santa Baby.” Her showmanship in both
instances was polished and mature belying her young age. Bravo
Makenzie! “Baby It’s Cold Outside” was presented initially in
the traditional duet approach, but it was quickly joined and
became a double duet. Now another surprise. Eleven year old Max
and twelve year old Makenzie joined in and the piece became a
triple duet. Clever vocal editing with each duet sharing the
musical phrases.
One of my favorites was not as well received as the others.
Their version of “O Come All Ye Faithful” was perhaps the most
harmonically contemporary presentation of the program. The jazz
pedagog would have a field day debating whether the harmony had
added 11ths and 13ths or was it “cross chording (part of
different chords on top of each other), or was it some vocal
“bending” where on of the notes in the chord is deliberately
sung slightly out of tune. At one point my ears heard parallel
singing that was polytonal. At any rate I think it may have gone
beyond the audience’s comfort zone. I loved it! Another favorite
of mine was “Rudolph” where the soloist was accompanied by an a
cappella trio of “scat” singers. Scat singing is a jazz style of
using nonsense syllables (like “sku be du bob”) for rhythmic
purposes or to imitate instruments. Very well done!
Another audience favorite was a medley of Elvis tunes including
“Blue Christmas,” Love Me Tender,” “You Ain’t Nothin’ But a
Hound Dog: (with heavier more aggressive blues accompaniment)
and “Jailhouse Rock.” This last song had Tom and Bill in prison
garb doing their “Elvis thing” including singing through cell
bars (the mike stands).
The program ended with an up-tempo “Santa Claus Is Coming To
Town,” a Mamas & Papas medley and a Beach Boys medley. The girls
were in white flapper outfits complete with “go-go” boots and
the guys were in (are you ready?) bright orange flowered open
shirts over orange (yes orange) undershirts. Whoah!! The 60s
presentation found immediate audience approval. Reactions
included some singing here and there in the hall and hand
clapping. This last section was dedicated to Bob and Meda Jensen
who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Nice touch
guys. Their encore was a touching rendition (dedicated to our
vets) of “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
In closing a few non-music comments: Several times Tom
encountered mike problems. His mike was picking up interference
from somewhere. Was it a simple short in the “board” or was this
some new form of audio terrorism? Tom turned the problem into a
mini’”sctick” and vocally handled the problem like a pro. South
Florida audiences can be very different. Tonight’s patrons of
vocal artistic cheer showed up dressed for the holidays. There
were bright seasonal colors throughout the hall. There were also
earrings, lapel pins and necklaces “blinking” colors. It was
appropriate for the evening’s venue. What a warm and
entertaining way to start the Homestead Concert season.
Note: The next program is
“Prudence Johnson Sings The Great American Songbook” on
Saturday, January 12, 2008. |
