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When Doox of Yale is on stage, it's all about that bass — and tenor and baritone. The a cappella group is for lower register singers, so no sopranos or altos here, but an all-gender ensemble of 18 Yale University students who love singing.
The group is in the midst of a West Coast tour and has stopped by the Peninsula for several dates, including a Jan. 10 concert at the Palo Alto Art Center presented by Earthwise Productions, a Jan. 11 performance at Gunn High School plus a Jan. 12 concert at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
For one of the Doox, the Palo Alto show will mark a return home. Quincy Rosenzweig is from Palo Alto and graduated from Gunn High School in 2022.
A baritone who also serves as the group's co-business manager, Rosenzweig said he has always been interested in singing.
"I sort of grew up singing around the house. I did choir for one year in seventh grade, and then I was in the a capella club at Gunn and was the president my junior and senior years, but I don't really have formal training," he said.
Now at Yale, he is planning a double major in mechanical engineering and computer science. But in addition to that, he knew he wanted to sing while at the university.
"I really enjoyed doing a capella in high school. I thought the community was great and the harmonies are always really fun. So I went into Yale knowing that I wanted to do a capella and there are a lot of groups. It's hard to distinguish between all of them, but Doox stood out to me as caring a lot about the music. I really wanted to grow as a musician and so I thought that by joining Doox, that would be the best way for me to do so," Rosenzweig said.
As a group, Doox dates back to 1952, named after founder Basil "Duke" Henning, but the unusual spelling of its name has been a more recent change.
"We have baritone, bass, tenor two and tenor one parts. We used to be an all-male group and we went all-gender in 2016 and in 2017 changed our name from 'Duke's Men of Yale,' spelled D-U-K-E apostrophe S, named after our founder, to Doox of Yale, spelled D-O-O-X, to reflect the gender composition of the group," Rosenzweig said.
There's also some crossover with well-known — and also whimsically named — Yale singing group the Whiffenpoofs, with a few Doox singers taking part in both ensembles. Founder Henning was himself also a Whiffenpoof, according to the Doox website. For their Jan. 12 performance in San Francisco, Doox will open for the Whiffenpoofs.
In its 70-year history, Doox has performed on a variety of stages in the United States, including the White House, NPR and internationally.
Doox's repertoire spans many genres and decades, with a mix of jazz, pop, rock, soul and R&B and folk with everything from Journey's "Open Arms" to Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" to Vance Joy's "Riptide."
"I think the most fun thing about being in the group is that we do get to sing a lot of different kinds of songs. We typically choose the songs. All of the songs we sing have been arranged by past Doox or current Doox, so it's really just whatever we are most passionate about. Each year, our pitch — our music director, but we call them our 'pitch' — will choose the songs that we learn. But if new members are arranging songs, then we'll typically spend at least one rehearsal learning them, and then we might add them to the rep that we sing that year as well," Rosenzweig said.
He noted that the music director is known as the "pitch" because it's short for "pitch pipe," the device that helps singers find the right pitch that is typically wielded by the director.
Doox's selections change each a little each year, depending on the group and its leadership. Though the group's wide-ranging repertoire varies, there are few standby songs that are almost always on the set list.
"One song that's very special to us is 'What a Good Boy' (by Barenaked Ladies) so we always learn 'What a Good Boy' and it is a song that our singers solo on only after they've been in the group for at least three semesters. And it's very special to us," Rosenzweig said. "We also sing 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople),' which is a very special song to us as well, and our alumni song — we don't always perform it but when we do, if there are any alumni in the audience, then they typically come on stage and perform with us."
Whatever the group is singing, and whatever stage they're on, Rosenzweig said the aim is to give audiences an enjoyable show.
"I hope that they enjoy connecting to music and seeing our energy onstage and can feel that themselves as well. We really just want to give people a fun time and leave them with some fun memories, hopefully."
Doox of Yale performs Jan. 10, 8 p.m. at the Palo Alto Art Center auditorium, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto (free for students/children and $18 for adults); Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m. at Little Theater, Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, with a talkback to follow the performance ($5 for students/children and $15 for adults). and Jan. 12, 7 p.m. at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., San Francisco, with the Yale Whiffenpoofs ($10 for students/children and $20 for adults). Tickets available at dooxofyale.com or at the door.
