Originally assembled in Paris by the American expatriate Ward Swingle during the early 1960s, the Swingle Singers distinguished themselves as a vocal ensemble devoted to reworking an array of classical sources—Baroque pieces, fugues, madrigals, and orchestral overtures—into an a cappella swing idiom. Eight singers populated the lineup for the group’s first album in 1963: Swingle himself, Christiane Legrand (sister of Michel), Jean-Claude Briodin, Anne Germain, Claude Germaine, Jean Cussac, Claudine Meunier, and Jeanette Baucomont. That record, issued as Jazz Sebastian Bach and retitled Bach's Greatest Hits in America, captured a Grammy while nearly cracking the Top Ten.
The singular appeal of eight voices trading scat interpretations triggered a wave of television and radio engagements across the globe throughout the mid-1960s. The ensemble nonetheless found time to issue the follow-ups Going Baroque in 1964 and Anyone for Mozart? one year later; both earned Grammys in the Best Performance by a Chorus category, an award that drew little serious competition. At a moment when most vocal choruses drifted toward easy-listening fare, the Swingle Singers deliberately steered the opposite course. In 1969 the subsidiary unit Swingles II premiered Sinfonia, Luciano Berio’s avant-garde composition that also featured the New York Philharmonic.
After relocating to England in 1973, Ward Swingle formed a new Swingle Singers roster and broadened the repertoire to include avant-garde works, Renaissance selections, and jazz. Swingle withdrew from performing in 1984 yet remained music director. The group maintained worldwide touring into the 1990s, presenting operas by Azio Corghi and Berio, appearing alongside ballet companies, and leading assorted classes and workshops.
