NOVEMBER 28, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
1934 - Ethel Ennis, singer, with the Capitol Records band Benny Goodman and His Orchestra and a Capitol Records solo artist (1957-1958), is born in in Baltimore, Maryland
1943 - Randy Newman, singer, songwriter, film scorer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and who conducted the session for Peggy Lee's track "Is That All There Is?" which will become the title tune of her Capitol Records album for which Newman also wrote the songs "Love Story" and "Johnny (Linda)", and would also right the song "Have You Seen My Baby" for Lee's Capitol Records album "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", is born in Los Angeles, California
1948 - Beeb Birtles, pianist and guitarist with the Capitol Records group The Little River Band is born Gerard Bertelkamp in Amsterdam, Holland
1949 - Paul Shaffer, keyboardist, motion picture and television actor, band leader, and Capitol Records artist (1989), is born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1947 - Mel Blanc records tracks for the Capitol Records childrens album "Bugs Bunny and the Tortoise" with additional voices by Arthur Q. Bryan, in a session produced by Alan Livingston with music written, arranged and conducted by Billy May. A second session for the album will be held on December 3, 1947. The packaging will be illustrated by Warner Bros. Cartoons artists Robert McKimson and Richard Thomas.
1947 - The Red Norvo Septet (Ray Linn on trumpet, Jimmy Giuffre on alto saxophone and tenor saxophone, Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone, Red Norvo on vibraphones and piano, Dodo Marmarosa on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Red Callender on bass, and Jackie Mills on drums) record the tracks "I'll Follow You" with Giuffre on alto saxophone, and "Bop! with Giufree on tenor saxphone, and Marmarosa on piano. The band, with Jesse Price on vocals also records the tracks "Baby, Let's Be Friends", with Giuffre on tenor saxophone and Norvo on piano, and "My Baby Done Left Me" with Giuffre on alto saxophone and Norvo on Piano, in Los Angeles, California. I wonder if they were down the hall from Blanc's recording? The first two tracks, when released by Capitol Records, will be credited to The Red Norvo Septet, and the second two will be credited to Jesse Price and His Blues Band.
1956 - Frank Sinatra records the tracks "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)", "From This Moment On", "Oh! Look At Me Now", and "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" with arranger Nelson Riddle conducting the orchestra in Studio A of The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California for his Capitol Records album "Swingin' Affair!"
1959 - Faron Young's Capitol Records single "Country Girl", the flip side of "I Hear You Talkin'", is #4 on Billboard's Pop singles chart
1967 - Sonny James' Capitol Records single "It's the Little Things", with "Don't Cut Timber On A Windy Day" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart
1970 - Capitol Records releases George Harrison's single "My Sweet Lord", with "Isn't It A Pity" on the flip side, in the United States

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1959 - Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, with guitarist Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Laymon Jackson, drummer Dave Bailey and conga plyer Ray Barretto, records the tracks "Idaho" an untitled Donaldson blues, and "But Not For Me", with Alfred Lion producing and engineer Rudy Van Gelder at the Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. "Idaho" will be released on Donaldson's Blue Note Album "The Time Is Right". The other two tracks are rejected and will remain unreleased until Mosaic Records puts them on their box set "The Complete Blue Note Lou Donaldson Sessions". Blue Note's catalog is currently owned by EMI Music, Capitol Records' parent company.
1968 - Apple Records artist John Lennon is convicted for possession of one ounce of cannabis resin in London, England
1974 - Elton John and Apple Records artist John Lennon sing "I Saw Her Standing There", "Whatever Gets You Through The Night", and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" at Elton's concert in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Lennon had promised Elton that he would appear with him if Lennon's single "Whatever Gets You Through The
Night", which Elton had appeared on, hit #1 in the United States, and this performance made good on the promise. It's Lennon's first public appearance in two years and turns out to be Lennon's last concert appearance before being killed in 1980. Shortly after Lennon's death, Elton's record company, DJM, releases all three "live" cuts, both on a 7-inch and 12-inch maxi-single, and as part of a "live" album of highlights from the rest of Elton's performance that night.
1981 - J. Geils Band's EMI America single "Centerfold", with Rage In The Cage" on the flip side, enters the top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Capitol Records currently controls the EMI America catalog.
1991 - Garth Brooks' Liberty Records single "Shameless", with "The Thunder Rolls" on the flip side, is #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Liberty Records would be renamed Capitol Records Nashville.
2000 - EMI International releases Bobbie Gentry's complilation album "The Capitol Years: Ode to Bobbie Gentry"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1925 - George D. Hay presents the debut broadcast of "The WSM Barn Dance", later to be re-named "The Grand Ole Opry". The broadcast originates live from the WSM studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Fiddler "Uncle Jimmy" Thompson was the first artist to perform.