Our Director, Jack Pinto
Congratulations Jack, on winning the GOLD!! It's an honor and not only well deserved but well-earned. Life sometimes does not always go the way you want it to go. But sometimes things change and everything seems to go in the right direction. Things didn't work out for Jack in California, so he came back East in 1997. He found "The Brothers in Harmony" in need of a director. That was a good thing. He then went to Russia and found and fell in love with Olga. That was a better thing. He then hooked up with his best friend, Joe Connelly, and formed an "Awesome" quartet, "Old School". But the best thing to happen was this past May when he became a father to his son, Daniel. Daniel will be very proud of what his dad has done in barbershop. Jack has gone a long way in a relatively short time in his barbershop career.
He started barbershopping at the early age of 6 in the "Princeton Chapter". As Jack would tell you, "I learned my barbershop harmony at my grandfather's knee". His grandfather was a barbershopper and sang in a quartet; I believe was called "The Grandfathers".
Jack's next chapter was the "Bucks County Chapter" and he was there about 1 ½ years. It was all because Lyle Benner put an ad out for a director and Jack responded. Three weeks later Jack was their director. He also belonged to the "Cherry Hill Chapter" and the "Manhattan Chapter". His early competitive jazz group in high school and concert choir was also a factor in his musicalexcellence. Studying acting and dance and singing in his church furthered his wide knowledge of music.
His first quartet was called "Prospect Place" where they won the Westfield Novice contest in 1987 and the North Division contest the same year with Jack singing baritone. The quartet went on to compete in the Districts in '87 and finished 19th.
In 1988, he joined a quartet called "East Side Kids". With Jack singing tenor, replacing John Scifo, Jack Fair singing lead, Terry Reagan at baritone replacing Steve Peterson and Joe Fair singing bass. They competed in "Prelims in '88finishing 8th. They continued, and in 1988 Division, they took top honors finishing first. On they went to Districts (1988) and finished 3rd. In 1989 the quartet finished 5th in the Prelims and 4th in the District Contest. They went on in 1990 to finish 3rd in the Prelims and 2nd in the Districts. In 1991,Prelims found them 5th. with the right to compete at International. In all they competed in three Internationals, 1989 -20th place, 1990 -51st place and 1991-29th place.
That quartet broke up but that didn't stop Jack. He found a new group of guys and called themselves "The Untouchables”. The members were: John Brohawn-tenor,Kevin King-lead, Jack at baritone replacing Mike Sotirou, and Brett Pryor singing bass. So, in 1992 the group finished 3rd in Prelims. Then after the leaving of bass Brett Pryor, the group, re-named "BSQ" went on to finish 2nd in The District 1993.
In 1993 he also directed the Hunterdon Chapter" to 10th place in thesame District contest. 1994 saw thequartet scratch in the Prelims. In May of '94 the "Hunterdon Chapter" finished a very good 2nd in the Divisioncontest. In 1994 The District saw "BSQ",with new tenor Bob Seay win the medal of first place. The same District saw "Hunterdon" finish 8th. In 1995 our Division contestsaw "Hunterdon finish 2nd for the second year. Thequartet went on to our International Competition in Miami;it saw "BSQ" just shy of a medal (6th) place. That same year, Jack brought "Hunterdon" to finish 5th in our District. In 1996, Prelims first place trophy was given to "BSQ". The spring also was very good because "Hunterdon" finished first in the Division. That year's International in Salt Lake City, UT, saw "BSQ" finish in the medals in 5th place. That fall "Hunterdon" finished 2nd in our Districtcontest, directed by Jack.
Jack left Hunterdon to direct "The Masters in Harmony" (California) and Darrel Hill took Hunterdon to the 1997 International in Indianapolis and finished 19th. Jack returned East in late 1997 and with the urge to direct, he met with the powers to be of the "Brothers in Harmony" – Bangor/PenArgle Chapter. Moving the charter to Easton, PA he started to build our chapter.
