"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" by Johnny Mercer and His Orchestra
Axel Stordahl's debut album came out on Capitol Records, a record label co-founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer. Although more renown for his song craft, Johnny Mercer was also an experienced performer and a big personality who would occasionally record his own songs. He released his debut album Songs by Johnny Mercer in 1944 on his own record label.
Here's the discography surrounding Johnny Mercer's debut album:
Fare-Thee-Well to Harlem (1934 single)
Jamboree Jones (1937 single with His Orchestra)
Murder of J. B. Markham (1937 single with His Orchestra)
Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean (1938 single with Bing Crosby)
Lazybones (1939 single)
Friendship (1940 single with Judy Garland)
Mister Meadowlark (1941 single with Bing Crosby)
Strip Polka (1942 single)
I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City (1942 single)
G. I. Jive (1943 single)
The Old Music Master (1943 single)
"They Didn't Believe Me" (1943 single)
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (1944 single)
I'm Gonna See My Baby (1944 single)
Sam's Got Him (1944 single)
San Fernando Valley (1944 single) Songs by Johnny Mercer
When Frank Sinatra broke away from Tommy Dorsey to start his solo career, he brought along the longtime and popular Dorsey arranger Axel Stordahl to be his music director for radio and records to the big screen. Axel's success with Sinatra made him the go-to arranger for other musicians in the Capitol Records lineup and even gave him the opportunity to release his own albums. Axel Stordahl's debut album Dreamtime - The Strings of Stordahl came out in 1953 on Capitol.
Here is the discography surrounding Axel Stordahl's debut album:
Foolish Tears (1950 single with His Orchestra)
Sadie Thompson's Song (1953 single with His Orchestra)
Carefree (1953 single with His Orchestra)
The Piccolino (1953 single with His Orchestra) Dreamtime - The Strings of Stordahl
Dreamtime - The String of Stordahl by Axel Stordahl
The album cover for our last stop, Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart is considered to be the very first album cover. The cover was designed by legendary graphic designer Alex Steinweiss, who also invented the concept and pitched it to record executives. Steinweiss would go on to design hundreds of album covers including the cover for Frank Sinatra's debut album The Voice of Frank Sinatra released in 1946 on Columbia Records.
Here is the discography surrounding Frank Sinatra's debut album:
Our Love (1939 personal recording)
Harry James and His Orchestra Featuring Frank Sinatra: The Complete Recordings Nineteen Thirty-Nine (compilation album with Harry James and His Orchestra)
The Song Is You (compilation album with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra)
The Lamplighter's Serenade (1942 single)
Night and Day (1942 single)
Close to You (1943 single)
Sunday, Monday or Always (1943 single)
People Will Say We're in Love (1943 single)
Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night of the Week) (1944 single)
The War Bond Man (1944 single)
I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night (1944 single)
White Christmas (1944 single)
I Fall in Love Too Easily (1944 single)
I Should Care (1944 single)
America the Beautiful (1945 single)
Lily Belle (1945 single)
My Shawl (1945 single)
Nancy (With the Laughing Face) (1945 single)
Ol' Man River (1945 single)
Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)
The Charm of You (1945 single)
What Makes the Sunset? (1945 single)
Dream (1945 single)
If You Are But a Dream (1945 single)
Embraceable You (1945 single)
She's Funny That Way (1945 single)
If I Loved You (1945 single)
White Christmas (1945 single)
Homesick, That's All (1945 single)
Begin the Beguine (1946 single)
Five Minutes More (1946 single)
From This Day Forward (1946 single)
Home on the Range (1946 single)
It's All Up to You (1946 single with Dinah Shore)
Jingle Bells (1946 single)
One Love (1946 single)
Poinciana (Song of the Tree) (1946 single)
September Song (1946 single)
Hush-A-Bye Island (1946 single)
Silent Night, Holy Night (1946 single)
Soliloquy (1946 single)
That Old Black Magic (1946 single)
The Coffee Song (1946 single)
They Say It's Wonderful (1946 single)
Oh! What It Seemed to Be (1946 single)
Full Moon and Empty Arms (1946 single)
All Through the Day (1946 single)
These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) (1946 single)
I Dream of You (More Than You Dream I Do) (1946 single)
I Don't Know Why (I Just Do) (1946 single)
The Rarest Sinatra (compilation album)
Frank Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder (1946 album) The Voice of Frank Sinatra
The Real Complete Columbia Years V-Discs (compilation album)
"The Music Stopped" by Frank Sinatra
"Poinciana (Song of the Tree)" by Frank Sinatra
"Soliloquy" by Frank Sinatra
"We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)" by Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra
"Just as Though You Were Here" by Frank Sinatra with The Pied Pipers and Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra
"It's Funny to Everyone but Me" by Frank Sinatra with Harry James and His Orchestra
Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart by Rodgers & Hart
Fred Allen was a veteran of vaudeville before he hit Broadway and then radio. One of the touring shows of which Allen was a part of featured the work of a young musical director who would also go onto big things on Broadway. Richard Rogers's first successes came from his work with writing partner Lorenz Hart, writing musicals like A Connecticut Yankee, Babes in Arms, and Pal Joey. In 1940, Rodgers & Hart released a compilation album Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart: a best-of song cycle of medleys performed by an assortment of guest singers.
