Discovery!


Stan Kenton and his orchestra was a major force in big-band jazz in the '50s. Stan first heard the Four Freshmen at the Esquire Lounge in Dayton, OH. Someone told him that there was this quartet that "sounded just like the band." Stan went to hear them and was blown away: Four young guys singing what sounded like five- or six- part harmony and, at the same time, playing a dozen instruments. Stan bugged Capitol Records so vigorously that they gave the Freshmen a recording contract in 1950.

The guys cut three singles for Capitol.

Sales of the first two were not encouraging.

In fact, Capitol considered dropping them without releasing their third single until Stan Kenton again intervened in 1952. The quartet got Capitol to give them a couple of copies of their third (unreleased) single "Blue World". They gave them to Detroit disk jockeys to promote a Freshman engagement at a bowling alley lounge called "The Crest". Within a week Detroit was calling "Blue World" a hit -- and by the Fall of 1952 the Freshmen sound was known all over the world. Capitol re-signed the group and they were on their way.

The group has made more than fifty albums between 1955 and 1994. While the members of the group changed several times over the years, the charts -- and the Freshman sound -- remained true to their roots.

Bob Flanigan was the spiritual leader of just about every Four Freshmen combination until 1992 when he retired (from singing and 'bone playing) to become the group's manager. The new Four Freshmen (the second group without Bob singing lead) sounds -- the same -- and, on some cuts, arguably better than the original group.