The Heightsmen - Kumbaya

Topic: Commercial Folk Music Revival
People, who are fans of performing artists who never become popular, always are mystified.  Peter Jones thought The “Journeymen were a mark above most knockoffs” of the Kingston Trio because they incorporated “instrumental virtuosity and jazz-vocal influence into what had largely been a singalong franchise for college parties.” [1]

Dick Weissman added: “You had one guy who could really play.  You had one guy who really sing.  You had another guy who could write and arrange.  All the other trios were like fraternity boys playing guitars.” [2]

While both men were correct, they missed the point that the commercial folk-music revival sparked by the Kingston Trio [3] was the first genre, since the big bands, to be created by white, middle-class young men for white, middle-class audiences.  College students provided entertainment that fit the needs of college students.

The identity of college students changed after World War II.  In the late 1940s, older veterans eligible for tuition benefits under the G. I. Bill flooded colleges. [4]  Then, as families became confident the affluence of the post-year years would last, they sent their children to public colleges and universities.

All three members of the Kingston Trio not only were college graduates, but also had degrees in business. [5]  Only one member of The Weavers had completed college. [6]

Fraternities were still important in the 1950s.  Even when they didn’t expand to include larger numbers of pledges, they often set the tone for campus social life.  While the Kingston Trio’s Bob Shane went to a college that didn’t have Greek societies, Dave Guard joined Sigma Nu at Stanford University. [7]  Nick Reynolds spent his freshman year at the University of Arizona, where he pledged Phi Delta Theta. [8]  He recalled:

“I went through Hell Week, which was really degrading, and after that I didn’t really have anything to do with fraternities.  The only fun part for me was being Phi Delt’s choral leader.  When somebody got pinned we’d go out and serenade [9] the lucky girl at her dorm or sorority house.  Sometimes the whole house would go out and sing.” [10]

College singing traditions were borrowed from Germany. [11]  Male choruses were introduced into universities before the Civil War.  Harvard organized the first glee club in 1858, followed by the University of Michigan (1859), Yale (1861), and the University of Pennsylvania (1862). [12]  These groups emphasized four-part harmony.

Once glee clubs absorbed the aesthetics and ambitions of paying performances, students found other places to sing.  The first college songsters I’ve seen published, [13] with music by commercial printers, were from Columbia (1876), Penn (1879), Princeton (1882), Rutgers (1885), and Yale (1889).  They were followed by commercially produced fraternity song books. Delta Upsilon published one in 1884.  Reynold’s Phi Delta Theta issued its third edition in 1886, Psi Upsilon in 1891, and Zeta Psi in 1897.

As fraternities became more important, they held annual competitions or Greek Games that included musical performances along with the tug-of-wars.  In the late 1940s, George Spasyk recalled members of Lambda Chi Alpha prepared for weeks for the University of Michigan’s Interfraternity Council Sing with

“each voice part perfecting its part before all four were brought together in 4-part harmony.  The beauty of it all was that very few of the brothers could read music - it was all done by memorizing the parts.  Even those who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket wanted to be on stage to represent Lambda Chi Alpha.  They were put in the back row and silently mouthed the words, but their very presence and enthusiasm inspired the singers, perhaps to a higher level of performance. [14]

When the Kingston Trio became popular in 1958, individuals within glee clubs and fraternities formed their own trios and quartets.  At New York University, Jeff Chase was a soloist with the glee club and Allen Kaiden was in the glee club and its Varsity Quartet.  Two of Kaiden’s fraternity brothers, Bob Lichtenfeld and Bill Stammer, were also in the glee club. [15]  Their Heightsmen quartet began singing at campus and fraternity events in 1958. [16]

They became professional musicians in 1960, and, after they all had graduated, signed a recording contract with Imperial Records in 1962.  Their performance at the Moravian College homecoming dance in October 1962, was typical of the sorts of events that used folk-singing groups.  They provided “entertainment during intermission at the dance.” [17]

Their first album included “Kumbaya.”  While they credited The Weavers as their source, they used Peter Seeger’s “someone’s sleeping” verse with their own “dancing.”  The only religious content was the word “Lord.”

The group featured one man singing the verses, and the group singing “kumbaya” as a rhythmic counter-part.  On the last line of the “sleeping” first they sang chords that rose on each syllable.  During the “laughing” verse one person sang a high “la la la” while the others continued the “kumbaya” pulse.  They ended by repeating “oh Lord, kumbaya,” each time softer like an amen. [18]

I said the Kingston Trio initiated a white, middle-class musical genre.  That phrase did not include the other attributes often associated with the social elite in the early 1950s, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant.  That was the significant contribution of the G. I. Bill.

The Heightsmen’s fraternity was Zeta Beta Tau, the first Jewish fraternity in the United States. [19]

Performers
Vocal Soloist: male

Vocal Group: Bill Stammer, tenor; Allen Kaidn, baritone; Bob Lichtenfeld,, bass; Jeff Chase, bass
[20]

Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar, tambourine
Rhythm Accompaniment: none

Credits
Hays, Hellerman, Darling, and Gilbert [21]
BMI [22]

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom (short) BY yah
Verses: kumbaya, sleeping, dancing

Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none

Basic Form: two-verse song, framed by kumbaya
Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxAA where A = kumbaya
Ending: repeat “oh Lord, kumbaya” four times
Unique Features: none

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: strophic repetitions with cumulative harmonic variations
Singing Style: one syllable to one note including on final “Lord”

Notes on Performance
Cover: the album cover for The Heightsmen showed four men in a recording studio wearing white shirts and red neckties.  Two had rolled up their sleeves and loosened their ties.

Notes on Performers
Kaiden and Chase majored in mathematics at NYU, while Stammer was in the College of Engineering.  Lichtenfeld was “studying for a degree in medicine.” [23]

The Heightsmen were signed by Imperial Records in 1962, [24] while they were in graduate school. [25]  Imperial was sold in 1963. [26]  The new head of 20th Century Fox Records [27] included their next album in the company’s Christmas promotion. [28]

They made two albums in 1963, then returned to their studies.  None have mentioned the quartet in their professional résumés.  When Stammer died in 2017, his New York Times obituary only said he was “a Graduate of NYU and NYU Law School, ROTC officer and 1st LT. US Army, High Tenor, Lawyer, Scholar, Professor, Recording Artist...” [29]

Kaiden earned a master of science in Industrial Engineering from NYU. [30]  He founded Sigman/Kaiden Consultants on Long Island to design warehouses.  He joined his son, Jeff, in Capacity LLC in New Jersey in 1999. [31]  It specializes in e-commerce and warehousing. [32]

Chase also earned a master’s degree in mathematics from NYU in 1965.  He began working as a financial consultant in 1983, and now has his own company, One Page Financial, Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. [33]

Lichtenfeld changed his plans and entered NYU’s graduate program in education. [34]  He later earned a PhD in education from Teacher’s College, Columbia.   He began teaching elementary school and special education in New York City, then became the principal of Rye Country Day School in 1972.  After that, he was the principal of schools in Lewisboro from 1978 to 1999.  After he retire, he continued to work in school administration in Greenwich, Connecticut. [35]

Availability
Album: The Heightsmen.  “Kumbaya.”  The Heightsmen.  Imperial LP-9196.  1962.

End Notes
1.  Peter Jones.  “Dick Weissman Would Rather Be in Colorado.”  The [Denver] Villager website.

2.  Dick Weissman.  Quoted by Jones.  Weissman graduated from Goddard College, which did not have fraternities.  He and The Journeymen were discussed in posts for 13 October 2019 and 20 October 2019.

3.  The Kingston Trio was discussed in the post for 13 October 2019.

4.  “Education and Training. History and Timeline.”  United States.  Department of Veterans Affairs website.  “In the peak year of 1947, Veterans accounted for 49 percent of college admissions.  By the time the original GI Bill ended on July 25, 1956, 7.8 million of 16 million World War II Veterans had participated in an education or training program.”

5.  Dave Guard’s degree was in economics, and he began graduate work in economics at Stanford. [36]  Bob Shane graduated from Menlo College, [37] when its only four-year program was in business administration. [38]  Nick Reynolds majored in hotel management at Menlo. [39]

6.  Fred Hellerman graduated from Brooklyn College in 1949. [40]  Straited finances kept Lee Hays from completing his education. [41]  Pete Seeger entered Harvard on a work-study scholarship and flunked out in his sophomore year. [42]

7.  Wikipedia, Guard.
8.  William J. Bush.  Greenback Dollar.  Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013.  12.

9.  Fraternity serenades were common when I was living in a dormitory at Michigan State University between 1962 and 1965.  There were three stages of commitment in relationships.  First a man gave a woman a lavalliere.  This was equivalent to a high school senior giving his class ring to a girl to signify they were going steady.  Next, a college student gave his girlfriend his fraternity pin.  After that, he could give her an engagement ring.

10.  Nick Reynolds.  Quoted by Bush.  12.

11.  I haven’t been able to find a history of college glee clubs on line or on Amazon.  Does anyone know what’s available?

12.  Wikipedia.  “List of Collegiate Glee Clubs.”

13.  In 1976 and 1977, I did research in the stacks of the music room of the Library of Congress.  I went through every volume in the sections that held college and fraternity/sorority songbooks.

14.  George Spasyk. “Sigma Sings.”  Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Zeta chapter website.  10 August 2012.

15.  Liner notes.  The Heightsmen.

16.  “‘Heightsmen’ To Highlight Homecoming.’  The [Moravian College] Comenian.  12 October 1962.  1, 4, 6.  1.

17.  Moravian College.
18.  Amen endings were discussed in the post for 27 November 2017.
19.  Wikipedia.  “Zeta Beta Tau.”
20.  Moravian College.
21.  Record label.  The Heightsmen.
22.  Liner notes.  The Heightsmen.
23.  Liner notes.  The Heightsmen.
24.  Liner notes.  The Heightsmen.
25.  Moravian College.
26.  Wikipedia.  “Imperial Records.”
27.  Wikipedia.  “20th Century Fox Records.”
28.  “20th Holiday Plan: 10% Off.”  Billboard.  19 October 1963.  2.
29.  “Stammer--William B.”  The New York Times.  1 September 2017.
30.  “Allen Kaiden.”  Bloomberg website.
31.  U.S. 1.  “Life in the Fast Lane”  Princeton Info website.  31 October 2007.
32.  “Capacity.”  Crunch Base website.
33.  “Jeffry Chase.”  Alumni US website for New York University.

34.  Liner notes.  The Heightsmen.  A Whisper and a Holler.  20th Century Fox Records TFM 3108.  1963.

35.  “Greenwich Schools Dir of Human Resources Announces Retirement.”  Greenwich Free Press.  25 February 2015.

36.  Wikipedia.  “Dave Guard.”
37.  Wikipedia.  “Bob Shane.”
38.  Wikipedia.  “Menlo College.”  It was originally a prep school for Stanford.

39.  Michael John Simmons.  “Bob Shane: Behind the Stripes.” August 2012.  Fretboard Journal website.

40.  Harrison Smith.  “Fred Hellerman, Guitarist with Pivotal Folk Quartet the Weavers, Dies at 89.”  The Washington Post.  5 September 2016.  He may have been able to use the G. I. Bill since he had been in the Coast Guard when the war ended.

41.  According to Doris Willens’ biography, Lonesome Traveler, Hays was in Emory Junior College when the stock market crashed in 1929. [pages 17–18]  He went to College of the Ozarks, [page 29] but dropped out when Claude Williams moved and he had no place to live. [pages 31, 33]  It was published in New York by W. W. Norton and Company in 1988.

42.  David King Dunaway.  How Can I Keep from Singing?  New York: Villard Books, 2008 edition.  52, 54, 55.