JAZZ REVIEWS : Manhattan Transfer Has It Together at Irvine Meadows

If nothing had been heard Saturday during Manhattan Transfer’s concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre except the first half-hour of the show, these few numbers alone would have reaffirmed what has long been taken for granted: that this is the most accomplished of all the jazz-oriented vocal groups, singing the most ingenious lyrics to the most attractive songs, in the best arrangements and with the richest blend.

This is another way of saying that the opening portion of the program was devoted to songs from the quartet’s best album, “Vocalese,” with such delights as Janis Siegel explaining the meaning of Jon Hendricks’ lyrics to “Joy Spring,” then singing what was originally a solo by its composer, Clifford Brown; Tim Hauser verbalizing the Harold Land solo from the same record, and Cheryl Bentyne, in “Meet Benny Bailey,” vocalizing a chorus played by the trumpeter in an old Quincy Jones tune dedicated to Bailey.

These were just a few of the almost endless pleasures in the jazz segment. Others were “Move,” adapted with finesse and fidelity from the Miles Davis record, and, perhaps most startling of all, a passage in “Jeannine” during which all four, a cappella, sang different lines in counterpoint, building to an incredible pitch of tension.

It would be unfair to imply that everything after these pieces was anticlimactic. There were solo specialties such as Siegel singing Dave Frishberg’s “You Were There,” and, during the second half, some of the better pieces from the Transfer’s Brazilian album. The evening took a political turn when Hauser, after the group’s rendition of Gilberto Gil’s “Hear the Voices,” told of Gil’s imprisonment in Brazil for the progressive idea expressed in his songs; then Hauser made an impassioned statement about South Africa and Nelson Mandela, to whom he dedicated the next song, “Notes From the Underground,” featuring Alan Paul.

Of course, there were many lighter moments: Hauser had the big crowd dancing to “Boy From New York City.” There were a couple of doo-wop songs, as well as some jokes about Newark, and that everlasting empty-suit song “Java Jive.” But these were small token prices to pay for what was overall an evening of vocal and instrumental togetherness.

Special credit must go to Yaron Gershovsky, still the group’s musical director and keyboard soloist, and to such capable musicians as Don Roberts on saxophone and Wayne Johnson on guitar. There is a rare empathy here; one had the feeling that if all these singers and musicians were awakened at 5 a.m. and told to get ready immediately for an unscheduled show at 5:30, they would put on as immaculate a concert as any they have ever done.