About the same time he joined up with Dave Hinman, Bob Disney and Barry Brown and formed the quartet "Doc Holiday". That spring found them in Prelims finishing 6th. Also in the "Brothers" first contest that spring of '98 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, we finished first. At International in Atlanta, GA the '98 contest saw Doc Holiday in 45th place. In Districts in '98 the "Brothers" finished first with the right to represent our district in the International in Anaheim, CA. The chorus finished in 17th place in the 1999 contest.
That next district saw the "Brothers finish 4th. In 2000 Jack sang in a quartet with Tim Waurick ("Vocal Spectrum" fame) on tenor, Sean Devine ("O.C.Times" fame) on the lead, Dan Deisroth (our baritone section leader) singing baritone and Jack on the bass. They finished 1st in our division contest. Meantime the "Brothers" finished 1st in the chorus contest. Sean left for the West Coast and was replaced with Bill Stauffer ("Double Take" & "Take Five" fame) at lead. They finished 2nd at Districts and the "Brothers" finished 5th. In 2001 Prelims, "Good Times" finished in 2nd place with the right to compete in the International in Nashville, TN where they finished in 25th place. Also in 2001 the Brothers sang in Division outside of our own in Eastern, MD where we had the top score of anyone. Jack concentrated his effort on the chorus getting us to 3rd place in '01 district, 2nd place in '02 division and 3rd in our district in '02. That District found Jack helping out a quartet whose tenor could not compete in that contest. Jack replaced Brian Schreiner at tenor, singing along with Brad Brooks on lead, Bob Bennett on baritone & Chad Tully at the bass. They finished a very good 5th place.
In 2003 "Good Times" reformed with Tim Waurick going to lead, Dan Deisroth still at Baritone and Jack still at bass but added new tenor Mark Powell. The boys finished 3rd, getting the right to compete in the 2003 International in Montreal where they finished 34th. In 2003 the "Brothers" finished 1st in Division and 3rd in Districts which was good enough for International to ask us to mike test in Louisville in 2004. 2005 found the "Brothers" singing out of division and getting top honors. Wecame in 3rd in Octobers contest in the District. In '06, the Brothers finished 1st in division and 4th in district. It was the first time any District sent 4 choruses to International. We finished in 24th place.
The Brothers finished 4th again in the '07 district contest and the right to compete in International in Nashville, where we finished 20th. Meanwhile "Old School", who was newly formed with Jack and Joe Connelly hooking up with tenor,Rick Taylor and bass,Joe Krones, finished in 1st place in the 2008 Prelims andmedaled in 5th place in Nashville. The Districts in 2008 saw "Old School" take the trophy. In 2009 The "Brothers" finished 1st in the division. On to the International in Anaheim went "Old School" where they finished in 2nd with their new tenor Kip Buckner.
The Districts, in 2009, was good for the "Brothers". Their 2nd place finish was good enough to land a spot in Philadelphia for the 2010International. Finishing 9th "on the globe" was a great thrill for the Brothers. "Old School" finished 1st again in the Prelim contest in 2010 and they finished 2nd again in the International.
The Districts found the "Brothers" in 2nd again,behind Alexandria but we still were able to land a slot in the 2011 International in Kansas City where we will be with "Old School" who finished 1st in the Prelims in 2011.
One cannot attempt to capture all that Jack has done. Not to mentioned he coached many Sweet Adeline quartets, and directed many Sweet Adeline choruses. Jack has even taken on additional directing duties in Princeton. Jack has been abroad many times to coach choruses and quartets in England,Russia, Holland etc. Jack claims his many mentors have helped him along in his barbershop career. Some of whom are: Greg Lyne, Joe Connelly, David Harrington, and Eddy Ryan to just name a few. I know they are, and a lot of other people are very proud ofyou.
- Written by John Russo - Brothers in Harmony
Web Master: Jim Rohn - webmaster@brothersinharmony.org
