1985 Champs – The New Tradition
Photo courtesy of AICGOLD.COM
(Currently in production)
We all have traditions.
Family Traditions.
Holiday Traditions.
Some are Old…
And, some are Grand.
But in 1985 a New Tradition emerged to become Gold Medalists in the Barbershop Harmony Society.
And the quartet did not disappoint, creating lasting traditions that are still regarded as brilliant today.
How It All Began…
A quartet does not assemble at the flick of a switch – it takes someone to take the initiative and reach out to other barbershoppers.
And Bob Gray is the one who took the initiative to start Grand Tradition, the forebearer of The New Tradition.
Gray, who joined the Society in 1969 as a ten-year old was already a veteran in a sense – his father was a 50+ year member of the Society and sang in numerous quartets while also directing the El Cajon Music Masters chorus. “Music was always in my bones”, he said.
He reached out to Tony Woods to sing lead and Ted Steigers to sing bass. Gray also added a tenor, who unfortunately was only with them briefly. Sadly, that combination of the Grand Tradition didn’t last. What may have scared them away were the wild costumes the quartet had selected. According to Gray, the quartet was fitted with lime green tuxedos. “The lime green tuxedos were horrid” lamented Gray.
In October 1976, Gray contacted Terry Monks, who was a member of the San Diego chapter, about singing together in a quartet. He then reached out to David Garstang to sing tenor at about the same time Lester Lee joined the quartet replacing Tony Woods at lead.
Monks also recalled those lime-green tuxedos. “I’m really glad the second generation of GT didn’t fit into the lime green tuxedos, they WERE horrid!”
Gray remembers those early days of the quartet. “We were at a C level, but we worked at it”. Gray explained that when Lee replaced Tony Wood at lead, the quartet started to gel. “We were pretty successful”.
Like Gray, Garstang got his start singing barbershop harmony as a legacy. “I was brought into the fold by my dad. He was a long time barbershopper and had joined the El Cajon chapter after we moved to San Diego.”
But by late fall the quartet consisted of Gray, Garstang, Monks and Lee.
That foursome first competed in the southern district novice contest in January 1977. “We wanted to test the waters, and we won!” said Monks. Interestingly, Monks got his start in Barbershopping by working as a singing waiter at an ice cream parlor in the mid-1970’s. Among the guests was a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society. “He approached me and asked me if I wanted to sing in his quartet,” said Monks. Sadly, that quartet “never really materialized”, but even so he joined the San Diego chapter.
Shortly after they won the novice quartet championship, they started doing shows and competed on the divisional level in order to qualify for the district competition. They finished 5th in the fall district contest in 1977 with Lester Lee singing lead.
Incidentally, Dan Jordan competed in that same contest with the 4-Highers, placing 6th – right behind the Grand Tradition!
Sadly, there was a falling out with Lester Lee, and he left the quartet in late 1977. Monks explained that they were scheduled to sing a Swan Song set at the southern district novice contest in January 1978, so they turned to Dan Jordan to fill in for the lead part. Monks said that Jordan had hosted the quartet several times when they attended coaching sessions in the Los Angeles area.
But there was some apprehension by Garstang about Jordan joining the quartet. “I was a bit dubious”, said Garstang. He explained that Jordan had sung baritone in the 4-Highers, not lead and that was cause for concern. But that concern faded quickly. “We did one of the numbers he knew of ours and it kinda’ clicked”. He went on to say, “the confidence and emotional honesty with which he (Jordan) sang just drew me along. Monks echoed those remarks. He said, “the quartet had a good blend and the chords would ring.”
Jordan first started singing in 9th grade. He was influenced by Regnal Hall, the school’s music teacher who taught barbershop harmony to the chorus. Jordan said that Hall invited him to attend a show at the high school. “’You might like it’”, Jordan recalled. Jordan said the show “Blew him away – I never heard anything like that before!”.
So in 10th grade, Jordan joined the school’s mixed choir and “I was hooked”. Hall then invited Jordan to the Crescenta Valley Chapter Meeting one Tuesday night. Jordan was ready to join immediately, but unfortunately, the chapter had a rule that only allowed men over 18 years old to be members. “But I still went every Tuesday night for two years!”, said the then 16-year-old Jordan. That September (1972), the chapter let him join, even though he was 6 months shy of his 18th birthday. “It was just great”.
In March 1978 the quartet – Dan Jordan, Terry Monks, Bob Gray and David Garstang – competed in the Far Western District International Preliminary Contest. Monks said, “We finished just out of the running”. Then in the fall of 1978, the quartet competed – and won – the Far Western District Quartet Contest in Long Beach, CA.
