Extensions (The Manhattan Transfer album)

Last updated
Extensions
Extensions (Manhattan Transfer album).jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 31, 1979 (1979-10-31)
Genre
Length37:02
Label Atlantic
Producer Jay Graydon
the Manhattan Transfer chronology
The Manhattan Transfer Live
(1978)
Extensions
(1979)
Mecca for Moderns
(1981)

Extensions is the fifth studio album by the Manhattan Transfer, released on October 31, 1979, by Atlantic Records.

Contents

Marking a new era for the group, the album was the first one with Cheryl Bentyne, who replaced Laurel Massé in early 1979. It was also their first album with Jay Graydon in the producer's chair and their first to contain songs that were hits in both the jazz and pop categories. The song "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" reached No. 4 on the Billboard Disco chart and No. 30 on the Hot 100. "Trickle, Trickle" reached No. 73 on the Hot 100. The album reached No. 55 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.

The most widely known song from this album, "Birdland" by Weather Report, won the Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion. The song featured Pianist Billy Joel and drummer Jeff Porcaro. Best Jazz Fusion Performance in 1981. [1] Jon Hendricks wrote lyrics for the vocalese version on the album and Janis Siegel received a Grammy for her vocal arrangement of "Birdland".

Critical reception

The New York Times wrote that the album "carries their exploration of group harmony to a level of seriousness that finally establishes them as the legitimate heirs of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross and the Hi-Lo's." [2]

Charts

Extensions debuted on Billboard's Top Pop Album chart on December 8, 1979.

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Birdland" Jon Hendricks, Joe Zawinul 6:00
2."Wacky Dust" Stanley Adams, Oscar Levant 3:10
3."Nothin' You Can Do About It" David Foster, Jay Graydon, Steve Kipner 4:25
4."Coo Coo-U"Bill Loughborough, David "Buck" Wheat 2:13
5."Body and Soul" Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour 4:26
6."Twilight Zone / Twilight Tone" Bernard Herrmann / Jay Graydon, Alan Paul 6:05
7."Trickle Trickle"Clarence Bassett2:19
8."Shaker Song" Jay Beckenstein, David Lasley, Allee Willis 4:30
9."Foreign Affair" Tom Waits 3:54

Personnel

The Manhattan Transfer

Musicians

Production

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References

  1. LA Times Grammy winners database Accessed 2008 April 14.
  2. Holden, Stephen (6 Apr 1980). "Putting Some Jazz into the Cabaret Style". The New York Times. p. D22.