The Manhattan Transfer, that four-part harmony wonder group, gave a glittering concert to a sold-out crowd Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, launching the countdown to Christmas with music so merry and bright that audience members are likely still to be humming today. In their crisp, urban style, the singers – Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel, Alan Paul and Cheryl Bentyne – exuberated in Christmas standards such as “Happy Holidays,” “Let It Snow,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”

The audience may have been put off slightly by the overmiking of the sound system, but if you’re going to have music be loud, this is the right kind. Remarkably, no one was overcome by the impulse to do swing dances, but people did readily add finger-snapping and backup doo-wops to Paul’s solo performance of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” which he sang in 1950s fashion, a la the Drifters and Platters – except he impressively did all the parts.

A local, pickup band, including members of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, had rehearsed earlier with Manhattan Transfer music director and bodacious jazz pianist Yaron Gershovsky. Joining the Manhattan Transfer Band were drummer Steven Hass, bassist Richie Goods and saxophonist Larry Klimas, the onstage instrumentalists gave the vocalists backup for their revving arrangements.

The 90-minute jazz show, the last on the group’s three-week holiday tour, had a charm and charge to it that Manhattan Transfer fans have not seen diminish during the 30 years these expert musicians have re-orchestrated swing-era tunes. They still have the swiftness and verve that made them famous in the 1980s and that scored several Grammy Awards along the way.

But for all the fun of the holiday theme, the most memorable moments of the evening were not about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. They were about the very repertoire that put Manhattan Transfer on the map, including “Route 66,” “Moten’s Swing” and “Java Jive.” No one sings “Operator,” the 1950s rockin’ gospel standard, with more glory and elasticity than these four note shapers. Hearing their version is akin to being present when Tony Bennett croons “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” or Frank Sinatra belts out “I Did It My Way.”

Siegel’s “A Tisket, A Tasket” was a show-stopper, with a muted trumpet scat and rolling,

raspy vocals. Not many singers could – or should – be brazen enough to go up against Ella Fitzgerald, but Siegel is the real thing, and she handled the piece with both loyalty and personal flair.

After three decades of performing together, Manhattan Transfer has not lost its city slickness (even though most of the singers no longer live in Manhattan). At the end of a tour and at this point in their careers, they could be very tired. Instead, they still have the brass to turn vintage music into a hot program any time of year.

Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 or aanstead@bangordailynews.net.