The following spring at the March 1979 preliminaries, the quartet qualified for the International Contest in Minneapolis, where they placed tenth. “It was a real surprise for us”, said Monks, who expected to finish no better than 14th. He said the quartet had only prepared four songs – Rock·A· Bye Baby Days; Don’t Leave Me, Dear Old Mammy and Something I Like About Broadway; Every Street’s a Boulevard In Old New York.
But for the unexpected third set, the quartet “dragged out” two other songs from their repertoire – Don’t Tell Me the Same Things Over Again – a song also sung by the Boston Common – and Do You Really, Really Love Me?
In the warm-up room before the finals, Gray explained that he was having trouble with one of the passages from Don’t Tell Me the Same Things Over Again. The other three told him to ask for help from the Boston Common, who were in the warm-up room just down the hall. According to Garstang, the “four scared kids” went down to the “door of the four Gods of Barbershopping” and knocked. Garstang said that Larry Tully, baritone of the quartet answered the door, “giving us a look that would curdle fresh milk”. “’Hello Mr. Tully,’” Garstang remembers Gray saying. In the background, the three other members of the Boston Common – Rich Knapp, Kent Martin and Terry Clarke – all gave similar looks. “I was sure they were about to tell us to take a powder,” said Garstang. “Then all of a sudden, they burst into laughter and welcomed us in, not only helping Bobby with his part but also giving us an impromptu coaching session!”
Gray also remembers it well. “Larry Tully was awesome; he taught me the part and I went back to the quartet and sang it several times through perfectly! Of course, we went onstage, and I still screwed it up!”
Gray added “We were learning yet another “Boston Common” song for that contest, “From the First Hello To the Last Goodbye”. He explained that it was written with the “Boston Common Low Tag” – a tag that complimented their rich low sound. “But the truth was, we couldn’t handle it down low!” The tag was too low for Gray and Jordan, who “just couldn’t hold (the low note) out long enough.” So, the quartet re-wrote the tag to take it up an octave! “We nailed it!” said Gray “We were told it was the loudest overtone in the contest!”
Garstang recalls that time fondly. He said that the Boston Common “became our friends and mentors, and I have many other fond memories of our times together.”
That 1979 contest was filled with future gold medalists including the Classic Collection, Sidestreet Ramblers, Chicago News. Rural Route 4, Boston Common and Legacy Quartet Champs 139th Street Quartet.
Of course, the winning quartet that year was Grandma’s Boys who brought down the house with their Toy Soldier set. The bass of that quartet?
John Miller
Then in March 1980, the quartet qualified again for the International Contest in Salt Lake City.
In the first set of the competition the quartet sang One-Two Button Your Shoe and Take it Back and Change it for a Boy. Monks was disappointed. “It didn’t go wonderfully”. He said they were out of the top 10 on the first night. “It was a weaker set”. The quartet was dressed as young kids. “We made some really, really last-minute changes” with the songs, that while they worked well, didn’t score well.
As the second set on Friday night in the semi-finals, the quartet sang Who’ll Be the Next One to Cry and From the First Hello to the Last Goodbye. Monks said that set was “very, very well received” and vaulted the quartet to 6th place. Then in the finals on Saturday night, they sang Rockabye Baby Days and Don’t Leave Dear Old Daddy.
When the scoresheets were tabulated, the Grand Tradition placed fourth – medalists!
The quartet was now a popular request for shows – not only in the Far Western District, but elsewhere. “We did a show in Saint Louis, Eugene OR and Tacoma, WA – with the Most Happy Fellows” (1977 champs). Monks said the quartet was doing 20 to 25 shows a year. He also explained that since he, Garstang and Gray lived in San Diego and Jordan lived in LA, they used these shows as opportunities to rehearse.
Then, in March 1981 the quartet again competed in the international prelims, but unfortunately, failed to qualify for the 1981 international because Monks was ill. Monks attributed the illness to all the travelling. “That was partly one of the reasons I got sick” he said.
Instead, they used the money that they raised from the shows to produce an album. The quartet spent several days in Los Angeles recording the album. “It was interesting,” said Monks. He said the first night in the studio “things didn’t click”, but after some microphone and headphones adjustments the quartet was able to “click a lot better”. On Saturday the quartet finished the album and completed two extra songs. They went back on Sunday and recorded a couple of parts that were dubbed in to cover mistakes.
The Brick Wall
The following year (1982), the quartet did qualify for the international and finished fourth.
Again.
This was disappointing to the quartet. In 1979, they cracked the Top 10 unexpectedly and then medaled in 1980. But since then, they watched as two other quartets won the gold medals – Chicago News and the Classic Collection.
In Seattle at the 1983 international, Monks recalled how they sang. “Our first session went pretty well,” but he continued that the second session “didn’t go as well”. Monks remembers being backstage and listening to the Side Street Ramblers and knew that they weren’t going to win.
The Grand Tradition placed 4th.
Again.
“We had beat our heads against the 4th place wall several times”, said Gray.
