The Capitol Years, Part 4
The Peggy Lee Discography And Videography
by Iván Santiago

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Total Number Of Peggy Lee Masters
This discographical page shows a total of 94 masters and 9 alternate takes, all of them recorded for Capitol Records between April, 1957 and late 1959. One of those 94 masters was taped live at the Americana Hotel, in Miami (May 29, 1959). Four masters are listed as unissued: "Uninvited Dream," "Every Night," "You Don't Know," and "I'm Following You." The first three were re-recorded by Lee in subsequent sessions. The fourth, "I'm Following You" is an obscure track about which little is known; as discussed below, there's no absolute certainty that Peggy Lee truly is the person who sings it. Also listed in this page, though not counted among the 94 masters, is a remix of the song "Fever," produced by Capitol without Lee's direct involvement (May 19, 1958).

Personal Note
This is one of various pages that I have been updating during the first half of 2009. The update is nearly finished. A few minor additions -- mostly general notes, to be placed at the bottom of the page -- will be made before June 1, 2009.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Frank Sinatra (con), Voyle Gilmore (pdr), Buddy Collette, Harry Klee (as), Warren "Champ" Webb, James Williamson (ts), Tommy Pederson aka Pullman Pederson (tb), James Decker, Sinclair Lott (frh), Juan Tizol (vtb), George Roberts (bt), Nick Bonney (g), Max K. Bennett (b), Lou Levy (p), Stella Castellucci (hrp), Lou Singer (d), Victor Arno, Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Harold Dicterow, David Frisina, Henry Hill, Alex Murray, Erno Neufeld, Eudice Shapiro, Marshall Sosson (vn), Alvin Dinkin, Maxine Johnson, Barbara Simons (vl), Ennio Bolognini, Victor Gottlieb, Edgar Lustgarten, Kurt Reher (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Man I Love Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 2, 4 and 8, 1957.


Personnel

1. Frank Sinatra
Peggy Lee's return to recording activity for Capitol boasted the presence of her long-time friend Frank Sinatra, then at the height of his popularity as a recording artist, and herein fulfilling the role of conductor. "He was my neighhbor then," said Lee," and came over and said, let's do an album. And he gave me over 200 songs to choose from. And he planned every detail of the recording." This was Sinatra's third experience at conducting sessions for an album. His first experience had resulted in the 78 album Frank Sinatra Conducts The Music Of Alec Wilder, released by Columbia in 1946. His second try generated the Capitol LP Tone Poems Of Color, whose 1956 sessions were the very first ones recorded in the label's new, famous facility, the Capitol Tower. Both were instrumental albums. A year later, Sinatra conducted for a singer, for the very first time. The singer was Peggy Lee. He would give four more tries to conducting. (The next occasion, in 1959, resulted in the album Sleep Warm, by Dean Martin, another friend.)


Issues And Record Labels

1. Essex
In her autobiography, Peggy Lee claims that the album The Man I Love was "first released on Frank's Essex label, which was a subsidiary of Capitol Records, and later the album was released on Capitol." All LP copies that I have inspected bear the Capitol logo, and are identified as Capitol (not Essex) releases. However, the vinyl bears the legend "manufactured for Essex Productions, Inc."

Essex Productions had been formed by Sinatra in 1956. Beginning with a January 1956 session, Sinatra's own masters for Capitol bear an E before the number. The letter signifies that the masters were made for Essex Productions. This E also occurs in all masters from Peggy Lee's sessions for The Man I Love. Moreover, each of the album's sessions are labeled "CSD," a Capitol code for custom-made recordings.

In his book Sinatra! The Song Is You, Will Friedwald quotes Capitol president Alan Livingston as stating that Essex was "purely a paper deal for tax purposes. We still owned every Sinatra record made at Capitol, and in perpetuity." Sinatra probably had a different opinion on the matter, as suggested by comments that he made to the trade press over the years. The singer maintained that Essex was a "full-fledged independent record company" and that Capitol's involvement was just as a distributor, rather than as an owner. Peggy Lee's above-quoted comment was probably based on information that Sinatra had given her.


Arrangers And Arrangements

1. "Something Wonderful"
2. Peter Matz
3. Eddie Karam
In addition to Nelson's Riddle's arrangement of this album's "Something Wonderful," Peggy Lee kept in her music sheet library two other arrangements of this song, one by Peter Matz and the other by Eddie Karam.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Frank Sinatra (con), Voyle Gilmore (pdr), Buddy Collette, Harry Klee (as), Warren "Champ" Webb (ts), Joe Koch (bar), Harry "Sweets" Edison, Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (t), Tommy Pederson aka Pullman Pederson (tb), James Decker, Vincent DeRosa (frh), Juan Tizol (vtb), George Roberts (bt), Nick Bonney (g), Max K. Bennett (b), Lou Levy (p), Stella Castellucci (hrp), Lou Singer (d), Victor Arno, Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Henry Hill, Alex Murray, Paul Nero, Erno Neufeld, Eudice Shapiro, Felix Slatkin, Marshall Sosson (vn), Alvin Dinkin, Maxine Johnson, Barbara Simons (vl), Cy Bernard, Ennio Bolognini, Edgar Lustgarten, Eleanor Slatkin (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Man I Love Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 2, 4 and 8, 1957.


Issues

1. The Folks Who Live On The Hill (LP)
Electronically processed stereo is heard in this 1970 album, which is a reissue of The Man I Love. Two songs from the original LP were deleted, and the original artwork was also changed.

The album The Folks Who Live On The Hill can be found both as a stand-alone and as part of a double LP set. The catalogue number of the stand-alone is Df 518. The D prefix refers to the so-called Duophonic process, which was Capitol's own attempt at mimicking stereo.

The catalogue number of the two-LP set is Sttb 517. This so-called set merely consists of just the two albums and a small adhesive sticker, which precariously holds the albums together. Approximately 3" by 1", the sticker is placed around the albums' spines. (As for the the second LP in the set, its title is Broadway ala Lee, and it is a reissue of the original album Latin Ala Lee!. See notes under session dated August 13, 1959.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Frank Sinatra (con), Voyle Gilmore (pdr), Alex Gershunoff, Jules Jacobs, Harry Klee, Wilbur "Willie" Schwartz (r, sax), Ed Kusby aka Edward Kuczborski, Ray Sims (tb), James Decker, Vincent DeRosa (frh), George Roberts (bt), Nick Bonney (g), Max K. Bennett (b), Lou Levy (p), Stella Castellucci (hrp), Lou Singer (d), Victor Arno, Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Henry Hill, Paul Nero, Erno Neufeld, Eudice Shapiro, Paul Shure, Felix Slatkin, Marshall Sosson (vn), Alvin Dinkin, Maxine Johnson, Barbara Simons (vl), Cy Bernard, Ennio Bolognini, Edgar Lustgarten, Eleanor Slatkin (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Man I Love Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 2, 4 and 8, 1957.


Issues

1. The Album The Man I Love In The Charts
This long play entered Billboard's Best-Selling Pop LPs chart on the week of September 23, 1957, and peaked at number 20. (For Peggy Lee's previous album chart entries, see sessions dated April 10, 1954 and May 6, 1955. For the next album entry, see session dated January 3, 1958.)

I. General Details

During the year of 1957, Nelson Riddle was one of the main creative forces behind Peggy Lee's Capitol sessions. He arranged all of her sessions for that year, with one possible exception, and conducted many of them as well. The earliest sessions were for the album The Man I Love, which he arranged but did not conduct. The last sessions were for the album Jump For Joy, which he both arranged and conducted.

Riddle also conducted and arranged two of the year's three middle sessions, which took place on April 13, April 22, and August 30. (A fourth "middle" session, dated June 14, is included in this discography, but its veracity has yet to be corraborated.) The session in which Riddle did not participate (April 22) is actually a remake of a previous session, and thus qualifies, at the very least, as Riddle-related. (The official paperwork gives nominal leadership of the April 22 session to guitarist Jack Mashall, who had also played guitar in the previous, April 13 session.)

The reason for Riddle's absence from the remake session is not known. Perhaps Riddle simply had other engagements that prevented him from attending. I am led to wonder, however, if Peggy Lee was unhappy with the overtly rock 'n' roll vein of the original session, and convinced Capitol to let her record all three numbers again, using this time a smaller, more congenial backing.

These sessions were indeed dedicated to recording singles for the rock 'n' roll market, probably at the instigation of Capitol executives. Six numbers were attempted: "Every Night," "Uninvited Dream," "Baby Baby Wait For Me" (all recorded on April 13 and re-recorded on April 22) "Listen To The Rockin' Bird," "It Keeps You Young," and "You Don't Know" (all recorded on August 30). It's worth remarking that the song "Uninvited Dream" is at the center of the sessions: Peggy Lee tried "Uninvited Dream" in all three of them, and in at least two styles (as a do-wop number and as a ballad).

For additional details, see notes under each of the sessions under discussion.


II. "Official Errors" In The Nelson Riddle Sessions?

These singles sessions have posed a significant dilemma for me: I believe that some of the official information about them is wrong. Other careful listeners seem to concur with me, but
we have no specific evidence that can confirm this opinion. Hence I have ultimately kept the official information, and herein I would like to dedicate some paragraph to the discussion of this this conundrum.

The more suspect information pertains to the versions of "Uninvited Dream." The official paperwork shows that the do-wop version was recorded during the remake session (April 22), and that the ballad version is from the final session (August 30). But careful listening of both performances suggests that it is instead the other way around. The ballad version, with its sax solo, sounds like a recording backed by a small combo, such as the one listed in the April 22 remake, non-Riddle session. The do-wop version makes more sense as a recording done with the full orchestra that is listed in the August 30 (and in the original) session with Riddle.

