Herewith, reproduced verbatim in its entirety, is the definitive history of the Princeton Nassoons, as published by the Nassoon Alumni Association in its commemorative CD, "Nassoons - The First Fifty Years, 1941 - 1991, an a cappella collection. " The Late '50s/Early '60s Nassoons history is inextricably interwoven herein.

We might best begin with the obvious. The Princeton Nassoons have built a national and even international reputation as one of the finest college a cappella singing groups by performing material which was, with few exceptions, internally generated. The tradition of in house arrangements dates from the earliest days of the group, and remains central to its musical identity. Self-sufficiency has always been a hallmark of the Nassoons, whether in the organization of rehearsals, the management of finances, or the planning of tours. No less in the selection and acquisition of music.

The accomplishments of Nassoon arrangers (and singers!) speak for themselves, but it is worth bearing in mind the obstacles they have faced and overcome. Most of the songs featured here were familiar to the audiences that first heard them from recordings by popular musicians of various descriptions. The challenge facing any vocal arranger is to transfer the magic of those performances, by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, into an entirely different and highly constrained medium. A rich and varied palette of sounds - horns, strings, guitars, percussion - must be imitated or evoked using only the human voice or, in this case, using twelve to sixteen male human voices. Attention to how the arranger does this, using four or five voice parts and a well-worn catalog of oo's and ah's, doo's and doh's, and bo's and bums, can turn the casual listener into an a cappella aficionado.

The selections presented here may be seen, then, as the responses of several talented young men to the popular music of their own generation or generations past, rendered in the peculiar vocabulary of a cappella singing. From the beginning, diversity was central to the tradition, as the oldest tracks on this collection demonstrate. Note the contrast between Jim Lotspeich's elegant treatment of Triangle's "As I Remember You" for the original Nassoons, and Don Finnie's vigorous setting of "You Gotta Have Everything" (also from Triangle) for the postwar group. The difference is as much one of style as material: compare also Lotspeich's "East of the Sun" (that most famous of Triangle tunes) with Finnie's "Sweet Georgia Brown," both performed here by the 1978 Nassoons with the inimitable Jack Serabian as soloist. The one lilts, the other swings.

Although Lotspeich's brief but charming "Nassoon Signature" makes an open bid for "theme song" of the Nassoons, that role was to be filled by two other numbers. Dick Armstrong composed the "Senior House Blues" for a quartet of ensigns to which he belonged during the Second World War. He rewrote the words upon joining the Nassoons, and the "Tigertown Blues" debuted at the postwar group's first public concert in November, 1946. Performed here by Armstrong himself, its popularity is no mystery.

"Tigertown" served as a semi-official theme song for decades, but a slightly older tradition proved to be more durable. "Perfidia" was donated by non-Nassoon Jack Schuman, and attained legendary status when it single-handedly salvaged what had been a demoralizing performance at Yale in 1941. Inspired by the rapturous response to continue with their little a cappella project, the Nassoons were in a very real sense born on that November evening. The version performed here by the 1967 Nassoons - the repeat verse raised a half-step with a driving "oom-bah" bass line - dates from the late 1950's.

The 1940's-era material is rounded out by two barbershop medleys, "Abadaba / Jungletown" and "Mary Ann's / Floatin' Down.'' The former, compiled by Jim Buck, is performed in its original incarnation, while the latter, in a performance by the 1986 Nassoons, demonstrates how a little well-placed slapstick can keep a classic genre vital.

Already in these early arrangements we find techniques that were to be imitated and developed in later years: rich, five-part settings of block harmonies ("As I Remember You " "You Gotta Have Everything"), a solo verse followed by a group response ("Abadaba / Jungletown," "Tigertown Blues," "Sweet Georgia Brown"); the use of an independent bass line ("Perfidia"). In the early 1950's, as the second cohort of postwar Nassoons began to leave their mark on the fledgling tradition, arrangers began experimenting with new and innovative ways of "giving voice" to music. The works of Chalmers "Ham" Hamill, John Miller and Bob Morgan featured here exemplify the rich period of creativity which followed.

It was above all the breadth of his musical tastes and the depth of his ability which made Hamill so important to the history of Nassoon music. The number and popularity of his works in his opus dwarf that of any other arranger, and his prodigious talent is reflected in the diversity and quality of that body of work. No arrangement captures the flavor of swing jazz quite as well as "Exactly Like You," and few can rival "All the Things You Are" for delicate beauty, or "Mountain Lullaby" for tongue-in-cheek humor. Hamill also added folk songs such as "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" to the repertoire, inaugurating a tradition which would lead to the inclusion of "Danny Boy" and the "Nightherder's Song" in the roster of Nassoon classics.

The growing emphasis on achieving a "modern" sound in the later fifties meant that the bulk of the arrangements of that period were ballads. John Miller and Bob Morgan proved to be masters of the genre, fuming out unforgettable tenor features such as "The Four Winds and the Seven Seas" and "While My Lady Sleeps," presented here in their original recorded form. Both rank among the more difficult solos to pull off successfully, and the performances of Tip Larkin and Bob Cowden merit special mention. Miller's original setting of the familiar spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," like Hamill's decision to set folk music, further broadened the musical horizons of the group, and found its most notable echo in Dick Peterson's "Steal Away."

If Hamill's central achievement was to lead the Nassoons boldly where they hadn't gone before, the arrangers of the later fifties helped to orchestrate the rise of the featured soloist as a central element of the Nassoon sound - as important a development as any in the musical history of the group. During the 1960's a remarkably talented crop of arrangers borrowed and refined this stylistic vocabulary to create some of the best-loved entries in the Nassoon catalog.

