The Mills Brothers turned four voices and a guitar into an orchestra, imitating trumpets, trombones, and tubas with their mouths on records like 1931's 'Tiger Rag' and becoming one of the best-selling vocal groups in American history. Their tight, jazz-inflected harmonies and easy showmanship influenced nearly every close-harmony pop group that followed. Active from 1925 to 1982, they logged more than two thousand recordings across half a century.

the sound in question

1931

Tiger RagThe Mills Brothers