The obvious basic question: is it possible that such a mistake was made in the official paperwork? Yes, it is possible. The initial error would have consisted of wrongly listing the original 45 that contains "Uninvited Dream" (F 3811) in the August 30, rather than in the April 22 session. From that first error, misinformation might have spread to other documents.

I should stress that the above is conjecture on my part, and that it is supported neither by the official paperwork nor by the information in the original 45 release. (In F 3811, the given master number for "Uninvited Dream" is 17426, which is from the August 30, Riddle session.)

To further compound the discographical difficulties posed by these singles sessions:

-- The version of "Baby Baby Wait For Me" that was released on 45 (F 3722) is credited in the 45 to Nelson Riddle's Orchestra, yet the official paperwork shows it as being instead from the non-Riddle, April 22 session. The 45 itself lists the master number as 16682, which belongs to the April 22 version.

-- Of the two versions of "Every Night," the second has not been located in the vaults. Moreover, it is not listed in Capitol's Peggy Lee session files. Nonetheless, I do have reliable corroboration of the (erstwhile?) existence of this second version from April 22: it is listed in Capitol's tape inventories. (That is to say, and although I do not have no access to such inventories, I have received trustworthy confirmation from those who do.)

-- The August 30 version of "You Don't Know" has not been located in the vaults, either.

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Klein (om), Nelson Riddle (con), John "Plas" Johnson (sax), Robert "Bob" Bain, Jack Marshall (g), George "Red" Callender (b), Ray Sherman (p), Roy Harte, Raymond Martinez (d), Peggy Lee (v), unknown (bkv)

Issues

1. "Every Night" / "Baby, Baby Wait For Me" (45)
This 45 (3722) was sent to radio stations with a label that read "promotional debut record." Nevertheless, it was by no means Peggy Lee's debut record for Capitol. Lee is misleadingly treated as a debut Capitol artist because this was her first 45 after returning to the label that she had left five years earlier.


Masters And Cross-references

1. "Every Night"
For another master of "Every Night" (not listed in Capitol's Peggy Lee session file, and discovered in 2008), see session dated April 22, 1957.

2. "Uninvited Dream"
This master is labeled as "rejected" in Capitol's Peggy Lee session file. For remakes of "Uninvited Dream," see sessions dated April 22 and August 30, 1957.

3. "Baby Baby Wait For Me"
This master is also labeled as "rejected" in Capitol's Peggy Lee session file. Despite such labeling, it has no audible defects or errors. Thus it was mixed to stereo in 2008, and had been finally released in 2009.

According to the official paperwork, the originally released version (1957) is the one found in this discography's next session (April 22, 1957). That April 22 version is somewhat faster in tempo, and slightly shorter in timing than this session's master. Moreover, this April 13 master gives a more prevalent role to the background vocal chorus, especially during the intro.

4. Possible Master/Issue Errors In The Official Paperwork
For the possiblity that at least one of these masters ("Uninvited Dream") has been wrongly assigned to some issues, see previous note-only session, titled The 1957 Singles Sessions With Nelson Riddle.


Personnel

1. Male chorus
Though not listed in any of my sources, a male chorus is heard in the masters from this session. This unidentified chorus could very well be comprised of the band's members, as is the case in other sessions. However, in this particular case I am under the impression that we are listening to a professional ensemble, even if no such ensemble is listed in the official AFM report. Be it as it may, I have added the unnamed backing to the personnel of this session and the next one.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John "Plas" Johnson (sax), Al Hendrickson, Jack Marshall (g), Max K. Bennett (b), Lou Levy (p), Roy Harte (d), Peggy Lee (v), unknown (bkv)

Recording Session (Cross-references)

Session #4980 was dedicated to re-recordings of numbers initially tried during session #4960. Although session #4960 had been conducted by Nelson Riddle, he was not present during this remake session, and the personnel is partially different. Joining a few of the players from the earlier date were musicians from Peggy Lee's own rhythm section
--specifically, the bassist and the pianist.

A third session that is releated to the two that are discussed above (#4960, #4980) is #6163, dated August 30, 1957. In that third session, Nelson Riddle returned, with a large orchestra, and "Uninvited Dream" was recorded yet again, for a final time.


Masters And Issues

1. "Baby, Baby Wait For Me"
For an earlier version of "Baby, Baby Wait For Me," see session dated April 13, 1957.

2. "Every Night"
For the only version of "Every Night" that has ever been released, see session dated April 13, 1957. As for this session's master (16860), it should be noted that Capitol's Peggy Lee session files do not list it at all. I am told that it is listed, however, in the company's inventory files.

3. "Uninvited Dream"
4. The Singles Collection (CD set)
For other versions of "Uninvited Dream," see sessions dated April 22 and August 30, 1957. Of those three versions, master 17426 (recorded August 30, 1957) is the one that Capitol's files list as released on 45 (F 3811). The other two versions are listed as either rejected (April 13, 1957) or unissued (April 22, 1957).

Those two versions indeed remained unissued until 2002, when one of them was inadvertently included in The Singles Collection. The makers of that collection wrongly thought that they were including the version heard in the 45. (That production error in turn resulted in inaccurate data given by me, in the discograpy that is part of the booklet of The Singles Collection. Under the assumption that the version to be included was the one originally on 45, I gave information about that version in the set's discography, rather than about the previously unissued version.)

5. Possible Master/Issue Errors In The Official Paperwork
For the possiblity that at least one of these masters ("Uninvited Dream") has been wrongly assigned to some issues, see previous note-only session, titled The 1957 Singles Sessions With Nelson Riddle.

Peggy Lee (v)

Masters
Other than title and master number, nothing is known about this performance, which some Capitol files list as sung by Peggy Lee. Until a listening is given to the master, there cannot be full certainty that the file has correctly identified the singer. The songwriter credits are also tentative.

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Klein (om), Nelson Riddle (con), The Nelson Riddle Orchestra (acc), Buddy Collette, Joe Cook, Skeets Herfurt aka Arthur Herfurt, Wilbur "Willie" Schwartz, William "Buck" Skalak (sax), Walter "Pete" Candoli, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Conrad Gozzo, Vito "Mickey" Mangano (t), Richard "Dick" Noel, Tommy Pederson aka Pullman Pederson, George Roberts, Juan Tizol (tb), Barney Kessel (g), Max K. Bennett (b), Lou Levy (p), Mel Lewis (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Masters

1. "You Don't Know"
Master 1742 is currently deemed lost. For the master of "You Don't Know" that has been issued, see session dated May 25, 1958.

2. "Uninvited Dream"
For other versions of "Uninvited Dream," see sessions dated April 13 and 22, 1957. Two of these three versions have been issued, and are easy to distinguish, because the musical backings are markedly different from one another.

3. Possible Master/Issue Errors In The Official Paperwork
For the possiblity that at least one of these masters ("Uninvited Dream") has been wrongly assigned to some issues, see previous note-only session, titled The 1957 Singles Sessions With Nelson Riddle.


Issues

1. "Uninvited Dream": Discographical Error In CD Box The Singles Collection
See notes under April 22, 1957 session.

2. "You Don't Know": Discographical Error In Peggy Lee ("The Best of The Capitol Years" Series) (CD)
The version of "You Don't Know" that was issued in Capitol 724382120421 is the one recorded on May 25, 1958. The CD's notes wrongly identify it as this session's version.

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Klein (om), Nelson Riddle (con), Lee Gillette (pdr), The Nelson Riddle Orchestra (acc), Morris Bercov, Gene Cipriano, Joe Cook, William Ernest Green, Harry Klee (sax), Harry "Sweets" Edison, Vito "Mickey" Mangano, Clarence "Shorty" Sherock, Joe Triscari (t), Murray McEachern, Richard "Dick" Noel, George Roberts, Juan Tizol (tb), Al Hendrickson (g), Joe Comfort (b), James "Jimmy" Rowles (p), Kathryn Julye (hrp), Frank Flynn, Mel Lewis (d), Victor Arno, Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Ben Gill, Paul Nero, Mischa Russell, Paul Shure, Marshall Sosson, Gerald Vinci (vn), Stan Harris, Dave Sterkin (vl), Ray Kramer, Edgar Lustgarten (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Jump For Joy Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: December 5 and December 20, 1957. January 3, 1958.


Arrangements

1. "Just In Time"
In addition to this session's arrangement by Nelson Riddle, Peggy Lee kept in her sheet music library another arrangement of "Just In Time," by Benny Golson.

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Klein (om), Nelson Riddle (con), Lee Gillette (pdr), The Nelson Riddle Orchestra (acc), Joe Cook, William Ernest Green, Skeets Herfurt aka Arthur Herfurt, Harry Klee, Warren "Champ" Webb (sax), Harry "Sweets" Edison, Vito "Mickey" Mangano, Uan Rasey, Clarence "Shorty" Sherock (t), Russell Brown, Joe Howard aka Francis Howard, Murray McEachern, Juan Tizol (tb), Bobby Gibbons (g), Joe Comfort (b), James "Jimmy" Rowles (p), Stella Castellucci (hrp), Mel Lewis (d), Frank Flynn (per), Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Harold Dicterow, David Frisina, Lou Raderman, Eudice Shapiro, Paul Shure, Felix Slatkin, Marshall Sosson (vn), Stan Harris, Paul Robyn (vl), Ray Kramer, Joseph Saxon (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Jump For Joy Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: December 5 and December 20, 1957. January 3, 1958.

