This tender a cappella treatment of John Coltrane's beautiful ballad, "Naima," without lyrics. It features a female soloist, with rich broken-chord harmonizations beneath. Randy has his "finger on the trigger" with this a cappella instrumental-style arrangement of the Quincy Jones' funk tune, "Love Is In Control." You'll have fun with this one! The first a cappella vocal version of this famous Chick Corea Latin classic, "Spain." This chart features a strong baritone or alto soloist in the rubato introduction, accompanied by thick vocal "spread voicings," then kicks into the familiar up-tempo samba feel, with quick octave unisons for all voices. After going through the tune, it opens up for improvisation solos over the chorus, with the bass singers continuing the samba-bass feel while the upper voices do horn-type hits and pads behind the soloist. A high, then low ending brings the piece to an impressive close. Requires good range by soprano and bass. First tenor part can be sung by alto if necessary. "Take 5" was commissioned by UNC for the Axidentals to sing on a special concert with the Dave Brubeck.

Songlist: Naima, Love Is In Control, Stolen Moments, Take Five, I Belong to You, Stolen Moments

Based in Vancouver, Canada and Bellingham, WA, a very talented pair of brothers, Tim & Doug Broersma and Mark & Tom Metzger, form four part a cappella quartet Realtime, who have been singing together since 2003. They quickly placed 2nd in the Harmony Sweeps Pacific Northwest Regional in 2004, then they became the 2005 International Quartet Champions of the Barbershop Harmony Society in Salt Lake City! Having reached the pinnacle of the barbershop world, they stopped competing in Barbershop contests. However, they continued to compete in the Harmony Sweeps, winning the Pacific Northwest again in 2007, and again in 2010, where this supergroup is an early favorite to win the upcoming National Finals May 15th! Listening to their jazzy, wonderfully arranged rendition of Dave Brubeck's jazz standard "Take 5" underlines the group's determination to "sing and record music of many styles, whatever (we) decide we like!" What Realtime likes includes 13 diverse selections, Lennon/McCartney's pop hits "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Blackbird," "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, the Tennessee country anthem "Rocky Top," The show tune "On A Clear Day" (You Can See Forever), the scattish jazz favorite "Flight of the Foo Birds," the haunting spiritual "Follow the Drinking Gourd," and the Doobie Brothers' foot-tapping rocker "Listen to the Music." The last two cuts, "Funny Valentine" and "Georgia On My Mind," are harmoniously performed with the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra. "Take 5" is great stuff, the rock-solid harmonies and pure entertainment chops of this gold-medal-winning Barbershop group, joyously applied to some of our favorite tunes in other genres. Listening to it, we can't wait to hear Realtime at the Finals!

Songlist: Take Five, With A Little Help From My Friends, Over the Rainbow, Rocky Top, Blackbird, On A Clear Day, Beautiful Love, Little Boy Lost, Flight of the Foo Birds, Follow the Drinking Gourd, Listen to the Music, Funny Valentine, Georgia On My Mind

St. Paul, MN-based 3-woman, 2-man jazz quintet Voice Trek has a rich, clean, poised sound, and arrangements that can turn very familiar tunes like the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride," Dave Brubeck's jazz anthem "Take Five," Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and Michel LeGrand's "Windmills of Your Mind" and turn them into new songs, unexpectedly tasty musical treats. There's a spirited, sassy cover of Rossini's "William Tell Overture" that would have the Swingles looking over their shoulders, Sinatra's "Fly Me To The Moon" becomes a (lightly accompanied) scattish, salsa romp, and Toto's "Rosanna" is a finger-snapping winner, as is Brazilian composer Manfredo Fest's energetic "That's What She Says." A bonus track, "America the Beautiful," was included "after the tremendous response from the a cappella community when they performed it at the West Coast Summit!" 11 songs, each a many-faceted gem. "An A cappella Trek," Voice Trek's 5th recording, is a joy from beginning to end, one of the best Vocal Jazz CDs we've heard this year!

Songlist: That's What She Says, Ticket To Ride, Take Five, Both Sides Now, The William Tell Overture, A Little Luck, Fly Me to the Moon, The Windmills of Your Mind, Rosanna, America, The Beautiful