September 1983 brought
Bodies and Souls, whose urban-contemporary flavor resulted in two R&B-chart singles — the #2 “Spice of Life” (also #40 on the pop chart) and the ballad “Mystery” (#80 R&B, #102 Pop). Despite its disappointing chart performance, “Mystery” — with powerful lead vocals by Siegel — has become one of the group's best-loved songs. Hauser has called it the group's biggest turntable (radio airplay) hit.
Anita Baker covered it on her breakout album,
Rapture.
The Manhattan Transfer's next set,
Vocalese (1985) was a
tour de force of highly complex material that tested the quartet's capabilities. It was a great critical success.
Vocalese received twelve Grammy nominations — at the time making it second only to
Michael Jackson's Thriller as the most nominated single album ever. The Transfer won in two categories: Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group, and Best Arrangement for Voices. This was followed by a live recording of many of these songs titled “Live”. This concert was also released on VHS and DVD.
For
Brasil, the group headed south to work with
Brazilian songwriters and musicians
Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, Djavan and
Gilberto Gil. Brasil won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
In 1991 the group released
The Offbeat of Avenues on the
Sony label featuring original tunes written or co-written by members of the quartet. This was followed by the release of their holiday CD titled
The Christmas Album.
Switching back to the Atlantic label, they recorded
Tonin' (a collection of R&B and pop hits from the 1960s which was rather unsuccessful),
The Manhattan Transfer Meets Tubby the Tuba (a children's album),
Man-Tora! Live In Tokyo (a concert recorded in 1986 in Japan), and their 1997 album
Swing covered 1930s-era swing music. Their final album for the Atlantic label was
The Spirit of St. Louis (2000), dedicated to the music of
Louis Armstrong.
The group was inducted into the
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in
1998.
rss feed