Here is the discography surrounding Rodgers & Hart's debut album:
Ferde Grofé eventually moved on from arranging for Whiteman to heading his own radio orchestra for comedian Fred Allen. Fred Allen was a vaudeville comedian who found success all the way to Broadway and finally settled in radio during the start of the format's Golden Age. Never committing anything to record specifically for release, Allen's revues survive in archives that have only occasionally seen a record release. Only a couple episodes from the first two years of his ever-changing sponsored show survive and two of them were collected as "Linit Bath Club Revue" CBS 1932-1933.
Here is the discography surrounding Fred Allen's earliest performances:
"Linit Bath Club Revue" CBS 1932-1933
The Salad Bowl Revue (1933 show)
Paul Whiteman went through many arrangers during his Orchestra's reign but none were probably more important to his legacy than Ferde Grofé, who arranged Rhapsody in Blue and many of the early compositions for Whiteman's Concert Orchestra. Grofé also composed for the Concert Orchestra and they premiered his Grand Canyon Suite. It would be recorded for the first time by Whiteman in 1932.
Here is the discography surrounding Ferde Grofé's recordings:
Mississippi Suite (1927 single)
Metropolis (A Blue Fantasie) (1928 single)
Three Shades of Blue (1928 single) Grand Canyon Suite
"Whispering" by Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra
Transitioning from session musician to composer had William Grant Still working as an arranger for various concert orchestras and Hollywood soundtracks. One of his early arranging gigs was with the prolific Paul Whiteman. Sold as the "King of Jazz", Paul Whiteman played a major role in bringing jazz to the masses through his recordings, concerts and radio performances. His orchestra, however, wasn't a dedicated jazz orchestra. Rather, they were a dance orchestra that would play simple jazz arrangements of varying styles alongside standard dance numbers, ballads, exotica, western tunes, and many a novelty song. His eye for talent meant his orchestra was filled with the most adept white jazz musicians and, thus, could easily transition from one style to the next while staying true to Whiteman's dance hall roots.
As Whiteman's popularity grew so did his ambition; he would upgrade his dance orchestra to a concert orchestra (adding strings and more personnel across the board) when he recorded or performed commissioned miniature pop symphonies. In 1924, he and his concert orchestra would perform An Experiment in Modern Music at New York City's Aeolian Hall. A Disney-esque evening of music meant to educate the audience on various genres of music from opera to, naturally, jazz and even something new: the concert's conclusion was the premiere of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with Gershwin himself improvising at the piano.
This blog entry is a bit of a cheat because the Aeolian Concert was not recorded. Rather, for lack of albums encompassing this period of time (the compilation containing Whiteman's earliest material extends to 1927 and would be too much for one blog entry), I've chosen Maurice Peress's 60th anniversary imagining of the concert as this blog post's whistle stop. Peress arranged and conducted The Birth of Rhapsody in Blue: Paul Whiteman's Historic Aeolian Hall Concert of 1924 which saw release in 1986.
