JULY 5, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!
75 Years Ago Today In 1935 - Richard Levitt, countertenor soloist with the Capitol Records group The Roger Wagner Chorale (1964) is born in Los Angeles, California
1943 - Robbie Robertson, guitarist, singer, songwriter, member of the Capitol Records group The Band, and a solo artist, is born Jaime Robert Robertson in Toronto, Canada

ON THIS DAY IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1946 - Cootie Williams and His Orchestra (Williams and Bob Merrill on trumpet and vocals; E. V. Perry, Otis Gamble, and Billy Ford on trumpet' Clarence "Gene" Redd on trumpet and vibraphone' Ed Burke, Edward Johnson, and Julius "Hawkshaw" Watson on trombone; Rupert Cole and Daniel Williams on alto saxophone; Chuck Clarke and Edwin Johnson on tenor saxophone; Bob Ashton on baritone saxophone; Arnold Jarvis on piano; Pee Wee Tinney on guitar; Norman Keenan on bass; and Butch Ballard on drums) record the tracks "Wrong Neighborhood", "Piney Brown's Gone", "I May Be Easy But I'm No Fool" (all with vocals by just Bob Merrill), the instrumental "Vibraphobia", and "Let's Do The Whole Thing Or Nothing At All" (with vocals by just Cootie Williams) at WMCA Studios in New York City. Capitol Records will release "Wrong Neighborhood" as a single (#289) with "Let's Do The Whole Thing Or Nothing At All" on the flip side, and "I May Be Easy But I'm No Fool" as a single (#314) with "Ain't Got No Blues Today" (recorded September 11, 1946) on the flip side. The remaining tracks will finally be released in 1997 on Mosaic Records box set "Classic Capitol Jazz Session".
1947 - Red Ingle and The Natural Seven (with vocals by Cinderella G. Stump aka Jo Stafford)'s Capitol Records single "Tim-Tay-Shun" (aka "Temptation) enters the top 5 of Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart at #5
1949 - Capitol Records artist Yogi Yorgesson (aka Harry Stewart) sings "Object Of My Affection" on "Command Performance" with Shirley Ross, Errol Garner, Arthur and Mark Stevens
1952 - Al Martino (with orchestra conducted by Monty Kelly)'s Capitol Records single "Here In My Heart" is #3 down from #2 on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Records chart, Jane Froman (with orchestra conducted by Sid Feller)'s Capitol Records single "I'll Walk Alone" is still #14, Nat "King" Cole (with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra)'s Capitol Records single "Somewhere Along The Way" (with "What Does It Take" on the flip side) debuts on the top 20 at #16, Al Martino (with orchestra conducted by Monty Kelly)'s Capitol Records single "Take My Heart" (with "I Never Cared" on the flip side) debuts at #17, and Les Paul and Mary Ford's Capitol Records single "Smoke Rings" (with "In The Good Old Summertime" on the flip side) debuts at #20
1956 - The Four Freshmen (Bob Flanigan on vocals, trombone and base; Don Barbour on vocals and guitar; Ross Barbour on vocals and drums; and Ken Albers on vocals, trumpet, mellophone and bass), with arranger Dick Reynolds conducting the studio orchestra (Uan Rasey, Ray Triscari, Joe Triscari, Buddy Childers, and Mannie Klein on trumpet; Jack Marshall on guitar; Milt Raskin on piano; Don Simpson on bass: and Frank Carlson on drums), during two sessions held the same day for their Capitol Records album "The Four Freshman And Five Trumpets", record the tracks "Everytime We Say Goodbye", "Someone Like You" and the first rejected take of "For Sentimental Reasons" at the first session, and a second take of "For Sentimental Reasons" (which will remain unissued until it appears on Mosaic Records' 2000 box set "The Complete Capitol Four Freshmen Sessions April, 1950-July, 1960"), "Got A Date With An Angel", "Goodnight Sweetheart" and "Laughing On The Outside (Crying On The Inside)" at the second session. Both sessions were held in Los Angeles, Calfornia.
50 Years Ago Today In 1960 - Nat "King" Cole records the tracks "The Happiest Christmas Tree" with Dave Cavanaugh and His Orchestra, along with "Away In A Manger" and "Silent Night" with Ralph Carmichael and His Orchestra for Capitol Records
50 Years Ago Today In 1960 - Capitol Records releases the original motion picture soundtrack of "Bells Are Ringing" which stars Judy Holliday and Capitol Records artist Dean Martin
1963 - Pianist George Shearing (along with Gary Burton on vibraphone, Ron Anthony on guitar, Gene Cherico on bass, Vernel Fournier on drums, and Armando Peraza on congas), begins the first of two straight days of live sets at The Blackhawk, in San Francisco, California which will be recorded and released by Capitol Records on the album "Rare Form"
1965 - Capitol Records releases Buck Owens' single "Only You (Can Break My Heart)" with "Gonna Have Love" on the flip side and The Beach Boys' album "Summer Days (And Summer Nights)"
1966 - Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' compilation album "Best Of The Beach Boys" as well as Peter & Gordon's compilation album "The Best Of Peter & Gordon" on it's The Star Line subsidiary
1969 - Merle Haggard's Capitol Records single "Working Man Blues" enters the U.S. Country singles charts
1983 - Harry James, trumpeter, band leader, actor and Capitol Records artist (1955-1958), dies of lymphatic cancer in Las Vegas, Nevada at age 67 just nine days after his last concert appearance held in Los Angeles, California
1987 - Heart's Capitol Record single "Alone" is #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart
1992 - A bus carrying band and crew members of the Capitol Records act Helix goes off the road near Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and plunges down a 40 foot precipice. Two crew members were seriously injured and bassist Gray escaped with minor injuries, but guitarist and co-founding member Paul Hackman was killed at age 39
2006 - Eight days after it's scheduled release, the 30th anniversary edition of The Steve Miller Band's album "Fly Like An Eagle" still isn't in stores.