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Klein (om), Nelson Riddle (con), Lee Gillette (pdr), The Nelson Riddle Orchestra (acc), William Ernest Green, Harry Klee, Joe Koch, Wilbur "Willie" Schwartz, Warren "Champ" Webb (sax), Walter "Pete" Candoli, Conrad Gozzo, Vito "Mickey" Mangano, Clarence "Shorty" Sherock (t), Tommy Pederson aka Pullman Pederson, Jim Priddy, George Roberts, Juan Tizol (tb), Al Hendrickson (g), Joe Comfort (b), Paul Smith (p), Frank Flynn, Mel Lewis (d), Victor Arno, Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Ben Gill, Dan Lube, Paul Nero, Mischa Russell, Eudice Shapiro, Marshall Sosson (vn), Stan Harris, Paul Robyn, Dave Sterkin (vl), Armond Kaproff, Edgar Lustgarten (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Jump For Joy Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: December 5 and December 20, 1957. January 3, 1958.


Issues

1. The Album Jump For Joy In The Charts
This long play entered Billboard's Best-Selling Pop LPs chart on the week of July 14, 1958, and peaked at number 15. It spent five weeks in the chart.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Justin Gordon, George Smith (r), Don Fagerquist, Conrad Gozzo, Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (t), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bob Enevoldsen (vtb), Howard Roberts (g), Joe Mondragon (b), Joe Harnell (p), Shelly Manne (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The Things Are Swingin' Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: May 19, 25, 27 and 30, 1958.

Songs

1. "Fever" (Background, Versions, Charts, Award Nominations)
This song was initially brought to Peggy Lee's attention by Max Bennett, who played bass for her during the mid-1950's. As he tells it in the DVD Music: The Fever Of Peggy Lee, Bennett knew that Lee was looking for a torch number to add to her act. He first became acquainted with "Fever" during a night when he was playing on a gig with Nino Tempo, and immediately thought that the song would suit Lee.

"Fever" had been recorded first by Little Willie John, on March 1, 1956. (Little Willie had initially resisted recording the song, because he did not like it. Fortunately, he was talked into doing it.) During the summer of 1956, his version reached the top 30 in Billboard's Hot 100 chart (number 24, staying for 9 weeks), and also topped the same magazine's rhythm & blues chart. Two years later, when Peggy Lee tackled the number, the hit version by Little Willie John had long run its course. Thanks to her reconceptualization of what was originally a r&b ditty, she gave "Fever" not only a second run in the music charts, but also a permanent placement in the world of pop and jazz standards.

When Max Bennett played the song for Lee, she agreed that it could become the type of torch number that she was looking for, but found neither music nor lyrics fully congenial with her taste. Hence she stripped the r&b original to the bass line, rebuilding it into a number that featured spare accompaniment, but otherwise keeping the original melody by Davenport and Cooley. Lee also ignored one chorus of the lyrics, and worked on various new choruses.

Peggy Lee's recording debuted on Billboard's main chart (the Hot 100) during the week of July 21, 1958. It peaked at number 8, and stayed in the chart for 13 weeks. The song also reached the top 10 in Billboard's specialized charts: number 9 in the Best Seller list, number 10 in the Jockey list.

The song would go on to enjoy two more runs in Billboard's charts, by other artists. Eight years later, in 1966, the rock group The McCoys took their version to number 7, staying in the Hot 100 for 8 weeks. Finally, in 1993, Madonna (who had politely asked for "permission" from Peggy Lee to record the song, after seeing Lee perform in 1992) took her techno version to number one in Billboard's dance chart.

In England, Peggy Lee's version of "Fever" fared well, too. It not only peaked at number 5 in 1958, but also managed to re-enter the British chart in 1992, peaking at number 75. (This re-entry was presumably the result of a TV commercial that featured the song, and which elicited the release of the various 1990s singles listed above.)

Due to the perennial success of the Peggy Lee version, the song has moreover been tackled by a wide and diverse number of acts, from Elvis Presley and Ruth Brown to the aforementioned Madonna, as well as Beyonce. (Elvis Presley was directly inspired by Peggy Lee's version; he follows not only her phrasing but also the finger snaps that were first heard in her arrangement, and he includes the new lyrics that she wrote. Ruth Brown sang her version during the 1990s tribute to Peggy Lee that was held by the Society of Singers, with Peggy Lee present in the audience. As for Beyonce's version, its arrangement is ostensibly inspired by the Little Willie John r&b hit --or those who followed his approach-- but she sings Peggy Lee's lyrics, too.)

Peggy Lee's recording of "Fever" was also a multiple-Grammy nominee. Lee herself was one of the presenters during the very first annual award ceremony, which took place on May 4, 1959. The song was nominated for Record Of The Year (winner: "Volare," sung by Domenico Modugno). There was also a Best Arrangement nomination, which questionably went to Jack Marshall rather than to Peggy Lee. (The winner was Henry Mancini, for its arrangement of "The Music From Peter Gunn." See also comments about Arrangements, below.) A third nomination was for Best Vocale Performance, Female. That category incongruently mixed nominations for songs (by Doris Day, Peggy Lee and Keely Smith) and for albums (by Ella Fitzgerald and Eydie Gormé). The award went to Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook.


2. "Fever" (Gabin Remix)
Peggy Lee had no direct involvement in the making of this remix. It was made, however, with Capitol's consent. (The record label probably keeps the original remix in its vaults, as part of its Peggy Lee tape archive.) For more issues containing this remixed, dancebeat version of "Fever," see also this discography's page for various-artists compilations.


Songwriters

1. "Fever"
The original 1956 number, as sung by Little Willie John, was written by Davenport and Cooley around that time. Other songwriters and musicians, such as Titus Turner and Joe Tex, have been occasionally and incorrectly credited. Little Willie John has also been wrongly credited. He had no involvement whatsoever in the writing or composition of the song. I have also seen in the internet a claim that the song actually goes all the way back to 1937, and that it was recorded then by a blues singer named Martha Bell, but I have found no corroboration for this unusual, rather odd claim. (Any leads in that direction would be appreciated.)

Paradoxically, someone who has gone uncredited, yet is responsible for about half of the 1958 lyrics, is Peggy Lee. The so-called "history lessons" about Romeo and Juliet, Captain Smith and Pocahontas were all written for her version. Over the years, she lamented not copyrighting those new lyrics, which are now sung in each version without giving credit to anyone, but Davenport and Cooley. By including her name along with those of the original lyrics' songwriters, this discography takes a step toward rectifying such an oversight .

Lee would write yet more lyrics for the song in 1989, when she recorded a new version for the label MusicMasters. See studio session dated November 1, 1989.


Arrangements

1. "Fever"
Over the years, the arranging credit for Peggy Lee's version of "Fever" became a sore point with the singer. Although she actually arranged or re-arranged the number (see next paragraph), all bureaucratic paperwork credited Jack Marshall instead, because he was the conductor and arranger of the session's other songs. The original 45 release also credit "Fever" as featuring "Peggy Lee With Jack Marshall's Music," even though Marshall does not seem to have had any direct participation as a player, either. The upshot of this situation was that, when the arrangement was nominated for a Grammy, the nominee was Marshall, not Lee. (To this date, Capitol keeps on adding the legend "arranged and conducted by Jack Marshall" to all issues of the original recording, despite the fact that there wasn't much conducting done, and that the arranging might be, if at all by Marshall, only partially so.)

In a Peggy Lee biography, bassist Max Bennett is quoted on this matter. Bennett's take is that the song was "obviously rearranged by Peggy and the musicians." The biographer then states that "[i]t was Peggy's idea to cut out the guitar and use just a string bass, Jack Mondragon; a drummer, Shelly Manne; and a finger-snap, furnished by Howard Roberts, the guitarist whose guitar had been shelved. It was likely Manne's idea to use his fingers on the snare and tom-tom to accompany his perfect bass drum." This is a sensible perspective, although it should be noted that the source(s) for the biographer's statements are unknown, and that Bennett was, unfortunately, not present during the session or the rehearsals. As for Peggy Lee's own words from her autobiography, she takes on this subject as follows: "Incidentally, I also did the arrangement of Fever. I well remember the day I demonstrated it to famous lyricist Sammy Cahn and told him I wanted to use bass, drums and finger snapping. (Jack Marshall, my conductor on the recording date [was Grammy nominated] for that arrangement.) Somehow it all worked."


Personnel

1. "Fever"
features only vocal (Peggy Lee), string bass (Joe Mondragon), snare drums (by Shelly Manne, who actually turned off the snares, using his fingers instead of drum sticks), and finger snapping (credited to different people in different reports, none confirmed).

Online, blogs and other unreliable sources have credited different personnel for "Fever." Instead of Shelly Manne, Stan Levey has been mentioned. Instead of Joe Mondragon, Monty Budwig or Red Mitchell. There is no factual support behind those other proposed names. The personnel listed above, in this session, is the official one. Confirmation comes from:

a) official musician contract sheets for the session
b) bassist Max Bennett. (Although Bennett did not play in the session, he was the person who brought the song to Lee, and he was her regular bassist for much of the late 1950's. However, Lee's decision to take a temporary rest from live performing earlier in 1958 had led Bennett to find work with Ella Fitzgerald. He was thus unavailable for the "Fever" recording session, although he would return to work live with Lee, after spending about a year with Fitzgerald. For Bennett's own playing of "Fever," see Lee's Basin Street East sessions in this page, February and March, 1961.)
c) the book Shelly Manne, Sounds Of A Different Drummer, by Brand & Korst. (The authors' discography lists both Manne and Mondragon on this May 19, 1958 session. The authors also refers to a 1960 Shelly Manne recording of "Fever," which should not to be confused with Peggy Lee's various versions of the song. It is actually an instrumental, recorded by Shelly Manne with Roy Brown and others.)

The finger snapper heard throughout "Fever" is the only participant whose identity is in contention, because (s)he goes uncredited on the official personnel sheets. In live performance, Peggy Lee herself would invariably be the chief finger snapper, but during the session's recording someone else is likelier to have taken over this function. Guitarist Howard Roberts, who was present during the session, has been proposed, and so has percussionist Mike Pacheco, who is not known to have been present. Even if Roberts or somebody else is proven to have snapped fingers during the session, it would not be absolutely certain that he is the finger snapper heard in the actual recording: new finger snaps might have been overdubbed during the mixing of the session's track tapes, for stronger or louder effect. (I actually believe such to be the case, but do not have corroboration.)