Here is the discography surrounding Paul Whiteman's debut recordings:
Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere (1920 single with His Ambassador Orchestra)
Avalon - Just Like a Gypsy (1920 single with His Ambassador Orchestra)
Grieving for You - Feather Your Nest (1920 single with His Ambassador Orchestra)
Whispering (1920 single with His Ambassador Orchestra)
All for You - Happiness (1921 single)
Bright Eyes (1921 single)
Canadian Capers (1921 single)
Cherie (1921 single)
Gypsy Blues (1921 single)
I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody (Like I'm Loving You) (1921 single)
Just Snap Your Fingers at Care - Darling (1921 single)
Learn to Smile (1921 single)
Liebestraum (1921 single)
Make Believe (1921 single)
Moonlight (1921 single)
My Mammy (1921 single)
Rosie (1921 single)
Second Hand Rose (1921 single)
Song of India (1921 single)
South Sea Isles (1921 single)
Sweet Lady (1921 single)
Sweetheart (1921 single)
Underneath Hawaiian Skies (1921 single)
Weep No More My Mammy (1921 single)
You're the Sweetest Girl (1921 single)
By the Sapphire Sea (1922 single)
Carolina in the Morning (1922 single)
Chicago (That Toddling Town) (1922 single)
Coal Black Mammy (1922 single)
Cutie (1922 single)
Dear Old Southland (1922 single)
Do It Again! (1922 single)
Everybody Step (1922 single)
Homesick (1922 single)
Hot Lips (He's Got Hot Lips When He Plays Jazz) (1922 single)
I Found a Four-Leaf Clover (1922 single)
I Gave You Up Just Before You Threw Me Down (1922 single)
I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise (1922 single)
I'm Just Wild About Harry (1922 single)
It's Up to You (J'en ai marre!) (1922 single)
Jimmy (I Love But You) (1922 single)
Just a Little Love Song (1922 single)
Just as Long as You Have Me (1922 single)
Just Like a Doll (1922 single)
The Lonely Nest (1922 single)
My Rambler Rose (1922 single)
Old Fashioned Girl (In a Gingham Gown) (1922 single)
On the 'Gin 'Gin 'Ginny Shore (1922 single)
Pack Up Your Sins (1922 single)
Some Sunny Day (1922 single)
Stumbling (1922 single)
Three O'Clock in the Morning (1922 single)
Truly (1922 single)
You Won't Be Sorry (1922 single)
Bambalina (1923 single)
Burning Sands (1923 single)
By the Shalimar (1923 single)
Crying for You (1923 single)
Cut Yourself a Piece of Cake (1923 single)
Everything Is K.O. in K-Y. (1923 single)
Fate (It Was Fate When I First Met You) (1923 single)
I Love You (1923 single)
I'm Sitting Pretty in a Pretty Little City (1923 single)
In Love With Love (1923 single)
Just One More Chance (1923 single)
Last Night on the Back Porch (I Loved Her Best of All) (1923 single)
Little Butterfly (1923 single)
Mamma Loves Papa (Papa Loves Mamma) (1923 single)
Nuthin' But (1923 single)
An Orange Grove in California (1923 single)
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (1923 single)
Roamin' to Wyomin' (1923 single)
Romany Love (1923 single)
Shake Your Feet (1923 single)
Sittin' in a Corner (1923 single)
Sweetheart Lane (1923 single)
Tell Me with a Melody (1923 single)
That American Boy of Mine (1923 single)
Underneath the Mellow Moon (1923 single)
'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (1923 single)
What Do You Do Sunday, Mary? (1923 single)
When Hearts Are Young (1923 single)
Adoring You (1924 single)
Alabamy Bound (1924 single)
All Alone (1924 single)
By the Waters of the Minnetonka (1924 single)
Don't Mind the Rain (1924 single)
Doo Wacka Doo (1924 single)
Gotta Get Girl (1924 single)
Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah) (1924 single)
Home in Pasadena (1924 single)
I'm Goin' South (1924 single)
It Had to Be You (1924 single)
Limehouse Blues (1924 single)
Linger Awhile (1924 single)
Little Old Clock on the Mantel (1924 single)
Lucky Kentucky (1924 single)
Mandalay - Step Henrietta (1924 single)
Mandy Make Up Your Mind (1924 single)
Maybe (1924 single)
My Twilight Rose (1924 single)
Oh, Joseph! (1924 single)
The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else) (1924 single)
Pale Moon (1924 single)
Paradise Alley (1924 single)
Pozzo (1924 single)
San (1924 single)
So This Is Venice! (1924 single)
Somebody Loves Me (1924 single)
Someone Loves You After All (Rain Song) (1924 single)
The Song of Songs (1924 single)
Spain (1924 single)
There's Yes! Yes! in Your Eyes (1924 single)
Walla-Walla (1924 single)
What'll I Do (1924 single)
Why Did I Kiss That Girl? (1924 single)
A Suite of Serenades (1924 single with His Concert Orchestra)
Rhapsody in Blue (1924 single with His Concert Orchestra) The Birth of Rhapsody in Blue: Paul Whiteman's Historic Aeolian Hall Concert of 1924
"Adoring You" by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
"Lazy" by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
"Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)" by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
"Rhapsody in Blue" by Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra
