"Jingle Bells" - Part 49 - A Little More Ozzie!

We time-hop back to 1946 for this version of "Jingle Bells" recorded under the title of "Jingling the Bells" by pianist Frank Signorelli's Quintet on Davis Records:

That's a pretty snappy Dixieland-ish version, not surprising as Frank recorded in the traditional style with his own groups as well as others such as the Original Memphis Five and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band often with trumpeter Phil Napoleon, who plays on "Jingling the Bells."

The Original Memphis Five including Phil Napoleon on trumpet and Frank Signorelli on piano.

I largely think of Frank Signorelli as a composer first, as he collaborated on several songs, including a couple of standards.

His most famous song was "Stairway to the Stars," very popular in 1939 and in the following years.

Here's Glenn Miller's hit recording from 1939 featuring Ray Eberle on the vocal:

And here's another 1939 recording, this one by the great Chick Webb and his band featuring his star vocalist Ella Fitzgerald:

A couple of solid records, each showing off some of the strengths of the two bands.

The melody for "Stairway to the Stars" started as part of a larger piece composed by Frank Signorelli and his frequent collaborator Matty Malneck title "Park Avenue Fantasy." Frank (on piano) and Matty (on violin) were members of Paul Whiteman's band at the time and Whiteman recorded the number on a 12-inch 78 rpm record for Victor in 1936:

Paul Whiteman's band recorded a lot of good stuff!

The melody became "Stairway to the Stars" when ace lyricist Mitchell Parish added the words. 

Parish had earlier added lyrics to another Signorelli composition to come up with the song "A Blues Serenade," another standard perhaps best-known as the theme song for Henry King's orchestra, who cut this nice version for Decca Records in 1936:

I always find it interesting when the title of a song doesn't appear in the lyrics, as in this case. I wonder why it wasn't titled "Serenade in Blue," as the Mack Gordon/Harry Warren song by that name hadn't been written yet!

We continue back to 1932 for another melody by Frank Signorelli and Matty Malneck, this time with lyrics by Gus Kahn, entitled "I'll Never Be the Same," recorded once again by Paul Whiteman, with a vocal by the great Mildred Bailey:

Another great song.

So, now we go back a couple more years to 1930 for the Signorelli/Malneck composition "And The Your Lips Met Mine," this time with lyrics by... Ozzie Nelson!

This was very early in Ozzie's career - he hadn't even met Harriet yet - but he had a recording contract with Brunswick Records and recorded the song for them:

A nice sounding group!

So, an entertaining swath of music history courtesy of Frank Signorelli!