Masters And Technical Matters

1. "Fever": A Discussion About Its Stereo Versus Its Mono Version
The differentiation between mono and stereo channels is not a main concern of this discography, except in the case of "Fever." Queries about the existence and quality of a stereo version are frequent enough among audiophiles to merit some discussion herein.

At record labels such as Capitol, pop and jazz began to be recorded for stereo between 1956 and early 1958. At that point in time, the label's executives viewed stereo as a secondary alternative -- even as a fad that would pass in years to come. Peggy Lee's version of "Fever" was recorded in both mono and stereo.

The stereo and mono versions of "Fever" come from the very same take. In other words, vocal and instrumental playing are the very same in each version. The difference is only in the channeling itself, to either mono or stereo. For the general, non-audiophile listener, divergences between the mono and stereo versions should barely be noticeable, if at all. (Since there was no orchestra and no phletora of instruments to separate in one or the other channel, casual listeners are likely to be equally pleased by both mono and stereo versions.)

In the case of audiophiles, the mono version might be rated as the superior one. This perceived superiority is partly the result of how each version was miked and, of course, partly a matter of personal preference. The mono taping appears to have been closely miked: the bass probably had its own mike right nearby, and ditto for the drum and vocal. The finger snaps might have had their own microphone as well. As a result, some dedicated listeners experience a more visceral, heightened impact coming from the mono's drums, vocal and, especially, the bass. On the other hand, the method followed for stereo channeling did not involve pairing different microphones with personnel members. Instead, the microphones were probably positioned in the air, to the right, left, and front of the performing group, with a view to picking up ensemble, unison playing on all microphones. (As explained below, this difference in the setup of mono and stereo miking is generally true for Capitol's recordings from its early stereo period -- approximately, 1956 to 1960. In a nutshell, mono recordings, not stereo recordings, were the ones close-miked during Capitol's early years of stereo experimentation.)

The following note further expands on the subject. It can be found in the booklet of Capitol's CD Things Are Swingin' (2004), which includes the song under discussion as one of two bonus tracks: "Fever and You Don't Know are presented in their original mono versions because they sound the best in this form. Recorded in the sessions for this album, they were first released in May of 1958 as A and B sides on a 45 single. The stereo microphone pickup on these two tracks was unsatisfactory. Capitol engineer Jay Ranellucci was at the sessions for this album and commented that stereo was in its experimental stages at the time and the engineers were instructed to give the highest priority to the mono recording. There were to be no stops or interruptions if problems arose with the stereo tapings. The engineers were allowed to make "fixes" during the sessions only if there was a problem with the mono sound coming through. Duplicate sets of microphones and tape machines were used - one for the mono tapes and separate mikes, boards and tape machines for the stereo tapes. Within a year or so this duplication was eliminated and virtually everything recorded at the Capitol Tower was made onto 3 track stereo tape and later mixed down from those tapes into mono and two track stereo." Duly noted. (It should be added, however, that the stereo version of "Fever" sounds quite fine in its newly mixed, 2008 All Aglow Again incarnation.)


Issues And Dating

1. LP Things Are Swingin'
Many sources wrongly list this LP as coming out in 1959. It definitely came out in 1958, at least in its mono version. Judging from its catalogue number, the LP must have been released around September of that year. Thus the 1959 date is likley to be an error, originated in one source and then copied by other sources. Alternatively, it could be that the stereo version of the LP was released later (1959) than the mono version (1958).

2. Blue Note CD Things Are Swingin'
In addition to the 2004 American release of this compact disc under the Capitol Jazz branch, the Blue Note branch seems to have also issued it, perhaps in Europe only. The Blue Note version uses entirely different artwork (a small b&w photo of Lee from the mid-1950's, against white and blue stripes).

3. Capitol 3398 (78?)
Peggy Lee's Capitol session files identify Capitol 3998 ("Fever"/"You Don't Know") as a 45 single only. No 78 counterpart is listed. However, I have seen in the internet a reproduction of a 78 version of Capitol 3998. Befoe entering it in this discography, I would like to find further confirmation of its existence. I would also like to know if this 78 was issued in the United States, or abroad.

4. Capitol 6014, A 601 (45)
Part of Capitol's Starline series, this 45 has actually been issued in two versions. Both versions contain the same two songs ("Fever"/"Alright, Ok, You Win"), but differ in the inclusion or ommission of a prefix letter (A), and in the color used for their respective labels (light brown in the case of 6014, light blue in the case of A 6014).

5. "Fever": A History Of Its (Mono, Stereo, Duophonic) Issues
"Fever" was first released on mono single (1958) only. This mono version is the one that charted, and the one that has become famous. The next year (1959), Capitol released the stereo alternative for the first time, in the pointedly titled EP More Stars In Stereo.

For the rest of the LP era, "Fever" was issued primarily in its mono hit version, although there were a couple of "fake stereo" releases as well. For The Hits Of Peggy Lee and for Peggy Lee's Greatest!, Capitol resorted to issuing the mono version in duophonic, which was the label's own name for the false, so-called stereo that the label's engineers had developed. Those compilation LPs were both issued in the second half of the 1960's. Earlier, in the first half of the 1960's, the song had also been released in the hits compilation Bewitching-Lee!. That 1962 album was issued in both mono and duophonic. (Since I've only heard its mono version, I do not know if its particular version of "Fever" was duophonic, mono or stereo. As for the two CD issues of Bewitching-Lee!, the one of S&P definitely used the mono version. I'm less certain about the more-pallid-sounding DCC version; it is likely to be the mono version as well.) In later decades, some of those duophonic versions were touted as stereo versions by listeners who did not know any better.

After its original appearance in 1959, the true stereo version of "Fever" does not seem to have been reissued until the mid-1980's. Among the earliest of those stereo issues was the budget compilation Fever And Other Hits, which record guides list as initially released on cassette in 1984, by Capitol's branch of Special Markets Products. In 1985, there was another appearance of the stereo version, on a cassette and a LP put together by Time-Life, as part of its well-produced "Legendary" album series. (Later, in 1990, Fever And Other Hits was issued on CD too.)

Thereafter, the stereo version showed up in a handful of various-artists CDs. (See this discography's separate page for various-artists compilations.)

Finally, around 1995, new mixes of the stereo version began to make appearances in Peggy Lee CDs. From that year, there was her CD from the "Spotlight On ... Ladies And Gentleman Of Song" Series, in which liner annotator Joseph Laredo states that the song "appears here in a stereo mix from the original three track recording of a rendition that had previously been available only on an old EP...." Next, the stereo version showed up in Capitol's "pink" 4-CD boxed set Miss Peggy Lee (1998, along with one-disc offshoot The Best Of Miss Peggy Lee) and in a British, above-average CD compilation from EMI, titled The Very Best Of Peggy Lee (2000). Finally, a brand new remix from the original three-track tapes was made in 2008, for the Collectors' Choice CD All Aglow Again.


Dating

1. In the year 9999
Attentive readers will notice that some of this session's issues indicate 9999 as their release year. Those are actually issues for which I do not yet have a release date. (This is an entirely personal practice, which will help me to better keep track of issues for which I have to conduct more research. I will eventually enter the same release year next to all isues whose release date is unknown to me. )

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Justin Gordon, George Smith (r), Don Fagerquist, Conrad Gozzo, Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (t), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bob Enevoldsen (vtb), Howard Roberts (g), Joe Mondragon (b), Joe Harnell (p), Shelly Manne (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The Things Are Swingin' Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: May 19, 25, 27 and 30, 1958.


Songs

1. "Alright, OK, You Win" In The Charts And At The Grammys
Peggy Lee's version "Alright, Ok, You Win" entered Billboard's Hot 100 chart on the week of January 26, 1959, and stayed for six weeks, peaking at number 68. Released as a single once the pairing of "Light Of Love / Sweetheart" had run its course (see session dated September 14, 1958), "Alright, Ok, You Win" became Lee's fifty-first entry in Billboard's singles charts -- and her fourth after retunring to Capitol.

The song also earned Lee her second nomination for Best Performance, Female at the second Grammy awards ceremony, held on November 29, 1959. Once again, the category mixed nominations for albums (by Lena Horne, Pat Suzuki and Caterina Valente) and singles (by Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald). In addition to Lee, the other repeat nominee in this category was Fitzgerald. As in the first ceremony, the winner was Fitzgerald, on this occasion for the song "But Not For Me."


Masters

1. "You Don't Know
The two issued takes of "You Don't Know" are easy to tell apart, thanks to different phrasing and approach from the singer. The musical intros also differ. For another, earlier and unissued version of "You Don't Know," see session dated April 30, 1957, including notes.


Issues

1. You Don't Know": Discographical Error In Peggy Lee ("The Best of The Capitol Years" Series) (CD)
See notes under session dated August 30, 1957.

2. Bewitching-Lee! (CDs)
Potential buyers interested in this disc of hits have a choice between the S&P or the DCC versions. The sound of the S&P CD is arguably clearer, with a slightly more immediate, "close nearby" feel. The sound of the DCC version has a more echo-laden, faraway quality that actually benefits the darker songs of the album, such as "Don't Smoke In Bed." Casual listeners probably won't mind either version. Fans of the original LPs may prefer the DCC release, whereas dedicated audiophiles will probably favor the S&P issue.

The S&P disc has been remastered from the master tapes that were used for the LP, before echo and other techniques were applied to the final LP master. As a result, hiss and distortion can be heard in the songs that come from 1940s tapes. Those tape flaws do not work to the tracks' detriment, however; vocal and instruments are clearly heard on top, in fine fidelity. Moreover, I am told about an added bonus in the S&P CD: it is configured for high definition (HDCD) technology.