ON THIS DAY NOT QUITE IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1952 - Gerry Mulligan (with Chet Baker on trumpet, Jimmy Rowles on piano, and Joe Mondragon on bass) records two sides for Pacific Jazz. EMI Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company, currently owns Pacific Jazz's catalog.
1954 - The Bob Brookmeyer Quartet (Brookmeyer on valve trombone, John Williams on piano, Bill Anthony on bass, and Frank Isola on drums) record the tracks "Liberty Belle", "Have You Met Miss Jones", and "Traditional Blues" with Brookmeyer producing and recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey for their self titled album released by Pacific Jazz Records, whose catalog is now owned by Capitol Records
1962 - Dinah Washington, with arranger Don Costa, records the tracks "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me", "My Devotion", " If It's The Last Thing I Do", and "Our Love" (which Roulette Records will release on the album "In Love"), "It's A Mean Old Man's World" (which will appear on the Roulette Records album "Back to the Blues", and "Was It Like That?" (which will also be on the album "In Love") at Bell Sound, in New York City, New York. EMI Music Group currently owns Roulette's catalog and re-releases the albums on the Capitol Jazz label, a division of Blue Note Records, which is a division of Capitol Music Group.
35 Years Ago Today In 1975 - Pink Floyd, The Steve Miller Band, and Captain Beefheart perform at a live concert at the Knebworth Festival in Hertfordshire, England
1978 - The City of Los Angeles declares The Pantages Theatre a historic landmark. Capitol Records would store items in space below the theatre and, in one instance, used one of its staircases leading up from the basement, which had a great view of The Capitol Tower, for a publicity photo shoot for The Beach Boys
1981 - Capitol Records group America joins Three Dog Night, former Liberty Records duo Jan and Dean, and John Sebastian in commemorating The Beach Boys' twentieth anniversary with a concert on a barge next to The Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor, California. The concert is hosted by Wolfman Jack and broadcast via satellite worldwide.
2001 - Ernie K-Doe (aka Ernest Kador, Jr.), who scored a #1 in 1961 with the Minit Records single "Mother-In-Law", written by Allen Toussaint and with "Wanted" on the flip side, dies at age 65 and, after a traditional jazz funeral, was interred in the 200-year-old Duval tomb in Saint Louis Cemetery #2, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Minit Records' catalog is currently owned by EMi Music Group, Capitol Music Group's parent company.

ON THIS DAY NOT IN CAPITOL RECORDS HISTORY
1954 - 19 year old Elvis Presley records the track "That's All Right (Mama)" at his first session at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The track would released as a single two weeks later on July 19, 1954 with "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" (also recorded during this two day session, along with the tracks "I Love You Because" and "Harbor Lights") on the flip side.