Founder recaps Freshmen years

By Jerry Fink

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008 | midnight

In a world where fame often is fleeting, this is the 60th year the Four Freshmen have been harmonizing their smooth jazz and pop melodies.

The quartet launches its anniversary tour at the South Point on Friday and Saturday.

Although the Four Freshmen have undergone several incarnations since the original four vocalists came together in 1948, the sound has remained constant -- complex and sophisticated harmonies by singers who accompany themselves with instruments.

The jazz combo, whose fan base included such legends as Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman, traces its roots to Butler University in Indianapolis. The original members were brothers Don and Ross Barbour, cousin Bob Flanigan and Hal Kratzsch, all of them music majors. Since then dozens have been counted among the four. The current lineup includes Bob Ferreira (a Freshman for 15 years), Brian Eichenberger (11 years), Vince Johnson (eight years) and Curtis Calderon (six years).

Flanigan, now 81 and a resident of Las Vegas, was with the group the longest -- almost 45 years before retiring in 1991. He still owns the group's name and will be on hand to introduce the Four Freshmen this weekend. The former vocalist/trombonist recently talked to the Sun about his life and his group.

Q Why did you decide to move to Las Vegas after you retired?

We were living in San Fernando Valley, up in the Granada Hills. I just decided I didn't like it there anymore. There were too many people. I said I've got to go someplace where there's still a small-town atmosphere. So we moved to Las Vegas. The rest is history. But I love the desert. And we enjoy Las Vegas.

What made you decide to retire?

I always said as long as I could sing the part I would stay, but the minute I feel like I'm not doing it I'm going to quit. And I did. I didn't want to embarrass the group or myself. I still believe in what the group does. It's still worthwhile. It's musical. I stayed until I thought I should leave.

You, personally, were on the road for almost 45 years. Was it difficult?

I don't mind the road. That's the thing that got to most of the people who were with the group and ended up quitting. Three of the biggest road rats in the world -- Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington and Woody Herman -- all three said I was the worst road rat they ever saw. The road never bothered me.

How did the group first get together?

We were in college together, studying to be music teachers, and that's where we started singing together. We all grew up singing harmony parts in our families. Don and Ross were singing barbershop. I wasn't involved in that. When they decided they wanted to do something else, I went in with the group. I had a high tenor voice. We started off copying things that Mel Torme did with Mel Torme and His Mel-Tones (formed in 1947) -- and Artie Shaw and Stan Kenton. We did all the arrangements by ear until 1953. We started off singing a cappella, but all of us also played instruments, so on the road we started playing as well as singing.

Initially, what were your plans?

We envisioned ourselves just singing in college, having a good time doing it, and then we decided we had something worthwhile and decided to go on the road, which we did. We were only going to go on the road for a year and then go back to school but we started doing some business and said, “OK, one more year.” Then we met Stan Kenton and he became very interested in the potential of the group and he said he wanted to help. That triggered it, and we kept doing it. We never went back to college. We were in our freshman year when we quit.

Hence the name?

Yeah. Two of us are still alive -- me and Ross (Barbour, Flanigan's cousin). He lives in Simi Valley, California. We're going to receive an honorary music degree from Butler University in May.

So Stan Kenton launched your career?

Yeah. He introduced us to Capitol Records and they recorded a couple of things on us and nothing happened. But then we had a thing called “It's a Blue World.” We were going to Detroit for an engagement and we had a friend who was a DJ there. He said give him something he could play, so we gave him “Blue World.” It got 40 plays a day. That was 1952. That record launched our career.

You started at a time when there were some great musicians. What was it like?

We tried to be as musical as possible. In those days we had Hoagy Carmichael and (Johnny) Mercer. You had so many great songwriters and so many great tunes. We were kind of like Frank Sinatra in that we had a run of some great, great material. We were lucky. We did exactly what we wanted to do, musically, and we still do. The guys in the group now are performing some old things but also doing some things that guys in the group have been writing. They're good tunes.

You were hot in the '50s and '60s. Was it easy from the beginning, or did you struggle?

We were having a lot of trouble till we had “Blue World.” We worked some strange places. But after “Blue World” we were lucky enough to connect with the college kids. We did every major university in the United States in a 10-year period. A lot of those people we met and played to are still fans of the Freshmen.

Did you ever play Vegas?

The first job we played in Las Vegas was at the El Rancho in 1952, when I was a mere child. We never worked Vegas for any long period of time but we've played at every hotel that's been imploded.

Do you consider your music pop or jazz?

We were more in the jazz field. We were adopted by Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Duke Ellington. We were very closely associated with those people. They had a lot of respect for us and we had a lot of respect for them. The music was great. Charlie Parker. Dizzy. Woody Herman. Stan Kenton. Count Basie. It was a thrilling time to be around the music business.

How did the so-called British Invasion affect the group?

It did affect us in some ways, but we've kind of been out there almost by ourselves with that kind of singing. I mean we influenced people like Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys). I met him when he was very young. His father brought him to see us. After that he said he decided to write music that sounded like the Four Freshmen. But he took it to his own level.

What about today's music? Like it or hate it?

I don't go out and listen to it much. I'm not very pleased with today's music. There's so much background it's hard to tell what anyone's singing. I'm not into that at all. I won't even watch the Grammys on television. It's ridiculous. It has nothing to do with music.

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at [email protected].