As we move into 1945, the recording ban was over and musicians of all types were recording for all the labels, but vocalists had made serious inroads and were more popular than ever.
I had discussed some Christmas songs from 1945 here and went into depth on the year's big seasonal hit "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" here, so we'll move right into 1946.
We actually finally have more than one song to talk about this time, so we'll kick off the year with one of the most popular Yuletide tunes ever, "The Christmas Song!"
Everyone still knows that song and a lot of people still associate it with Nat King Cole and some people still know it was co-written by singer Mel Tormé, but I suppose such people get fewer all the time, even as the song still gets recorded every year.
Nat King Cole was the first artist to record the song, while he was still leader of the King Cole Trio. Here's the hit single on Capitol Records:
As heard on the record and mentioned on the label, the trio's sound was augmented by a small string section. The arrangement was the basis for Nat's later solo recordings of "The Christmas Song" in 1953 (with Nelson Riddle) and 1961 (the ubiquitous stereo version with Ralph Carmichael).
The trio had actually originally recorded it without strings, but Nat thought strings should be added and was able to convince Capitol to let him re-record the song that way.
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| Nat and Capitol honcho Johnny Mercer seem to be in deep thought! |
It's interesting that at the time Nat was King Cole, a jazz pianist who sang and not Nat "King" Cole, the romantic crooner, so the thought of having strings on one of his records was sort of controversial!
In latter years, the trio-only recording surfaced. I was surprised when I heard it on a Rhino Records Christmas compilation in 1989. I hear that was a mistake!
Whatever the case I was glad to hear it, so here it is:
I think that sounds just fine, but I also remember when I first heard it after years of the other versions, it did seem like something was missing!
The only other recording of "The Christmas Song" from 1946 was by Les Brown and his Orchestra with soon-to-be movie star Doris Day handling the vocal. You can hear that one back in this post.
The song was one of those "instant classics" so the 1947 holiday season saw a bunch of new recordings by a bunch of singers, including Bing Crosby, Dick Haymes, Tony Martin and Kate Smith!
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| Eddy Howard conducts his band on a recording session. |
But we know I'm partial to big bands and also Eddy Howard, so let's hear his 1947 recording on Majestic Records:
I think that's great! I literally could listen to him all day. In fact, actually may have done that!
I also like those sneaky-good records on small labels, so here's Monica Lewis backed by Ray Bloch's orchestra on Signature Records, also from 1947:
Such a bright 1940s sound!
Mel Tormé was recording during this period, but I don't believe he ever made a vintage recording of the song himself. I wonder why? Too busy cashing royalty checks?
"The Christmas Song" has been recorded a zillion times since, but you can't beat Nat King Cole in whatever is your version of choice!
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