On the other hand, the DCC disc has the echo or reverb effect heard in the original LP. It has probably been processed with a modern no-noise program, too, because little if any hiss or tape distortion is heard.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Justin Gordon, George Smith (r), Don Fagerquist, Conrad Gozzo, Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (t), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bob Enevoldsen (vtb), Howard Roberts (g), Joe Mondragon (b), Joe Harnell (p), Shelly Manne (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The Things Are Swingin' Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: May 19, 25, 27 and 30, 1958.


Arrangements

1. "Life Is For Livin' "
In an oral, not-in-print interview, Peggy Lee refers to Sammy Cahn as the arranger of this song, which he co-wrote. However, Cahn is not credited in any of the three arrangements of "Life's Is For Livin' " that are found in Peggy Lee's sheet music library. A conciliatory scenario: perhaps Cahn visited Lee to sketch a possible arrangement, and later Lee commissioned a more formal arrangement from one of the three men twhose work she incorporated to her sheet library same song. Those other three arrangers are Bill Holman, Mundell Lowe, and Shorty Rogers. The arranger credit to Cahn should thus be deemed very tentative.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Justin Gordon, George Smith (r), Walter "Pete" Candoli, Emmanuel "Manny" Klein, Uan Rasey (t), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bob Enevoldsen (vtb), Barney Kessel (g), Joe Mondragon (b), Joe Harnell (p), Shelly Manne (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The Things Are Swingin' Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: May 19, 25, 27 and 30, 1958.


Issues

1. The Album Things Are Swingin' In The Charts
This long play entered Billboard's Best-Selling Pop LPs chart on the week of December 9, 1958, and peaked at number 16. (For Lee's next album entry, see session dated May 28-30, 1959.)

2. Mono Versus Stereo On CD: The Album Things Are Swingin'
The EMI twofer CD Things Are Swingin'/Jump For Joy is a mono release, and yet its front cover reproduces the artwork of the stereo LP. Two unofficial explanations for this error have circulated among fans. In both explanations, the reason for the mistaken use of mono was miscommunication among the parties involved.

According to the stronger explanation, EMI in England faced a problem when the company belatedly found out that their main tape library (located in the United States) had shut down for nine months, due to relocation. Although second generation copies of most Capitol albums exist in the British vaults of the company, EMI's modus operandi for this twofer series was to have Capitol ship to them brand new dubs of the first generation tapes. But in the particular case of the Peggy Lee twofer, waiting for nine months was deemed out of the question, and thus EMI ended up using their own library's generation tapes. (EMI had already announced a release date, and the project had already gone into production, including cover artwork.) The final and most important element of this explanation is that EMI located only the mono versions of the album, not the stereo ones, at their won library.

Another explanation posits that EMI misunderstood a directive given by Ray Purslow, the owner of the Birmingham (UK) store Record Centre. Mr. Purslow supplied EMI with cover artwork and offered advise on which albums to release on CD. In this explanation for the error, Purslow would have made some comments about the state of the mono and stereo LP covers that he had at his store, and EMI would have misinterpreted those comments as referring to the preference of issuing mono, instead of stereo, in this case.

Both of these explanations point to the fact that the EMI twofer series was just starting when this Peggy Lee CD was prepared, and hence errors of coordination were likelier to happen then. Later Peggy Lee numbers in the series use the stereo versions of the albums (with the exception of The Man I Love, which was originally released in mono only).

Peggy Lee (ldr), David Klein (om), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), William "Bill" Pitman, Hilmer "Tiny" Timbrell (g), Max K. Bennett (b), John Williams (p), Verlye Mills Brilhart (hrp), Larry Bunker, Shelly Manne (d), Peggy Lee (v), The Evelyn Freeman Singers (bkv)

Songs

1. "Light Of Love" In The Charts
2. "Sweetheart" In The Charts

Capitol 4071, the follow-up to Lee's "Fever/You Don't Know" was a double-charting single. The gospel-tinged "Light Of Love" debuted on the week of November 3, 1958 and peaked at 63. It spent six weeks in Billboard's Hot 100. Meanwhile, the flip side spent two weeks of November in the same chart. Although it reached number 98 only, "Sweetheart" holds the distinction of increasing Peggy Lee's Billboard output to 50 chart entries.

The increasingly lower peaks for Lee's hits reflected the toll that the advent of rock'n'roll was taking on acts who were not part of the teen generation. Lee was actually among the few 1940's acts who still managed to enter the Hot 100 in the late 1950's. After 1957, fewer still managed to crack the top 40. The point to be noted is thus not so much the low chart peaks, but the fact that any acts from earlier generations were able to crack the Hot 100 at all. (The one very notable exception was Frank Sinatra, who did so many times in the 1950's and 1960's.) It must be clarified, however, that this lack of chart activity did not necessarily reflect a complete lack of interest form all listening groups. In 1961, when Billboard started tabulating mainstream radio stations that stayed away from rock'n'roll, singles from vintage acts of the 1940's and early 1950's readily appeared in such tabulations.


Masters

1. "Sweetheart": Takes
(The difference between the stereo and mono takes of "Sweetheart" is most noticeable in the way that Lee sings the word "sea" early on, when she comes to the lines "I'll drown myself in the deep blue sea; Yes, I'll drown myself in the deep blue sea.")

Peggy Lee (ldr), Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (om, t), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall and His Orchestra (acc), Mahlon Clark (cl), Benny Carter (as), Milt Bernhart (tb), Barney Kessel (g), Meyer Rubin (b), James "Jimmy" Rowles (p), Shelly Manne (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The I Like Men! Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: October 17, 19, and 22, 1958.


Songs

1. "My Man" In The Charts
Peggy Lee's reworking of this old, 1920s standard became her fifth Billboard entry after she returned to Capitol, and the 52nd Billboard entry of her career. Her version entering the Hot 100 on the week of January 26, 1959, and spent six weeks on the charts, peaking at number 81.


Personnel

1. I'm Just Wild About Harry"
In the previous edition of this discography, this session's personnel was tentative. In this edition, the listed personnel has been officially confirmed. Excluded are three previously listed musicians (Pete Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Jack Sheldon) who might have participated in later sessions for the album I Like Men!, but did not play in this one.

This session's "I'm Just Wild About Harry" starts with lyrics that I have not heard in any other versions, and which were apparently created for this occasion: "Samuel is great, Irving is a joy, ?Merv is wonderful, and Robert, oh boy. Jay is terrific, Phil is supreme, Dan is the most, and Frank is a dream. But I'm just wild about Harry." Around 1:15, before Lee sings the refrain again, she sings another set of special lyrics: There's Barney and Jim, Shelley and Mike, Benny and Pete and others I like, like Mannie and Milt, and David and Jack, Mahlon and Tony and Curly and Mack." On various occasions, the late Milt Bernhart, who was one of the session's musicians, made mention of this set of lyrics. According to my friend (and Stan Kenton researcher) Ed Chaplin: "I asked [Bernhart] a few years ago when he was in the UK telling lots of us about his life in music, and he told me he thought that the new words in I'm Just Wild About Harry were constructed to name all the sidemen on the date(s)."
Indeed, Barney, Jim, Shelley, Mike, Benny, Mannie, Milt, Jack, and Mahlon are all names heard in the second set of special lyrics, and they constitute the entire personnel (Kessel, Rowles, Manne, Rubin, Carter, Klein, Bernhart, Marshall, Clark). Less clear is who are the other names mentioned: Pete, David, Tony, Curly and Mack. Some names, such as the last two could have been thrown in just for rhyming or comical effect. Others might be the names of the engineers and additional personnel; "David" was probably producer Dave Cavanaugh.


Arrangers And Arrangements

1. Jack Marshall
In the album I Like Men!, Jack Marshall is given credit for all the arrangements, but such a collective credit could be a generalization or an overstatement, typical of album notes. I have thus kept only the one Marshall credit that is backed by the existence of a copy of the arrangement, in Peggy Lee's sheet music library.


Masters And Issues

1. "My Man": Alternate Take
The two takes of "My Man" have clearly audible differences. One of those differences can be found in Peggy Lee's phrasing of the line "the world is bright," which is sung at 1:24 of each performance, or thereabouts. In the alternate take (9), the singer stretches the word "bright" much more than in the better-known take (8).

Alternate takes can pose a problem when the discographers have not had access to all listed issues: how can the correct take be indentifed in such unheard issues? The following are important issues that I have not been able to inspect, and which therefore have been tentatively assigned to one take or the other:

a) the original 45 (F 4115)
b) the EP Fever (Sep 1232)
c) the French EP Sweetheart (Feap 106 )

On the other hand, I have inspected the following issues, and can thus vouch for their correct take assignation:

d. the EP Alright, Okay, You Win [aka Peggy Lee] (Eap 1 1213)
e. most of the LPs listed, including I Like Men!, All Aglow Again!, Bewitching-Lee!, and The Very Best Of Peggy Lee
f. most of the CDs listed, including those on Capitol, its subsidiaries and licensees

2. "I'm Just Wild About Harry": Alternate Take
The two takes of this number sound almost identical. To hear one difference, pay attention to the way that Lee sings the word "cannot" ("'And he's just wild about / Cannot do without'") around :47 second into the number. In the stereo take, she holds on to the first syllable of "cannot." She does not do so in the mono take.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall and His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v)

The I Like Men! Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: October 17, 19, and 22, 1958.


Arrangements

1. "I Love To Love"
2. Benny Golson
3. Jack Marshall
In the album I Like Men!, Jack Marshall is given credit for all the arrangements, but such a collective credit could be a generalization or an overstatement, typical of album notes. I have thus kept only the one Marshall credit that is backed by the existence of a copy of the arrangement, in Peggy Lee's sheet music library. Her library also contains a Benny Golson arrangement of the song "I Love To Love." Since I have no absolute certainity that his arrangement is the same one used for this session's performance, the Golson credit should be deemed tentative.