The 1959 and 1961 records bring us "Fools Rush In" and "I Cover the Waterfront" from Dick Peterson, perhaps the finest craftsman the Nassoons have seen. "Waterfront" weaves solo, quintet and ensemble sections together with consummate skill, while "Fools" is distinctive for seamlessly moving the melody from the bass section to tenor solo and back again. Mac Mellor's innovative harmonization of "Danny Boy" is a treasure in itself, but Jay Coupe's moving solo performance steals the show. A long time fan can only add - "now, for the first time, on CD!"

The "golden age" selections are rounded out by a pair of Kent Mullikin arrangements, "The Land of the Sea and Sun" and "Nightherder's Song," from the 1965 record, along with David Robinson's elegant treatment of the Latin jazz classic, "The Girl From Ipanema," presented here by the 1967 group. The self-assurance of these works is remarkable: the hallmark of a tradition in perfect balance between convention and creativity. By the end of the decade the pendulum had begun to swing the other way, and arrangers went searching once more for greener pastures.

The 1970's saw a dramatic shift in the musical direction of the Nassoons: not since the early 50's had the repertoire been infused with such a quantity of fresh and original material. While some of the changes were rather radical from the narrow perspective of Nassoon musical history, most were simply belated acknowledgments of developments in popular music: in particular, the advent of rock & roll. Many of the Beach Boys' hits were well-suited for a cappella performance (witness Peter Urquhart's "I Get Around"), and John Lennon and Paul McCartney take their rightful place alongside Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and others with Jack Howe's "Yesterday," Ben Indig's "It's Only Love," and Urquhart's "Your Mother Should Know." Roger Bates' "Today," while more traditional in genre, shares the simpler harmonic structure and open textures of 70's-era arrangements.

The arrangers of this period placed an even greater emphasis on solo-oriented material, and David McCormick's performance of Indig's "I Got Rhythm" highlights the special pleasures of that approach. Many aimed for the direct recreation of a recorded performance, as in Jeff Shaw's "Long Ago and Far Away," which echoes James Taylor's atmospheric fretwork, and Howe's "Cherish," a remarkably faithful rendering of the psychedelic Association classic. The leading figure in this respect was indisputably Urquhart, whose energetic treatment of Beatles classics such as "With a Little Help Prom My Friends" and "Getting Better" on the 1974 record set the standard for future arrangements of thee kind.

The 1980's sound is generally smoother and more polished than that of the 70's: Bob Peskin provides a sophisticated but light-footed rendering of Stevie Wonder's "Bird of Beauty," while Mark Blaxill is able to wring some smooth seduction out of Van Morrison's gritty "Moondance" (with more than a little help from soloist Steve Washington). The 1988 record is graced with a lovely arrangement of Christopher Cross' "Sailing" by Debbie Hurwitz, one of the few non Nassoon arrangers to be featured in this collection. Andrew Blau's "Please" and Mark Stewart's "Mighty Love" simplify the problem of imitating popular recordings by taking a cappella performances (by the Nylons and Todd Rundgren, respectively) as their model.

The 80's also saw a resurgence of interest in more traditional material. Tim O'Brien's setting of the Triangle standard "Love and a Dime" is a favorite with alumni crowds, and shares an infectious swing with Blau's "I've Got a Feelin' I'm Fallin'." David Mehnert's elegant treatment of Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean?" can stand alongside the classics of the 60's without blushing. More obliquely, Peskin's "Faithless Love" and O'Brien's "On and On," while "modern" in sound, have the same structure as the ballads of Miller and Morgan, with soloists handling the verses and the group entering at the bridge. Mark Blaxill and Rick Spina each turn in excellent solo performances, making these two of the standout tracks on this collection.

From the 1940's to the 1980's, then, the repertoire of the Princeton Nassoons has been at once evolutionary and eclectic; beholden both to the prevailing musical culture and to the whims of the latest crop of arrangers. The present collection is, if nothing else, an elaborate illustration of this basic tension, and a document of the particular currents and contents that have converged (so far) into the "best" of a half-century of Nassoonery. Happy listening,

-Eric MacGilvray

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Nassoon Alumni Association would like to express its appreciation to Arthur "Mac" Mellor for his dedication and leadership in guiding the 'First Fifty Years' Project to such a successful conclusion. Mac has also had a lot of supporters, and would like to thank them in his own words.

Let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of the following for their assistance throughout this most pleasant project: Wat Stewart for advice and encouragement; Dave Cist for everything and much more; Herb Spencer for updating my Black Book Supplements and obtaining and providing scores for candidates arranged since the last supplement appeared, Jerry Ford for cash when the production company was about to call their attorneys; Jim Lotspeich, Chal Hamill, Dave Robinson, Pete Urquhart, and Tim O'Brien for all their efforts and support; Eric Macgilvray for sharing his experiences in producing Nassoons Sing and for writing the Greatest Hits liner notes; Mark Blaxill and James Forrest for layout and design of the covers and book; Mark for also coordinating the marketing efforts; and last, but especially, Jim Falzone, my engineer at Open Door Productions in Nashville, who prepared the masters for the Greatest Hits collection, a task that required both restoring the digital analog tapes of the older records and editing all of the source material to my specifications.

-Arthur "Mac" Mellor

Special Thanks: Steven Tsai '98, .Jason White '96, Robert Weiss '99, Owen Braun '96, William Black '96, TJ. Johnson '57, Stephen ~ Crawford '41, and Dennis Pyle '01

@ 1996. The Princeton University Nassoons, 100 1901 Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544

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