Get Up & Go EPK — west side 5

*Get Up & Go*

The ambitious sophomore album from vocal jazz quintet West Side 5.

Track List

(Click track titles to listen; also available on Spotify and Apple Music)

TITLE

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

TIME

2:53

2:36

5:36

3:42

3:43

2:55

2:05

3:27

2:41

3:27

COMPOSER/LYRICIST

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Paul McCartney

Neal Hefti/Count Basie

Chick Corea

Rodgers & Hart

Hefti/Basie/Styne/Pramuk

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Edvard Grieg

Eric Hughes/Dylan Pramuk

Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne

ARRANGER

Dylan Pramuk

Eric Hughes

Dylan Pramuk

Eric Hughes

SOLOISTS

Aubrey Johnson

Aubrey Johnson/Katie Seiler

Aubrey Johnson

Tomas Cruz/Dylan Pramuk

Tomas Cruz

THE PROJECT

A lot has changed for West Side 5 since its debut album was released in 2012. Numerous personnel changes led to the current lineup being solidified in 2017: soprano Aubrey Johnson, alto Katie Seiler, tenor Tomas Cruz, and bass Dylan Pramuk joined founding member and baritone Eric Hughes.

The new quintet locked like never before, with each member’s unique vocal and musical talents on display. In particular, Dylan Pramuk’s remarkable arranging pen brought impressive new music to the group’s repertoire — Get Up & Go features seven of Dylan’s original arrangements.

With a new lineup, new sound, and new music, the group was excited to release a new record. The pandemic and other scheduling conflicts made this challenging, but they finally got into the studio in 2024/2025, and released the album in April 2026.

Long-time friend and engineer Marty Gasper was unavailable for the project, but he recommended Alex Green at Plaid Productions, whose sensitive ear and editing prowess was a perfect fit for the project. Marty nonetheless contributed his world-class vocal percussion on “One Note Samba” and “Get Up & Go”. Meanwhile, “Cute” features live drummer Ross Pederson, the first time the group has used non-vocal instrumentation.

Original lyrics are also featured on the album. Dylan wrote creative additional lyrics for “Cute”, and also wrote the lyrics for the title track “Get Up & Go”. The latter track is the only original song on the album, and was originally written by Eric Hughes as a wordless tune with scat syllables. Later, Dylan suggested adding lyrics, and wrote the ingenious rhyming verses that can be heard on the album.

Altogether, Get Up & Go demonstrates all the numerous facets of West Side 5’s talents, including arranging, improvised soloing, original lyrics, blend, and musical interpretation to create an impressive, cohesive, and memorable vocal jazz album.

Photos

About West Side 5

West Side 5, an award-winning vocal jazz ensemble based in New York City, is known for its refined sound and sophisticated approach to jazz.

Inspired by greats like Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, and The Real Group, West Side 5 has crafted its own unique sound, characterized by highly original arrangements, complex harmonies, and outstanding musicianship.

The group formed in the summer of 2009, bringing together five old college friends on the west side of Manhattan. They immediately gained national attention, winning the Mid-Atlantic Harmony Sweepstakes while being voted Audience Favorite and winning Best Arrangement for “Pure Imagination”. They went on to be featured artists at the SingStrong A Cappella Festival, and have performed alongside groups including Blue Jupiter, Streetcorner Symphony, and The Bobs, as well as for Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion in New York.

West Side 5’s self-titled debut album received wide acclaim. The album earned 2 CARA nominations (Best Jazz Song for Chet Baker’s classic “I Fall in Love Too Easily”, and Best Jazz Album), and the group’s innovative take on the standard “As Time Goes By” was selected to be featured on the Voices Only Forte compilation, putting West Side 5 in the company of the best vocal harmony groups in the world today, including The Idea of North, m-pact, Cadence, and NOTA.

More recently, they have twice more been winners of Regional Harmony Sweepstakes competitions, and released their second album in April 2026, titled Get Up & Go.

MEMBER BIOS

Members Gallery

Aubrey Johnson

Soprano

Aubrey is a New York-based vocalist, composer, and educator who specializes in jazz, Brazilian, and creative contemporary music with and without words. She has held faculty positions at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, and currently teaches at Queens College and Montclair State University. In demand as both a side-person and a leader, Aubrey has performed and/or recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Janis Siegel (of the Manhattan Transfer), Lauren Kihnan (of the New York Voices), John Patitucci, Lyle Mays, Steve Rodby, Mark Walker, Paul McCandless, and many others. She is currently composing music for a new album to be released in 2017 under Greg Osby’s independent record label, Inner Circle Music.

Katie Seiler

Alto

Katie is a New Hampshire native who attended Western Michigan University for a Bachelors in Jazz Voice, and New England Conservatory for a Masters in Jazz Voice. Katie is a performer, voice teacher, and certified Alexander Technique teacher. In the past Katie has opened for Becca Stevens Band, been a background singer on the Oprah show, and has performed with Donny McCaslin, and Clark Terry amongst others. Katie currently performs her own music, and sings on other musicians’ projects in styles ranging, choral, folk, jazz, and new music. Currently, when she’s not performing, she’s teaching private voice lessons for community music schools in the New York City area, teaching the Alexander Technique through her own studio, or serving as a guest adjudicator, clinician, and performer.

Tomas Cruz

Tenor

A regular in New York’s avant-garde performance scene, Tomás is known for his “… sweet tenor (All About Jazz, 2018),” and "... mellifluous, pure tone (New York Classical Review, 2015)...," as well as his stylistic flexibility. Credits include work with Philip Glass, Nickelodeon, Damien Rice, SNL, Ars Nova Theater, Jónsi & Alex, and Toshi Reagon. Ongoing projects include vocal jazz group West Side 5, a cappella group Duwende, and indie band Secret Sibling.

Eric Hughes

Baritone

Eric is a veteran of jazz a cappella, and is a founding member of West Side 5. A classically-trained pianist with a Music degree from Harvard, he pursued a passion for jazz vocal harmony and arranging in multiple a cappella groups in college, where he performed with Bobby McFerrin. He went on to study with Peter Eldridge (of the New York Voices), and in 2009 formed West Side 5 with a group of college friends. He is a frequent guest at a cappella festivals, as both a teacher and adjudicator.

Dylan Pramuk

Bass

A versatile baritone, improviser, arranger and educator, Dylan has performed at many of NYC’s finest jazz venues, including The Jazz Standard, The Blue Note, and Birdland. The New York Times has hailed his “killer scat singing.” With vocalists Amy London, Holli Ross and Pete McGuinness, Dylan is one fourth of the Royal Bopsters, the jazz vocal quartet whose debut album, The Royal Bopsters Project was released to international acclaim on Motema in 2015, featuring jazz vocal heroes Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Bob Dorough, Sheila Jordan and the late, great Mark Murphy. In addition to private instruction, Dylan has developed an ongoing course in vocal improvisation entitled Hearing & Singing the Changes and, since January 2014, has been co-director with Amy London of the Jazz House Kids Vocal Academy in Montclair, New Jersey.

Contact Info

To contact the group, email westsidefive@gmail.com, or use the online contact form at this link.