We’re looking for:

• One bass (or baritone) We have found our basses!
• Two One more tenor
• One more soprano (a high soprano is preferred).

Please contact DeAnna to learn more and to arrange to come to a rehearsal.

This spring: We will continue to learn songs that are new to everyone, rather than singing tunes from our existing repertoire.

• Brand new tunes are: Bluesette and Sermonette (by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross).
• Fairly new tunes are: Caravan, On the Sunny Side of the Street & Summer Samba (So Nice).

To “vet” arrangements before ordering them, we look for those that offer recordings of the entire arrangement before purchase.

So, if you’d like to hear the kind of arrangements we like, here are two of the new tunes:

Caravan: We will likely do actual scatting instead of the written ‘scats’ in this chart. If any new members would like to do some of the written scats, that’s fine.

Bluesette: Again, we’ll likely do actual scatting here instead of the written scats And one of our basses may play a sax solo during this section.

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• We generally work on two or three songs per rehearsal, depending upon the difficulty of the arrangement.
• We also often do scatting rounds after we warm up, but that isn’t required — not everyone in the group likes to scat.

• Sight reading is helpful but not required. Our pianist, Lee Bloom, makes Mp3s of each individual part and/or we order individual computer-generated learning tracks (which include lyrics), depending upon the song.
• Stronger singers can sing a solo tune of their choice during our Friends & Family concert, which is held every year or so.
• Past community performances (prior to covid) include Piedmont’s Harvest Festival, Montclair’s Art & Wine Festival, Walnut Creek’s Arts & Wine Festival, Stanford Hospital’s Noon Concert Series, Avanova and benefits at the Lake Merritt United Methodist Church and Temple Sinai.

When & Where: Rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings, from 6:30 to 8:15pm in Emeryville, accompanied by professional pianist Lee Bloom. If need be, you can come at 7pm. (We socialize and discuss songs and such at 6:30 and start warm-ups at 6:45pm.)

Please contact DeAnna to learn more and to arrange to come to a rehearsal.

The Audition Process: Come warm up with us and then:

• We’ll check your vocal range, as some songs have two parts each in one or two of the sections.
• Sing a song with us that you’ll be able to practice beforehand. Then you can listen or (if you sight read) can start singing your part in the new songs we’re starting this year.

Existing Repertoire: Jeff Neighbor (professional musician and former JCS bass) has written many wonderful original arrangements for us, some of which we will eventually bring back into our repertoire.

Sample Song Clips:

Java Jive:

Choo Choo Cha’ Boogie:

Sway:

As we’d like to add several new members, at this point we’ll only be singing two audience favorites Bye, Bye, Blackbird and Groovin’ from our existing repertoire.