Just who ARE these guys?

The Four Freshmen are, in the opinion of many, the greatest jazz vocal group of all time.  They've been entertaining us with terrific harmony arrangements of jazz and pop standards since 1948! (You'd think they'd have graduated by now or at least be sophomores...)

The Four Freshmen were born at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN in the Summer of 1948.  The original quartet was comprised of:

Bob Flanigan

Don Barbour

Ross Barbour

Hal Kratzsch

Their first professional booking was September 20, 1948 at the "113 Club" in Ft.  Wayne, IN.

And, as you enter Columbus, Indiana:

The Four Freshmen Sound

The Freshmen are unique because of the Freshmen "sound".  Singing groups at that time had the lead voice in the middle of the chord; the Freshmen was the first male group to put the lead voice at the top of the chord.  This led to arrangements that are as distinctive as fingerprints.  If you've ever heard a Four Freshmen cut, you'd recognize another -- anytime, anywhere.  The Freshmen called their style "open" harmony (as opposed to "close" harmony) because they spread their four voices over the area that a five-part group would cover.  Add their unique musical phrasing (more like instruments would play than voices would sing) and the Freshmen Sound came flowing out.

Musicianship

The other thing that made (and makes) the Freshmen unique is their instrumental musical ability.  Most singing groups just sing; the Freshmen provide their own accompaniment playing nearly a dozen instruments.

There's much more to see -- and hear:

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Note: Thisindicates the most recently changed section(s).
"Updated:" after each section title shows the date of the last change to each section.

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What's new on this site? (Updated: See date at the top of the page)

Buy Four Freshmen music at the FFS Music Mart (Updated: Dec 12, 2004)

More about the origin of the Four Freshmen (Updated: Jun 30, 1996)

Hear 'em sing (really) right here! (Updated: Mar 17, 2005)

Hear the "Ode to the Four Freshmen" by Kristian Lindeman! (Updated: Feb 15, 1999)

View the score to "Ode to the Four Freshmen" by Kristian Lindeman! (Updated: Jun 6, 1999)

The Four Freshmen TODAY! (Updated: Sep 1, 2001)

Where can I hear 'em perform? (Updated: Continually)

The Four Freshmen Society Convention: August 24-26, 2006 (Updated: Nov 15, 2005)

JOIN the Four Freshmen Society! (Updated: Oct 5, 2003)

Renew your membership in the Four Freshmen Society! (Updated: Jul 12, 2005)

Members Only section of the Four Freshmen Society Website! (Updated: Jun 1, 2005)

Check out the January-March FreshNews 2006 Online!
 (the newsletter of the Four Freshmen Society)! (Updated: Oct 13, 2005)

Four Freshmen Fans OnLine! (Updated: Continually)

Visit/Join our Four Freshmen Yahoo Group! (Updated: just about every day!)

Reviews of recent performances (Updated: Mar 14, 2005)

The complete Four Freshmen Discography (Updated: Nov 29,2001)

An alphabetic listing of every song ever sung by The Four Freshmen! (Updated: Jan 8, 2006)

All the Four Freshmen groups (22 of 'em!) (Updated: Sep 21, 2003)

The Four Freshmen Photo Album (Updated: Nov 22, 2001)

Want to own Freshmen arrangements written by Ken Albers? (Updated: Jan 6, 2006)

Four Freshmen Vocal Charts Available! (Updated: Apr 4, 2002)

Why the Freshmen sound like the Freshmen; article by Bob Jackson (Updated: Mar 11, 2005)

Four Freshmen Merchandise (Updated: Mar 18, 2002)

Four Freshmen-related links (Updated: Aug 8, 2004)

BUY Ross Barbour's Book! (Updated: Dec 15, 1999)

Geoff Kaiser's Golden Era of the Four Freshmen (Updated: Mar 11, 1997)

A Four Freshmen Biography (Updated: Mar 12, 1997)

Need more information about the Four Freshmen? Click .

Credits:
Opening cartoon courtesy Johnny Hart
Discography courtesy Geoff Kaiser
Alphabetic song list courtesy Bob Matkins

© 1995-2006 The Four Freshmen Society, Inc.