3. "So In Love"
4. Yutaka Yokokura
Lee's library contains a later, Yutaka Yokokura arrangement of this song.


Personnel

This date's musicians are unknown, but presumed to be mostly the same ones who participated in the first of the I Like Men! sessions, dated October 17, 1958. Additional musicians that could have been participated in this session are Pete Candoli, Frank Rosolino, and Jack Sheldon.


Cross-references

See also notes under session dated October 17, 1958.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall and His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v)

The I Like Men! Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: October 17, 19, and 22, 1958.


Masters And Takes

1. "Bill" and "Jim
Both the mono and stereo takes of these two songs are excellent examples of superior balladry. For those who like Peggy Lee in a slightly tremulous and emotional mode, the mono takes are the best choices. For a more subtle, less permeating display of emotion, and a tone that is slightly huskier, listeners may opt for the stereo takes. In the case of "Bill," notice lines such as "his form and his face, his manly grace are not the kind that you would find in a statue" -- particularly the words "are not." In the mono version, the note is held in the word "not," and a quick pause is made afterwards. In the stereo version, the note is held in the word "are" and the pause precedes the word "not." From "Jim," compare how Lee sings the chorus that starts with the line "sometimes when I get feeling low," and pay attention to how prominent the piano playing is in each take, too.


Personnel

This date's musicians are unknown, but presumed to be mostly the same ones who participated in the first of the I Like Men! sessions, dated October 17, 1958. Additional musicians that could have been participated in this session are Pete Candoli, Frank Rosolino, and Jack Sheldon.


Arrangers And Arrangements

1. Jack Marshall
In the album I Like Men!, Jack Marshall is given credit for all the arrangements, but such a collective credit could be a generalization or an overstatement, typical of album notes. I have thus kept only the one Marshall credit that is backed by the existence of a copy of the arrangement, in Peggy Lee's sheet music library.

2. "When A Woman Loves A Man"
In addition to the Jack Marshall arrangement of this song, Peggy Lee kept two others in her sheet music library, one by Albert Harris and the other by Mickey Ingalls.


Cross-references

See also notes under session dated October 17, 1958.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (om, t), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall and His Orchestra (acc), Don Fagerquist, Uan Rasey (t), Ed Kusby aka Edward Kuczborski, Stuart "Stu" Williamson (tb), John Cave, Herman Lebow, Richard Perrisi (hrn), Al Hendrickson, William "Bill" Pitman, Allan Reuss, Howard Roberts (g), Max K. Bennett (b), James "Jimmy" Rowles (p), Larry Bunker, Shelly Manne, Lou Singer (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The All Aglow Again! Pick-up Album Sessions (Cross-references)

This album actually combined songs that had yet to be released with some of Lee's hit singles. Half of the twelve songs were from two specific sessions, dated March 28, 1959 and February 18, 1952. The other half included numbers from 1947 (November 25), 1957 (August 30), 1958 (May 19, May 25, October 17), and 1959 (October 10).


Songs

1. "Hallelujah, I Love Him So" In The Charts
Peggy Lee's treatment of this Ray Charles original peaked at number 77. Her 53rd Billboard entry debuted on the week of August 18, 1959, and stayed in the chart for two weeks.


Songwriters

1. Don Raye
Don Raye is credited with this adaptation of "I'm Looking Out The Window," a folk song from the Appalachian region.


Masters

1. Session patter
The Singles Collection (Capitol/EMI CD: 7243 5 39756 2 3) includes some brief, seconds-long patter among its bonus tracks. On track #29 of the collection's fourth disc, Peggy Lee is heard saying "thank you very much." Her comment precedes her rendition of "I'm Looking Out The Window." The comment, uttered with a humorous intonation, seems to have been trademark Lee; she is also heard saying it (with the same special intonation) before the start of other recordings.


Issues

1. 45 "Hallelujah, I Love Him So": Mono And Stereo
Capitol 45 F 4189 was released in both mono and stereo. The stereo issue can be recognized because it is the only one with a red label. The same take is heard in stereo and mono.

2. LP All Aglow Again: Mono Or Stereo
Notwitstanding erroneous information found in some record guides, Capitol LP 366 (All Aglow Again) was released on mono only. There is no stereo version of this LP.

3. CD All Aglow Again: Stereo
Collectors' Choice CD Ccm 921 2 contains stereo versions of "Where Do I Go From Here," "Sweetheart," "You Don't Know" and "You Deserve." All four songs were previously available on mono only.

4. The Album Bewitching-Lee! In The Charts
The twelve recordings in this compilation package spanned over two decades, from "I Don't Know Enough About You" (December 26, 1945) to this session's "Hallelujah, I Love Him So." Released on July of 1962, it entered Billboard's album chart on the week of August 5, 1962. It spent six weeks in the chart, and peaked at number 85. Chronologically, it was the singer's 9th album entry, following Basin Street East Proudly Presents Miss Peggy Lee.

Concert And Venue

Peggy Lee and George Shearing were both Capitol artists whose records were produced by Dave Cavanaugh. The three of them joined forces to perform a concert during the Second National Disc Jockey Convention at the Americana Hotel, in Miami. ("It was Dave's idea to put us together," Lee told liner note writer Will Friedwald in 1992.) The event, sponsored by the Storz radio chain, was more formally known as the Second International Radio Programing Seminar And Pop Music Disk Jockey Convention. The official dates of the convention were Friday, May 29 to Sunday, May 31, 1959. Attendance was estimated at 2,500; the heat hitting the thermometer well into the 80s. Capitol's Lee and Shearing were the scheduled entertainment on opening night, whereas closing night was reserved for Roulette's Count Basie And His Band. Among the other acts also scheduled to perform at the convention were Columbia's Vic Damone, Dot's Pat Boone, and Mercury's Patti Page. Held over the weekend, in addition to those artists' performances, were various lectures (on topics such as ratings, news programs, and commercials).

Despite the mostly high-class entertainment (and the academic atmosphere suggested by the lectures), the convention was plagued by low-brow scandal. In a whistle-blowing article titled "Booze, Broads And Babies," The Miami Herald made payola allegations, and contended that some of the disc-jockeys were being treated to not only a lavish but also a promiscuous life, paid with money from very willing record companies. Time published another article, in which some dubious practices were attributed to various companies: RCA Victor (handled eack disc-jockey "$1,000,000 in play money" for gambling and drinks, and held some contest prizes), ABC-Paramount ("paid for all taxi rides"), and Columbia ("made tapes of D.J.s interviewing celebrities and gave them to the jocks to play on the air at home"). It is also worth noting that, conicidentanlly or otherwise, one of the convention's hosts was Morris Levy, the allegedly-mafia connected owner of Roulette Records and The Birdland Club.

On opening night, serious problems with the audio system at the hotel's ballroom produced unsatisfactory results. From the scant reports at hand, the picture that emerges suggests that the Lee-Shearing concert was put together in haste, and that initial preparations by those in charge of the convention were not optimal. By Sunday, when the Count Basie Band arrived from New York and played, the recording problems had apparently been fixed. (Either that or, less likely, the Roulette Jazz CD Breakfast Dance And Barbecue contains a Count Basie studio performance posing as a live concert.)

The liner notes of Capitol LP 1219 explain that "[a] troublesome P.A. system caused the audience some difficulty in hearing parts of the session." In the typewritten letters that are part of the souvenir LP sent to the convention's attendants, Lee gives "a special thanks to each of you who stuck through the inaudible opening portion of the session that Friday night long enough to hear the entire session."

A more detailed explanation is found in the souvenir's other letter. Unsigned, it was presumably written by Cavanaugh: "Starting at 4:00 PM on Friday from absloute zero, we had to build rooms, a stage, install and check out recording equipment, install lights and arrange the hundreds of other details required to serve 3,000 people. Not having had any previous access to the Grand Ballroom prior to 4:00 PM, we were working against odds that would make Vegas child's play by comparison. When the last electrical outlet was installed and the switches were ready to throw for the first test - the room had 2,000 people in it - we had a distinct disadvantage. The events that followed were pretty much history. We went ahead with the stereo session - despite the feedback from the P.A. system." The writer of this letter goes on to estimate that about half of the audience left, unable to hear neither Shearing nor Lee: "We are sorry that so many of you could not hear note one in the rear of the room. Surprisingly enough, slightly more than 1,000 people were crowded down front close enough to the stage so that they could hear Peggy and George without benefit of a P.A System."

According to what CD producer Michael Cuscuna was told by Cy Godfrey (Peggy Lee's attorney in the 1990s), "a live recording was attempted one night at the convention before an invited audience. Shearing did two numbers and everything came to a halt due to equipment problems. When they resumed, Peggy Lee sang three songs, but the technical problems proved insurmountable and the event was prematurely ended with nothing to show for the effort. The next night, they did a full show for the entire convention, but it wasn't recorded."

Instead, Cavanagh had Lee and Shearing re-record the numbers, location unknown, and without an audience. As others had done before, and would do thereafter, Capitol and Cavanaugh released this studio set as if it truly contained the live-in-concert performance. (In both the jazz and pop fields, there is a large number of alleged live albums that are partially or completely studio reconstructions.) The anonymous liner annotator of the original LP would have us believe that, "[f]ortunately," and despite the acknowledged problems with the audio system, "great sounds were being fed continuously to Capitol's engineers manning the recording equipment backstage, so that the recorded results escaped unscathed." Not true. (On the contrary, I have been told that this session's one released number, "Always True To You In My Fashion," is just about the only part of the original concert that is in fair sound quality.)

