4 Freshmen: the Voices of Experience : Music: The quartet, which has been performing pop and jazz standards for decades, will sing a tribute to Stan Kenton.

Asked the secret behind the Four Freshmen’s successful four-decade-plus career, Bob Flanigan, the founder and leader of the vocal quartet, answered quickly:

Psychological coercion.

“We played about 3,000 colleges in the ‘50s and ‘60s, sometimes two a day, and those fans are parents now, and a lot have brainwashed their kids into listening to us,” he said with a laugh.

Then, speaking more seriously, Flanigan--who leads the Freshmen in a tribute to Stan Kenton on Sunday in the Rendezvous Ballroom of the Irvine Marriott hotel--said he thinks the group’s longevity results from its policy of sticking with what he calls “good music”: great pop standards and jazz tunes.

“There’s always been a market for good music,” Flanigan, 65, said on the phone from his home in Las Vegas. “Always will be. Your records won’t go platinum, but you’ll survive.”

Actually, he thinks his kind of music is more popular than it has been in some time. “I see a lot more young people involved. Harry Connick Jr. is a good example.” He also mentioned Linda Ronstadt, Rickie Lee Jones and Toni Tennille.

Another factor in the quartet’s staying power--it still works an average of 140 dates a year--has to be its distinctive sound. Renditions of such well-known Freshmen favorites as “It’s a Blue World” and “Graduation Day” (which reached No. 17 on the Billboard pop charts in 1956) are identifiable in a matter of moments.

The Freshmen are a class ensemble. The flawless intonation, melodic sensitivity and succulent sense of swing offered by Flanigan and current members Autie Goodman, Mike Beisner and Greg Stegeman (who have been on board for 14, 10 and two years respectively) should impress any music fan.

Flanigan said that much of the group’s approach is still derived from his original intention when he formed the group in 1948 (with Ross and Don Barbour and Hal Kratzch; all were, naturally, first-year students at Butler University in Indianapolis). His idea was to pattern it after the Kenton trombone section, rather than a foursome of singers.

“I always thought of singing as if I were playing trombone with Stan,” he said. “We think like horn players. The way we blend is due to our approach as instrumentalists. Also, we use no vibrato, because Kenton’s trombones didn’t.”

Kenton himself first heard the still-struggling singers in Dayton, Ohio, in 1950 and recommended them to Capitol Records, where they recorded more than 30 LPs, starting in 1952.

One reason the Freshmen sing like musicians is that they are musicians. Flanigan plays bass and trombone, Goodman plays drums and reeds, and Stegeman and Beisner both play trombone, trumpet and keyboard.

“Most people don’t know we play, unless they’ve seen us, but in fact, 90% of our dates are self-contained. We are the band,” Flanigan said.

What’s it like to sing and play at the same time? “It’s like simultaneously patting your head and rubbing your stomach. Once you learn how, it’s not much of a problem,” Flanigan answered. “You have to concentrate on one thing. I work out bass patterns so I can concentrate on the singing. That’s pretty much what everybody does, since people come for the singing, not the playing.”

At the Irvine Marriott, however, the Freshmen will work with Bob Curnow’s all-star Stan Kenton Alumni Orchestra. Among the musicians will be Bill Perkins, Ray Reed and Steve Wilkerson on saxes; Mike Price and Clay Jenkins on trumpets, and Jim Amlotte and Kenny Shroyer on trombones.

Flanigan said it will be a rare treat for the group to work with a big band, let alone a Kenton-based ensemble. “Playing in front of a big band gives us a different feel. We’re all big-band fans, so it gets the juices flowing a little harder, sometimes makes things work better.”

The memory of Kenton is still etched clearly in Flanigan’s mind. “He was awesome, personally. He was so dedicated. He had that way of getting more out of a player than the player knew he had. The band was so exciting to listen to, not to mention getting in front of.”

Sunday’s program includes a variety of material: Along with such group standbys as “Day by Day” and “Blue World,” there’ll be a Duke Ellington medley and tunes by such contemporary pop writers as Christopher Cross.

Flanigan said he has always been picky about what the group sings. “We have never done anything we didn’t want to do. We’ve made mistakes, but I didn’t think so at the time.”

Such as? “In the ‘70s we recorded some tunes that weren’t really for the Freshmen. We made three records for Liberty Records, among them ‘A Today Kind of Thing.’ We tried to do hit songs of the day, and we could do them, but we didn’t do them with conviction. You can’t fool kids into thinking you’re a rock vocal group when you’re not.”

Those albums--and a couple of others on which the singers multitracked their voices--taught Flanigan a lesson. “We got back to doing what we do.”

The Four Freshmen sing a tribute to Stan Kenton on Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Rendezvous Ballroom at the Irvine Marriott hotel, 18000 Von Karman Ave., Irvine. Tickets: $20. Information: (714) 553-9449.