One More Dance with Grefe, Gaus & Grefe

Gifted with exquisitely detailed vocal prowess, decades of instrumental experience, and the ability to execute intricately woven and seamlessly blended harmonies capable of making the silver lining of heaven shimmer, the musical collective known as Grefe, Gaus & Grefe are a regional super-group with decades of experience crafting meticulously polished detail into songs by groups like The Eagles, Crosby Stills & Nash, The Beach Boys & Beatles, along with more contemporary artists such as Mumford & Sons and Barenaked Ladies.

Between 2009 and 2014 this extended musical family consisting of Tim Grefe, Stephan Gaus, Andy Grefe and Tamara Grefe performed five sold-out fundraising shows for the Saginaw Choral Society.  Discerning and selective about the projects they pursue, after an 11-year hiatus they have decided to reunite once again to fashion together an impeccably crafted Benefit Concert for The Saginaw Choral Society titled One More Dance!, which will debut in a series of performances on Friday & Saturday, November 14 & 15^th at Saginaw’s Pit & Balcony Theatre at 7:00 PM.

Joined by an A-List of regional back-up musicians consisting of Joe Balbaugh on bass, drummer Steve Nyquist, percussionist Loren Kranz, and guitarist Dennis Gottlieb, this extended musical family embarked upon this ambitious project six months ago, dedicating countless hours mapping out the complex and tricky musical textures involved with paying homage to the works of some of the most talented vocal groups of our time who have occupied the upper echelon of the musical charts over the last several decades; and in each of their performances audiences are treated to faithful letter-perfect renditions of polished musical perfection. Also included in the roster is pianist & composer Catherine McMichael and Choral Society director & flutist Jeremiah Kraniak.

Considering they are such a strongly vocal-oriented group and over a decade has passed since their voices last joined forces, as I sat down to discuss this latest musical excursion the first question on my mind was an obvious one: how well have their voices held up as they’ve matured, and can they still hit those high notes that make the heavens sparkle?  Always modest and the consummate jokester, Tim quickly responds, “Well, first of all Bob, I never could hit the high notes, so we’re not losing or missing anything in that department!”

“Seriously, though, it’s been a lot of fun and a fantastic experience,” he continues. “It’s interesting because when we first started playing the band was pretty well split between older and younger members who were available anytime because they were so new and hadn’t had time to develop careers. But over the last 12 years they developed a lot of careers, so now organizing practices has been crazy.”

“We’re still split into old farts and new young blood, but now the young blood is ten years older and we’re harder to reach,” Tim says with a smile.  “Honestly, I think we sound better than ever because we’re so used to working with each other. We’ve developed over 100 songs together and given the maturity, once we got accustomed to singing with each other again everything fell right into place.”

“We’ve been rehearsing at our drummer’s studio that he owns next to the Scottish Inn,” adds Stephan Gaus. “The other night some of the musicians were arguing over a point, so Tim, Andy and I stepped outside at about 6:00 PM and there’s a guy walking down the street heading to the Scottish. We’re outside perfecting harmonies to the song Sail Away, and he just stopped in his tracks, listened to us for a minute or two, and finally said, ‘Yeah, you guys got it!’, and walked on.”

“Especially over the last 30-days, everything is falling into place and we’re feeling really good about it,” notes Andy Grefe. “We have two systems of rehearsal - one for the vocalists and another for the instrumentalists - and both Steve and Joe are so confident and professional. We give them album cuts and they do their work and then it’s up to the vocalists not to step on their own toes. Actually, there’s also a third rehearsal that’s been going on between me and Dennis behind the scenes, because like the vocalists there are parts the guitars end up playing together, so once we’ve got our notes we need to work out the dynamics and pharsing we want to articulate together, along with the starts and stops. The devil’s in the details and we have a lot of moving parts in motion.”

The impetus behind this reunion concert stemmed from the fact that the Saginaw Choral Society is coming up on their 90^th Anniversary and Tamara Grefe has served as Director and been involved with that group for nearly half of its existence.

“We’ve put together five shows with Grefe, Gaus, Grefe to benefit the Choral Society over the years, so after we decided to do this benefit concert one more time, we came up with the theme of One More Dance!,” she explains. “It’s amazing how many people still remember our previous performances, such as the One Hit Wonders show we did, but they still do. With this show we decided instead of taking on an entirely new concert, we would go back and take the best chunks of material we’ve showcased previously, but also add in several pieces of fresh material as well.”

“We’ll be giving the audiences a few of our favorite songs and some gems we never had the chance to perform before, but you can bet they’re going to hear something from Crosby Stills & Nash and something from The Eagles and a few One Hit Wonders to make up what we feel is a really balanced show, so unless you’ve been to all five of our previous shows there’s actually quite a lot of new material for people to absorb,” notes Stephan.

“When it comes to song selections we decide that kind of a like a committee,” interjects Tim. “Something I would like to mention is for every one of our five previous shows, Stephan had a song suggestion that didn’t make it into the first show, then didn’t make it into the second show; and for the third show we were really going to do it, but at the last minute had to cut it, so finally at this upcoming show he is finally going to get to sing the song he’s been trying to do for the past 15 years, which will be a proud moment.”

The energy, enthusiasm, and anticipation about this upcoming benefit concert is palpable, which is reflected by each member when asked to summarize their experience with the reunion.

“I started doing these shows when I was in my twenties,” reflects Andy, “I’ve done a lot of solo work and played with several other groups, but the pinnace of my musical enjoyment has been doing these shows. It’s unique because I’m playing with both of my parents and my Dutch Uncle, Stephan, and the other musicians we’ve played with have become very close people in my life.  When that ended it was sort of bittersweet because it opened a sort a void that I wanted to experience again, and finally getting a chance to pick up my guitar once again with this group is like a dream come true. Not only is it nostalgic, but it’s revisiting one of my favorite experiences and I get to enjoy once again.”

“In my professional career and my personal life I’ve had two great loves,” reflects Tammy. “One of them is of course my family, and the second is making music with the Saginaw Choral Society. Not only do I get to perform on stage with most of my family, but my daughter and her husband and children will be in the audience, so this is reunion show is a particularly sweet and wonderful experience for me.”

“I agree with Tammy,” concludes Tim. “I get to be the point guard on this phenomenal team, the musicians are exquisite, the energy is wonderful, and for me to be able to stand at the front of the stage is a very unique and wonderful experience.”

“I truly believe that music is the only real magic we still have got left in this world, and our audiences are simply fantastic. They treat us so well and it’s such an honor to be able to work with everybody involved.”

The Grefe Gaus Grefe • One More Dance Fundraiser for The Saginaw Choral Society will take place on Friday & Saturday, November 14 & 15^th at Pit & Balcony Theatre at 7 PM. Reserved seating tickets are $45.00 available by phoning 989-753-1812 or by clicking this link.