After returning from Seattle, the four regrouped and assessed their future. They decided to disband. Even so, they continued through the spring of 1984, honoring all their show commitments. But once those were completed, they decided to part ways.
The breakup was extremely amicable. Monks and Garstang teamed up with Mike Laughton and Mike Spencer to form Western Union in 1987. That quartet would go on to place 13th in 1990 and 19th in 1993. Gray also echoed the sentiment when speaking of Terry Monks and David Garstang. “Both guys are both great barbershoppers”. And Garstang added about Dan Jordan,” Dan is the easiest lead that I’ve ever had the pleasure to sing with”.
The New Tradition
Soon after they returned from Seattle, Jordan and Gray reached out to Johnny Sherburn who remembers, “Dan and Bob approached me and asked me if I’d be interested in singing in a quartet with them.”
While in high-school in the mid-1960s, Sherburn sang in the concert choir and Madrigal Group. He said that the director chose barbershop for the group. “We were doing Merideth Wilson’s ‘The Music Man”. And the boys sang the male parts, and the girls sang the female part. This was Sherburn’s first exposure to barbershop, but he admits “we didn’t know what to do with it”.
From there, Sherburn joined the high school Folk Group that performed locally. As fate may have it, the group sang on a local talent show that also included a barbershop quartet from the Cresenta Valley Chapter. “I was fascinated by the sound they were making,” said Sherburn. “There was this ‘buzz’ that was happening and I never heard that before”. Afterwards, one of the quartet members gave Sherburn his card and invited Sherburn to their chapter meeting. Sadly, it wasn’t until “several years later” that Sherburn discovered the card in his wallet and decided to pay a visit. “I had graduated from high school and found myself not involved in music”. He said that he reached out to that man for details and attended the next chapter meeting. “I just walked in the door”.
Sherburn said that as soon as he walked into the chapter meeting, he was grabbed immediately by Bob Elder who was forming a quartet “because I could sing tenor, I had a good falsetto”.
He later became friends with Jim Kline and Bob Mathis of the Acadia Chapter. Many remember Kline as the Bass of the 139th Street Quartet and Gold Medalists “Gotcha”. While attending an afterglow at their chapter show, Sherburn, Elder, Kline and Mathis got together to sing tags. “And that’s how the Crown City Good Time Music Company was born”, which was his first quartet. “We sang pretty well,” said Sherburn. “It was a really fun group”.
Now the New Tradition included Jordan at lead, Gray at baritone and Sherburn at tenor.
But they still needed a bass.
They first turned to Max DeZemplen, but unfortunately the combination “didn’t work,” according to Jordan. DeZemplen would later sing with Special Request, placing 10th in 1985.
They then turned to Jim Kline, the popular bass of the 139th Street Quartet, but Kline turned them down as he was committed to the 139th Street Quartet.
Then, in November 1983, they heard that John Miller, bass of the gold-medal Grandma’s Boys, had been transferred to the west coast for work. Jordan said, “Bob called me and said ‘hey, you’ll never guess who’s living in California!’” Gray – once again acting as the initiator – called Miller, who said “’Let’s get together and see what it sounds like’”.
So, the four met the following week in Jordan’s apartment. Gray said “We sang with him. It was ok. It wasn’t great”. Jordan would go on to say that said that when Miller left, Gray sighed and said, “We blew it, we sucked”.
In actuality, Miller was quite pleased. “I knew right from the beginning that we were singing pretty well”. But Miller’s trepidation was not about their singing, but about whether he wanted to again go through all the arduous work needed to be a gold medalist.
He asked the other three if he could have a week to decide and went home to discuss the possibility with his wife. Fortunately, she urged him on. “Had she had not been so encouraging; I probably would not have done it”.
So, the four got together again the following weekend – December 3rd, 1983 – and worked on two songs: “I’m Alone Because I Love You and My Wild Irish Rose. They started singing I’m Alone Because I Love You “and it just bubbled”, said Jordan. Sherburn agreed. “It was a lock. Big-time lock, without really trying”.
Afterwards the four sat down in Jordan’s living room and discuss the idea of singing in the spring qualifier and their chances of qualifying. They realized the competition was going to be tough – the Occidentals, 139th Street Quartet, Remember When, the Knudsen Brothers.
“’Let’s go for Number One’”, Jordan recalled Miller saying. “My jaw dropped”.
The four discussed moving forward and their approach. Fortunately, not only did Miller fit in harmonically, but his philosophy was also akin to the other three. Miller said that he told them “I will do this, but I want every time we’re on stage to be an act – we take on characters, we take on roles”. And that suited the other three perfectly!
They discussed the quartet name and quickly arrived at the New Tradition! “I called up Kenosha (then headquarters to SPEBSQSA) the following Monday and registered the quartet”, said Jordan.