In summary, the extant reports suggest that Lee and Shearing did

1. rehearsals in Miami, and presumably sound check before the show.
2. a May 29 mini-show, consisting of a couple of Shearing instrumentals and three Peggy Lee vocals, before the poor quality of the p.a. system led to cancellation for the night. (The titles of the trio of vocals is unknown. For what is worth, I am left to wonder if Lee perhaps tried an all-Porter mini-program, singing not only "Always True to You In My Fashion" but also "Do I Love You" and "Get Out of Town." Those other two songs are heard in the LP Beauty And The Beat!, one as the opener, the other as the closer.)
3. a full live show on May 30, which was not taped.
4. studio sessions that presumably recreate the contents of the May 30 show. There is a chance that these studio sessions and the rehearsals mentioned in #1 are one and the same, or partially the same. For commentary about the studio sessions, see notes under session dated May 28-30, 1959.

Peggy Lee, George Shearing (ldr), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), The George Shearing Quintet (acc), Toots Thielemans (g), Carl Pruitt (b), George Shearing (p), Ray Alexander (vib), Ray Mosca (d), Armando Peraza (bo, cng), Peggy Lee (v)

The Concert

In his autobiography, George Shearing writes that "the whole industry was there, all the main record companies". So this gave us a built-in audience response, in fact it was an incredible audience and the whole atmosphere [...] was charged because of that." In the liner notes of the 1992 Capitol Jazz CD Beauty And The Beat, Peggy Lee adds that "I was so exhausted [after flying in, working out keys, and doing continuous rehearsal with little sleep], I don't remember the performance too well, I just remember standing there." Lee's reminiscence notwitstanding, this session's performance shows that she and Shearing were in excellent form, and that the audience was very appreciative.


Performance

This delightful rescue from the vaults starts with a playful exchange between Peggy Lee and her audience. She catches herself as she sings "there's an oil...," realizing that those words are not from the next chorus ("I've been asked to have a meal ..."), but from a later chorus in the song ("there's an oil man known as Tex .."). She charmingly tells the audience that she "goofed." Joking words are briefly exchanged with audience members, before she and The Shearing Quintet start over. During the final applause, Lee is heard asking, in a humorous voice, "you think that one might have a chance maybes? ... I hope so!" She's presumably wondering if the performance qualifies for release on record.


Personnel

Peggy Lee's session files show the above-listed members of Shearing' quintet. There is partial support for the Alexander/Mosca/Pruitt personnel from the (studio) album itself. George Shearing introduces the instrumental "Satin Doll" with the comment that "at this time, we introduce our bass player, Carl Pruitt." (Although a chance remains that one combo of bassist, drummer and vibraphonist played in the concert and another combo in the studio date, such a chance strikes me as slim.)

However, other sources differ. The 1992 Capitol Jazz CD Beauty And The Beat is among the sources that list a partially different personnel:

James Bond (bass)
Roy Haines (drums)
Warren Chaisson (vibes)

Felicitously, the Bond/Haines/Chaisson personnel is acknowledged as erroneous in the updated, 2003 version of the 1992 CD. The personnel in the 1992 CD was also corrected in later pressings of that disc. Credited with first noticing the mistake, and contacting Capitol about it: vibraphonist Ray Alexander. In a 1993 interview for Jazz Journal International, he showed gratitude for the correction, made by Michel Cuscuna. In Alexander's words: "I was fortunate enough to record the album Beauty And The Beat!, with Peggy Lee. It's proved to be a classic over the years ... The only thing that bugged me was that none of the musicians were credited on the album. I'm happy to say that it's been re-released on a CD and all the musicians were listed ... The record is considered a classic, and it's great that they took the time to give credit to the proper musicians for the session."

Yet other sources list Percy Bryce on bass and Emil Richards on vibes. Ray Ellington is identified as the vibraphonist in yet another source. Contemporaneous changes in the personnel of Shearing's Quintet might account for some of the confusion in all those sources, which seem to be erroneous.

Peggy Lee, George Shearing (ldr), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), The George Shearing Quintet (acc), Toots Thielemans (g), Carl Pruitt (b), George Shearing (p), Ray Alexander (vib), Ray Mosca (d), Armando Peraza (bo, cng), Peggy Lee (v)

The Recording Sessions

This session contains a studio recreation of a concert given by Peggy Lee and the George Shearing Quintet, on a joint bill. For details about the actual concert and the P.A. system that made impossible to release the live proceedings, see previous session. The songs in this studio recreation are presumed to have been the same ones performed (or scheduled to be performed) at the concert.


Dating And Venue

May 28-30 is the date given in Capitol's master files. The label's Peggy Lee session files shows a different date, April 28, 1959. This April date can actually be found in official CDs, including Capitol's box Miss Peggy Lee and Capitol Jazz's CD Beauty And The Beat! (Cdp 798454). According to CD producer Michael Cuscuna, other Capitol files show yet another date, April 30, for some of the songs. Adds Cuscuna, in his definitive notes about this album (printed in the 2003 CD version): "[m]ost likely, the New York office entered the information into Capitol's files incorrectly and the 14 tunes were recorded in two or three sessions between May 28 and 30."

An unlikely rumor claims that Lee and company recorded these numbers not in the studio, but at her Americana Hotel dressing room, immediately after the concert had taken place. She would have put on a set of earphones and sung her vocals over the unsatisfactory tapes
that contained the performances from the original concert .

A far likelier scenario has Lee, Shearing and other musicians recreating the session. CD producer Michael Cuscuna thinks that the album's contents were "probably recorded in Miami, either at a local studio or more likely at a ballroom in the hotel with the remote equipment that Capitol's engineers brought down from New York."

Cuscuna's reasonable comments allows for the possibility that part or all of the studio material was actually recorded even before the actual concert. When he first found the tape with the two bonus tracks that were added to the CD, Cuscuna even considered the possibility that they were "cut at a rehearsal or the sound check in the hall that housed the concert." I am more inclined to think that the entire studio date (bonus tracks included) followed the live concert, but the reverse order remains a possibility, too.

What is known about Lee's Miami timeline allows for the studio date(s) to have been recorded either shortly before or shortly after the concert. "We rendezvoused in Florida," she writes in her autobiography, referring to Shearing and herself, "to set the keys and figure out the arrangements. We were up seventy-two hours straight." Lee was also interviewed for the 1992 CD release, in which she is quoted as saying that "[w]e were all pretty much wrecked ... They had a talk-back set up for Dave, and he would speak to us from the control room. His feet were so swollen for having been on them for so many hours ..."

A third source is another comment made by Peggy Lee, during an interview with radio broadcaster Fred Hall. This particular comment suggests that the studio recording happened soon after the live concert(s), rather than before: "How we lived through it and stayed alive, I don't know, because it was 72 hours that we were up ...[...]... We recorded the whole thing in front of the disc jockeys convention, and then we did some extra sides and polished some things that the acoustics were not quite right, or something. I always think about Dave Cavanaugh, whose feet had begun to swell up because he was so tired, and every time he touched the button for the talkback it would give him a shock, and he would say, We'll do that--OUCH!"

In his liner notes for the 1992 Capitol Jazz CD, Will Friedwald adds that, "[w]ithin days of the convention, the threesome were at work transforming the event into an album," but his timeline is probably predicated on the belief held at the time --i. e., that the album contained the live event. Continues Friedwald: "At the original concert, Lee and Shearing had generally seguewayed from one tune to another without saying anything, and some of the announcements that were there had been off-mike. However, to make it sound even more live, Cavanaugh decided that each tune should have a spoken intro."


Personnel

See personnel comments under previous session. I am operating under the assumption that the same members of The George Shearing Quintet played during the live and the studio dates.


Arrangements

All titles are believed to have head arrangements. As previously mentioned, Peggy Lee writes in her autobiography that she and George Shearing "rendezvoused in Florida to set the keys and figure out the arrangements." In the liner notes of Capitol Jazz CD 7984542, both Lee and Shearing are further quoted, after being separately interviewed for the release of that disc. Lee remembers that "[w]e started from scratch with all new arrangements ... We used head arrangements, because George is blind and doesn't use written music. We kept working these songs out and rehearsing as we went, until George had all the harmonies and everything going." Shearing says that "[w]e just discussed the tunes between us, the same as I do with every singer that I've worked with. We had various ideas, some of which we dismissed, some of which we adopted." In her interview with Fred Hall, Lee similarly tells that "because George is unsighted, everything had to be head arrangements. So the whole thing was planned. We came down a little early, and worked out the whole album. He is so brilliant, that George. So, it was like doing the arrangements and everything all in one time there."


Masters

1. "Lonely Town" (master 31805)
Walter Bruyninckx's discography identifies master 31805 as "Lonely Town," and claims that it was released on the Capitol LP Beauty And The Beat. This information is partially --if not completely -- erroneous. No song with such a title is to be found in the LP.

In Peggy Lee's Capitol session files, master 31805 is identified as "Nobody's Heart," a performance which was first released on the 1992 CD version of the LP, as a bonus track.

I am left to wonder if Bruyninckx's (mis)information comes from a different, earlier and superseded version of the session files. Could it be that a song titled "Lonely Town" (perhaps the number by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green) was sung during Lee and Shearing's live show, yet ultimately excluded from album release? As far as possibilities go, it could well be.

But there's a likelier explanation. Master 31806 is the song "Blue Prelude," whose first chorus reads as follows: Let me sigh / Let me cry when I'm blue / Let me go 'way from this lonely town." It seems to me that this first chorus was misidentified as a separate song, whose title was assumed to be "Lonely Town."


