Quire was an offshoot of the vocal group the Swingle Singers, except that, during its brief existence,
Quire concentrated on recreating classic jazz works rather than classical music.
Christiane Legrand, a founding member of the Swingle Singers and also the Double-Six of Paris, was the musical director and also one of the quartet of singers whose voices were taped via repeated overdubbing and splicing to recreate vocally various jazz instrumental hits, such as "Misty," "Honky Tonk Train Blues," "Waltz for Debby," and "Dancers in Love." The work required just to duplicate some of the solos is amazing, yet the singers try to fill in all of the background chords and notes, too. While there is little doubt that it takes some extraordinary singers to listen to the original recordings and vocally duplicate instrumental passages over numerous repeated takes to assemble the final product, the fact is that there is no real improvising going on at all. There is no instrumental support except for occasionally light brushes, bass, guitar, or vibes. The inability of
Quire's singers to pull off their accomplishment in concert, unlike the Swingle Singers, a group that has changed personnel but continued to tour into the 21st century, made this LP a one-shot curiosity that is fun to share for a track or two but quickly grows tiresome.