JUNE 7, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
1906 - Glen Gray, alto saxophone player, band leader, and Capitol Records artist as Glen Gray and The Casa Loma Orchestra, is born Glen Gray Knoblauch in Roanoke, Illinois
1917 - Dean Martin, singer, radio and motion picture actor, television variety show co-host and host, and Capitol Records artist, first as part of the team Martin and Lews with Jerry Lewis and then as a solo act, is born Dino Paul Crocetti at 319 South Sixth Street, Stubenville, Ohio at 11:55 pm
1924 - Dolores Gray, Broadway and Motion Picture actress and singer, and a Capitol Records artist (the 1959 album "Warm Brandy"), is born in Chicago, Illinois
1934 - Wynn Stewart, Capitol Records artist (1956-1958 and 1965-1972) and major influence on the "Bakersfield Sound" of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, is born Winford Lindsey Stewart in Morrisville, Missouri
1967 - Dave Navarro, author, television game show host, and Capitol Records solo artist (and guitarist for the bands Jane's Addiction, Deconstruction, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Panic Channel, and Camp Freddy), is born David Michael Navarro in Santa Monica, California

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1946 - Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (same lineup as at session on June 4, 1946) record, for transcription at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, the tracks: "Who's Got A Tent For Rent" with vocal and trumpet solo by Ray Wetzel; "I Got The Sun In The Morning" with vocal by June Christy and solos by Stan Kenton (piano), Eddie Safranski (bass), and Vido Musso (tenor saxophone); "Peg O' My Heart" with solos by Kenton, Safranski, Musso, Chico Alvarez (trumpet), Kai Winding (trombone), and Al Anthony (alto saxophone); "Come Rain Or Come Shine" with vocal by Christy and solos by Kenton and Safranski; "They Say It's Wonderful" with vocal by Gene Howard and solo by Musso; "I Don't Know Why, I Just Do" with vocal by Howard and solos by Kenton and Anthony; "He's Funny That Way" with vocal by Christy; "Lover" with solos by Kenton, Safranski, Musso and Winding
1952 - Al Martino (with orchestra conducted by Monty Kelly)'s Capitol Records single "Here In My Heart" is #2 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Kay Starr (with orchestra conducted by Harold Mooney)'s Capitol Records single "Wheel Of Fortune" is #8, Ella Mae Morse (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Blacksmith Blues" is #18, Jane Froman (with orchestra conducted by Sid Feller)'s Capitol Records single "I'll Walk Alone" is #17, and Les Paul's Capitol Records single "Carioca" is #18
55 Years Ago Today In 1955 - Woody Herman and His Orchestra (with the same line up as the sessions on June 6, 1955 but without Glow and Travis on trumpet) records the tracks "You're Here My Love" (arranged by Ralph Burns), "The Girl Upstairs" (arranged by George Williams), "House Of Bamboo" (arranged by Burns), "Buttercup" (probably arranged by Nat Pierce), "Sentimental Journey" (arranged by Nat Pierce), "Skinned Again" (arranged by Williams), and "Where Or When (arranged by Bill Holman with Ted Sommer on bells, an unknown harpist, and an unidentified vocal chorus), in New York City. "You're Here My Love", "House Of Bamboo", and "Skinned Again" appeared on Capitol Record singles, "Sentimental Journey" and "Where And When" appeared on the Capitol Records album "Road Band!", and "The Girl Upstairs" on the Capitol Records album "The Hits Of Woody Herman". "Buttercup" which went unissued until it appeared on Mosaic Records' 2000 box set "The Complete Capitol Recordings of Woody Herman".
55 Years Ago Today In 1955 - Jimmy Giuffre, clarinet, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone player, with (cl-1, ts-2, bari-3) with Jack Sheldon on trumpet, Ralph Pena on bass, and Artie Anton on drums, records the tracks "Finger Snapper" (with Giuffre on baritone saxophone), "Scintilla I" (with Giuffre on baritone saxophone), "Rhetoric" (with Giuffre on tenor saxophone), "Lazy Tones" (with Giuffre on clarinet), and "Scintilla IV" (with Giuffre on baritone saxophone) in Capitol Records' Melrose Avenue studios in Hollywood, California for the album "Jimmy Giuffre: Tangents In Jazz". The takes of "Finger Sanpper" and "Rhetoric" were rejected by Capitol and were re-recorded on June 10, 1955. The first takes were finally released by Mosaic Records in 1997 on the box set "The Complete Capitol & Atlantic Recordings of Jimmy Giuffre"
45 Years Ago Today In 1965 - Judy Holliday, singer and actress who appears on Capitol Record's soundtrack of "Bells Are Ringing" with Dean Martin, dies of breast cancer at age 43 at 5:00 AM at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Two days later a funeral service is held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in New York City, NY. Algernon Black of the Ethical Cultural Society delivers the eulogy. Among the mourners Gerry Mulligan, Yetta Cohn, David Oppenheim, Sydney Chaplin, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne, Abe Burrows and Howard Teichmann. After the service, Judy will be laid to rest at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY with a private service conducted at the grave site in Hebrew.
1969 - Apple and Capitol Records artists John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on David Frost's TV show
40 Years Ago Today In 1970 - The Beatles' last #1 single as a band "The Long And Winding Road", with "For You Blue" on the flip side, hits #1 on Billboards' Hot 100 Singles chart
1976 - Capitol Records releases The Beatles' compilation album "Rock 'n' Roll Music" in the U.S.
1976 - Bobby Hackett (born Robert Leo Hackett), coronet, trumpet and guitar player, member of Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (played at the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert), and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (initally as a guitarist while his lip was healing, then on short solos such as on "String Of Pearls"), band leader, a Capitol Records solo artist, and on Jackie Gleason's Capitol Records albums, dies in Chatham, Massachusetts of a heart attack at age 61
1982 - Capitol Records rushes Duran Duran's single "Hungry Like A Wolf" to radio stations, and MTV puts the video for the track into heavy rotation
1993 - Liberty Records (later renamed Capitol Records Nashville) releases John Berry's album "John Berry"
1997 - The second Tibetian Freedom concerts, a two day event held at Downing Stadium on Randall's Island, New York City, features Capitol Records artists The Foo Fighters, The Beastie Boys and Radiohead and many others
5 Years Ago Today In 2005 - Simon Waronker, violinist, orchestra contractor and, in 1955, founder of Liberty Records (I guess the NYC store had closed since Capitol had wanted to use the name in 1942) and the basis for one of The Chipmunks' names, dies at his home in Beverly Hill, California at age 90
5 Years Ago Today In 2005 - Released today by Capitol Records in the U.S. are Coldplay's album "X&Y" (which will go on to sell 737,294 copies its first week becoming the biggest 1st week for any album of new material in Capitol Records' history), Les Paul with Mary Ford's album "The Best Of The Capitol Masters - 90th Birthday Edition", a reissue of june christy's 1959 album "ballads for night people" (the type on the cover of the album is all lower case, at least 25 years before k. d. lang got the idea), and a reissue of Bob Seger's 1972 album "Smokin' O.P.'s"

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
70 Years Ago Today In 1940 - Singer Tom Jones is born Thomas Jones Woodward in Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan, Wales
1944 - Judy Garland files for divorce from David Rose
1958 - Prince is born Prince Rogers Nelson in Minneapolis, Minnesota