Wikipedia
Jukin' is the debut album recorded by The Manhattan Transfer. Released on Capitol Records in 1971, it was also the only album released by the first incarnation of the group which consisted of founder Tim Hauser, Erin Dickins, Marty Nelson, Gene Pistilli, and Pat Rosalia.
The album was later reissued in the UK by EMI's Music for Pleasure under the title The Manhattan Transfer and Gene Pistilli Pistilli had been best known for his performing and songwriting collaborations with Terry Cashman and Tommy West.
The group line-up endured only about two years. According to Tim Hauser, "Gene and I were in two different places. He was more into country & western, R&B, and the Memphis sound, and by then I'd become more interested in jazz and swing..." Consequently, this edition of the Manhattan Transfer broke up shortly after this album was released, and Tim Hauser formed a new version of the group during October 1972. The revised Manhattan Transfer line-up would sign to Atlantic Records in 1975 and resume the group's recording career with much greater success.
The ''Jukin' ''album, meanwhile, remains an orphan in the Manhattan Transfer's catalogue. Issued on a different label than their future successes, with a different group line-up and a different sound from that which became their trademark, ''Jukin' ''is not acknowledged at all on the band's official website, nor have any of its tracks been anthologized on Manhattan Transfer 'best-of' compilations.
The revised line-up would re-record the track "Java Jive" on the group's next album. It is the re-recorded version, not the version found on Jukin', that can be found on multiple compilation albums.
The album has been reissued, usually as a budget-priced item, with a variety of covers. A comparatively recent European re-issue of ''Jukin' ''tracks was entitled A Touch Of Class, and featured misleading packaging and credits that wrongly implied that the songs were actually performed by the later (post-1972) version of The Manhattan Transfer.