There are only a handful of jazz vocal groups that become institutions. The New York Voices are one of them.
Founded in the late 1980s by a group of friends who met at Ithaca College, the group built a career that has lasted nearly four decades, recording eleven albums under their own name, collaborating with some of the biggest names in jazz, and helping redefine what vocal harmony could sound like.
Along the way they drew from everywhere: the harmony traditions of Singers Unlimited, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and Manhattan Transfer, Brazilian music, bebop, big band jazz, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, and their own original songs.
The logistics weren't always easy. Over the years there were personnel changes, and the members settled in different parts of the country, yet somehow the group endured.
Now, as New York Voices prepares to bring its remarkable run to a close at the end of 2026 with a final international tour and several new recording projects, it's a fitting moment to look back at where it all began.
Recently, WBGO's Janis Siegel - herself a founding member of the Manhattan Transfer, one of the groups that inspired them - sat down with Darmon Meader for Singers Unlimited and asked a simple question: How did the New York Voices begin?
His answer starts in upstate New York... and ends with a reminder that WBGO was there almost from the beginning.
You can hear Janis Siegel’s full interview with the members of New York Voices here.