2. Non-Lee Masters
Released as part of the Beauty And The Beat sessions are three instrumentals by The George Shearing Quintet, without Lee:

31801 Isn't It Romantic
31802 Satin Doll
31813 Mambo in Miami (Armando Peraza feature)


Issues And Collectibles

1. The Album Beauty And The Beat! In The Charts (LP)
This long play entered Billboard's Best-Selling Pop LPs chart on the week of September 12, 1959, and peaked at number 19. Lee's sixth album entry spent 18 weeks in the chart.

2. Two Different Versions Of Beauty And The Beat!
Capitol has issued two versions of Beauty And The Beat!. The version originally heard on the orginal LP and on the 1992 Capitol CD comes from a second-generation tape. Spoken introductions were used on that tape, and applause was dubbed in.

The other version comes from the first-generation master tape. It has no applause, and no spoken introductions. It's on the 2003 Capitol Jazz CD, and was original released in Japan, as Toshiba/EMI CD 32-5309. Because the master tape was preserved in excellent condition, this 2003 version reveals a fair amount of vocal nuance that is not as readily apparent in the earlier, better-known version. (Many fans of vocals are thus particularly awestruck by this version. However, the earlier version also has many fans, from whom the recreated but utterly pleasant audience atmophere feels as a treat.)

3. Souvenir Of The 1959 DJ Convention, Miami, Florida
Limited to a 2,500 pressing, this item was sent to attendants of the convention. It is actually a gatefold LP box, all-black on the front and back, with nothing but the title in the front cover. The inner sides of the box turn out to be the same front and back covers found in the original Capitol LP. Also found inside, along with the vinyl, are two photos and two typewritten letters. One is a photo of Peggy Lee, who has signed it with the comment "let's cut another one soon," followed by the words "Love, Peggy." The other is a photo of George Shearing, with another inscription by Peggy Lee ("couldn't have done it without you, George"). One of the handwritten letters is from Capitol Records, the other from Lee. Both apologize to the attendants of the convention, for the sonic problems that made impossible for many of them to hear the concert.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), John Kraus (eng), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Latin Ala Lee! Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: August 12, 13, and 14, 1959.


Issues

1. Latin Ala Lee! (British LP)
In England, this LP was released in 1960 with one track missing: "Till There Was You," a song from the musical The Music Man. The reason for the exclusion was contractual. Because the musical had yet to have its premiere when Lee's LP was slated for release in England, the song could not be included.


Songs

1. "Till There Was You" In The Charts
Since this song had to be excluded from the British version of the LP Latin Ala Lee!, British EMI later decided to release it as a single, with fortunate consequences. The song entered the British chart on the week of March 25, 1961, and stayed for a week, peaking at number 40. It re-entered the chart on the week of April 8, and stayed for three more weeks, peaking at number 30. Yet another felicitous consequence: Paul McCartney listened to this Peggy Lee single, and loved it. As a result, The Beatles ended recording the song, and an admiring McCartney eventually wrote and produced a song for Lee. (See session dated First Week Of June, 1974.)


Personnel

This date's musicians are unknown, but presumed to be mostly the same ones who participated in the second Latin Ala Lee! session, dated August 13, 1959.


Arrangers

1. Jack Marshall
2. Marty Paich
3. Dick Hazard
Capitol issues of the album Latin Ala Lee! credit Jack Marshall with all of the album's arrangements. This collective credit might or might not be a misguided generalization. Peggy Lee's sheet music library indeed contains Marshall arrangements of this session's "Hey There" and "Till There Was You," but the library's one arrangement of "C'est Magnifique is credited to Marty Paich instead. Herein I am thus tentatively crediting Paich. As for the other song from this session, there is no arrangement of "Dance Only With Me" in Lee's library. (In addition to Marshall's arrangement of "Hey There," the library also has another one, written by Richard Hazard.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Emmanuel "Manny" Klein (om), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), John Kraus (eng), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Justin Gordon (r), Rubén León (f), Rudolph Loera, Henry Miranda, Alfonso "Al" Rojo, Ray Vázquez (t), Tony Reyes (b), Eduardo "Eddie" Cano (p), Eduardo Aparicio, Manuel E. López, Carlos Mejía, Ray Rivera (d), Luis Kant (cng), Peggy Lee (v)

The Latin Ala Lee! Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: August 12, 13, and 14, 1959.


Songs

1. "Heart" At The Grammys
On the 3rd Grammy Award ceremony, held on April 12, 1961, the category of Best Performance By A Pop Single Artist had an eye-popping list of nominees: Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. Both Charles' and Lee's offerings were numbers cleverly reimagined in a context different from the one in which they had originated: the Broadway tune "Heart" was given a hot Latin treatment, while "Georgia On My Mind" was moved from its original big band and jazz-flavored settings to a bluesier realm. Charles won.

This was one of 3 Grammy nominations received by Peggy Lee at the ceremony. For the others (including a fourth one that did not go to her, but involved a Lee release), see notes under session dated August 14, 1959.


Personnel And Instruments

The names in this session's personnel are confirmed. The assignation of instruments is, on the other hand, tentative: in the paperwork that I consulted, there is no identification of the instrument played by each musician. Therefore, my educated guesses could be erroneous, particularly in the cases of players known for their dexterity in more than one instrument.


Issues And Masters

1. Capitol LP Broadway Ala Lee
This 1970 album is a reissue of Latin Ala Lee. Two songs from the original album were deleted, and the original artwork was also changed. Broadway Ala Lee was sold both as a stand-alone (catalogue number Sf 519) and as a twofer, (catalogue number Sttb 517). The other album in the twofer is also a reissue, titled The Folks Who Live On The Hill, in "duophonic" or electronically processed stereo (catalogue number Df 518).
(Incidentally, the prefix of Broadway Ala Lee truly is Sf, not Df as some sources erroneously claim. See also session dated April 4, 1957.

2. S&P CD Latin Ala Lee!
3. S&P LP Latin Ala Lee! {180 Gram Virgin Audiophile Vinyl}
4. "I Am In Love"
The S&P issues of Latin Ala Lee! boast vibrant sound quality. They were remixed at the CapitolTower, in the same studio in which these sessions were originally recorded, and from the original master session tapes. The S&P remix of "I Am In Love" comes with a minor curiosity: toward the end of the track, Lee is heard singing the phrase "so in need of a stampede of love" five times. That closing phrase is heard only four times in all other issues of this Peggy Lee performance.

As for the two other CD versions of the original LP: (1) the DCC version was also remastered from the original three-track tapes, though not mixed anew. (2) The EMI twofer version is likely to have used the two-track mix heard in the original LP, not the three-track tapes.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), John Kraus (eng), Jack Marshall's Music (acc), Peggy Lee (v)

The Latin Ala Lee! Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: August 12, 13, and 14, 1959.


Issues

1. The Album Latin Ala Lee! In The Charts And At The Grammys
This long play peaked at number 11, and spent 59 weeks in Billboard's Best-Selling Pop LPs chart, becoming Lee's longest-lasting album in that chart. It debuted on the week of April 11, 1960.

A year later, on April 12, 1961, the third Grammy award ceremony was held. On this year, separate categories were established for albums and singles by female singers. Peggy Lee was nominated on both. In the category of Best Vocal Performance, Album, Female, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee were nominated yet again, along with Rosemary Clooney, Miriam Makeba and Della Reese. Fitzgerald won for her live album Mack The Knife. (For details about the singles category, see session dated July 26, 1960.)

Peggy Lee's work received 4 Grammy nominations this year. A third one was for Best Performance By A Pop Single Artist. (See session dated August 13, 1959.) The fourth category was actually a Best Album Cover nomination, for which art director Marvin Schwartz won the award. He faced stiff competition from Bob Jones, who had three covers nominated
(Carlos Montoya, Stravinsky: Petruchka, and Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky). Also nominated was Marvin Israel, for his cover of Milt Jackson's album Bean Bags.


Personnel

This date's musicians are unknown, but presumed to be mostly the same ones who participated in the second Latin Ala Lee! session, dated August 13, 1959.


Arrangers

1. Jack Marshall
The three arranging credits to Jack Marshall are based on the existence of arrangements of those songs, credited to him, in Peggy Lee's sheet music library.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Jack Marshall (con), Dave Cavanaugh (pdr), Jack Marshall and His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Jimmy Joyce Childrens Choir (bkv)

The Christmas Carousel Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: June 15 and 19, 1960. Also singles session, dated October 10, 1959.


Songs And Songwriters

1. "The Christmas List"
2. The Tree"
3. Haydn and Schumann
"The Christmas List" is based on a theme by Franz Josef Haydn, from his Symphony No. 94, aka The Surprise Symphony. "The Tree" is based on Robert Schumann's popular theme "Freiliche Landmann" ("The Happy Farmer"). According to Peggy Lee, both themes were brought to her by Victor Young, years earlier, while she was convalescing from an illness.


Personnel

1. Conductor
Extant data shows discrepancies about this session's conductor. Capitol's session files name Billy May. In her autobiography, Lee writes that May "did all the wonderful arrangements" for the albums Christmas Carousel and Happy Holidays. Her statement is accurate only as a generalization. Whereas May is indeed credited as the arranger of the Christmas Carousel sessions (for the other sessions, see June 15 and 19, 1960), Sid Feller is the arranger of the three new songs added to the album Happy Holidays, which were all recorded on July 9, 1965.

On the other hand, various Capitol issues (45 single 4311, LP 4298) list Jack Marshall as conductor for this session. I have added Marshall to the personnel, while awaiting for clearer data.


Issues

1. CD All Aglow Again: Stereo
Collectors' Choice CD Ccm 921 2 contains stereo versions of "Where Do I Go From Here," "Sweetheart," "You Don't Know" and "You Deserve." All four songs were previously available on mono only.


Masters And Takes

1. "Where Do I Go From Here"
To notice differences between the two takes of this song, listen in particular to the last verse.

GENERAL NOTES

Peggy Lee At Capitol Records, 1957-1962

Commentary will provided in July of 2009.

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