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American Morning

Three Mo' Tenors

Aired August 27, 2001 - 09:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You've probably heard of the Three Tenors, and even heard, I'm sure, of the Irish Tenors. Well, now we want to introduce three more tenors, or perhaps to be exact, Three Mo' Tenors.

This trio of African-American singers debuted on the world stage this month with a PBS series and a new CD. They have what you would call an eclectic style, and it spans seven musical genres, from motown to the met.

This group is going to begin a six-week U.S. tour next month, but they have taken some time this morning to join us from our New York bureau.

We are seeing here this morning, let's make sure we get these names right here, from left to the right we see Victor Trent Cook, Thomas Young and Rodrick Dixon. Good morning, guys. How are you?

THOMAS YOUNG, THREE MO' TENORS: Good morning.

VICTOR TRENT COOK, THREE MO' TENORS: Good morning.

RODRICK DIXON, THREE MO' TENORS: Good morning.

HARRIS: Man, it is such an honor and a pleasure to see you all and to have you with us this morning. Now, I understand -- I would love to have you do something for us, but I understand you guys are professionals and it's kind of hard to wake up in the morning and jump right out, and jump right into it.

(LAUGHTER)

COOK: It's a little early.

HARRIS: But you know, on that tip, let me ask you this: What kind of preparation do you have to go through to be able to do this? Because see, what you are doing is you are combing so many different genres, are you using the same tools for -- I guess, than any other performer that would only sing one style per night, would use?

YOUNG: I think you have to start out with good technique, and good technique obviously involves physical preparation. So to that extent, the preparation time is essentially the same as it would be for any other genre. HARRIS: And what kind of preparation time -- what do you do during that prep time?

YOUNG: Well, you have to wake up first. You have to wake the voice...

HARRIS: Tell me about it.

YOUNG: Yes, right, right. You would know that intimately I am sure.

(LAUGHTER)

YOUNG: But you have to wake the voice up. You have got to give yourself a chance to do your scales and to take yourself through physical paces, so that you are ready to do what you need to do technically. Wouldn't you guys say?

COOK: Yes, definitely.

DIXON: Well, we are night people. We sing a lot at night, and after 15 or 20 years of singing that type of schedule, your body's used to that. So, singing at 6 and 7, 8:00 in the morning is abnormal. It's like trying to get a 747 up in the air at 7:00 in the morning. It's a lot of gasoline. Your body needs the energy and the time to get warmed up. So that's a lot of horsepower.

HARRIS: Well, You're talking about your bodies getting used to all of this. How about the audiences getting used to you?

As I understand it, when you all first got started, it was kind of hard to get the word out, and the concept seemed to be kind of strange. Who's idea was it for you all to come together, and what has the road been like?

YOUNG: Well, it was Marion J. Caffey's idea. It was his concept, and he called us one by one, asked what we thought of the idea. We all thought it was a terrific idea, and it caught on with us almost immediately. We really enjoy working with one another. And in terms of the audience, they have been fantastic.

HARRIS: But you've had to convince people to check you out, haven't you? Because it's a strange concept to see -- first of all, you don't necessarily, immediately identify African-Americans as being a big presence in classical singing, and that's what you all were doing, and that's what you're still doing and do quite well.

Has it been a tough time to actually sell that idea to the public?

YOUNG: I don't think it's a bit -- I don't think we've had a tough time at all.

COOK: No.

YOUNG: In fact, the audience response has been pretty extraordinary. Very enthusiastic.

COOK: Yes.

DIXON: Yes, yes.

HARRIS: Well, let me ask you about this one quote that I saw written in the "Philadelphia Enquirer" about you all, and you tell me if you agree with this. It says that what the singers sing is important than who they are and what they represent.

YOUNG: I think what we sing is important too.

COOK: Very important.

(LAUGHTER)

YOUNG: I mean after all, we are artists. To tell an artist that what they do is relatively unimportant is -- maybe not entirely accurate.

HARRIS: Now it might be a heck of a -- that may be a heck of a compliment as to what it is you're trying to accomplish. Did you think about it that way?

COOK: Sure. But from my own point of view -- I obviously can't speak for my friends -- but from my point of view, what I want to make is beautiful music.

HARRIS: OK. Well you've been doing quite well with that. But I got to ask you this, I don't want to start any arguments, but of the Three Mo' Tenors, who's got mo' tenor than the other two?

(LAUGHTER)

YOUNG: I think all of us have equally mo' tenors.

COOK: Mo' tenor.

(LAUGHTER)

DIXON: Let me address this in a very diplomatic way. Victor and I are both young guns, and Thomas has been doing this for 30 years. He's graced the stages of Coven Guard (ph), and San Francisco Opera, the city opera. And Victor was a native at Lincoln Center, and myself at Lyric Opera in Chicago.

Thomas sets the tone, certainly the DNA and we certainly lean on him heavily, as far as the musical integrity of the work that we have to do as vocalists and also as musical artist. And also Joubert and Shelton Becton and Marion J. Caffey, the director and conceiver of the project.

But honestly, the truth be made, is Thomas Young is the person who has been carrying the torch for African-American tenors, along with George Shirley and Vincent Cole for the last 35, 45 years. And when you look at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) transposed -- in contrast to twisted, or to the blues, one can look at his wealth of work and immediately establish the level of greatness that he works on and operates at, the age that he is. And I would say, he's arguably the greatest tenor of the 20th century.

So, that's a bold statement for me to make, but I am a tenor, I have not problem making that statement. And I certainly would say that my colleague, Victor Trent Cook, is a throwback to the -- your Etradi of the 18th and 17th century.

So we certainly do adhere to the elder statesman, because he has carried the torch for such a long time.

HARRIS: I am sorry, but we're going to have to move along because you've got some other things to get to this morning. But I want to save some time so that folks can actually get a chance to check you guys out some more in action.

I want to thank each of you for coming in here. You guys are...

(CROSSTALK)

YOUNG: Thank you very much for having us.

COOK: Thank you.

DIXON: Thank you.

HARRIS: The reviews have been fantastic, and obviously well- deserved. Thanks this morning to Victor Trent Cook Thomas Young and Rodrick Dixon. And here are the Three Mo' Tenors singing a little bit of motel.

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