The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography:
The Capitol Transcriptions

Lee Gillette (pdr), Dave Barbour (g), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

A Radio Show Called Songs By Peggy Lee

Radio stations that subscribed to Capitol's Transcription Service had the option of ordering two types of discs: (1) those containing shows pre-assembled by Capitol, and (2) those containing just songs which the station itself could assemble into a show. When the second option was chosen, the subscribing station received monthly installments of discs such as the ones that will be listed throughout this page, as well as the special discs that are to be discussed immediately below.

If, on the other hand, a subscribing station favored the first option instead, then Songs By Peggy Lee was among the shows that the station could order from Capitol. (For actual evidence of the existence of such type of programming, take a look the ads displayed near the bottom of this page. The one viewable immediately below lists Songs By Peggy Lee among various 15-minute shows being offered. Longer programming, lasting 30 or 60 minutes, are also listed. Because all such Capitol-assembled shows are mentioned only in a couple of these ads, there is a possibility that they were discontinued or fully cancelled after a short while, leaving procedure #2 as the only viable option for subscribers.)

Issues And Masters

1. Capitol X-16 [Transcription Disc]
Capitol transcription disc X-16 is entirely dedicated to song themes. It features the following tracks, which the disc duplicats by featuring on both of its sides:
a) Adios (opening and closing theme for Enric Madriguera shows)
b) F.S.T. (opening theme for Nat King Cole's shows)
c) F.S.T. (closing theme for Nat King Cole's shows)
d) I'm In The Mood For Music (opening theme for Peggy Lee's show)
e) I'm In The Mood For Music (closing theme for Peggy Lee's show)

2. "I'm In The Mood For Music"
"I'm In The Mood For Music" was meant to serve as the opening and closing theme of the assembled Peggy Lee shows. References to this obscure song can also be found in some movie guides, where it is identified as one of the three numbers performed by Peggy Lee with husband Dave Barbour in the similarly obscure, lost-in-time 1947 short Midnight Serenade. In that short, it might have also been showcased as the couple's theme.

Unfortunately, I have come across no information about this theme, not have I ever been able to hear it. (I have not watched the aforementioned short, either.) Hence my classification of the theme as a vocal (rather than an instrumental) is merely an educated guess on my part -- though one with a high chance of being correct.

Due to my non-familiarity with disc X-16 and its contents, there are other matters that are unclear to me as well. I cannot confidently ascertain whether it includes two different performances of "I'm In The Mood For Love," or whether one single performance of the song was used as both the opening and the closing theme. Until further information comes along, I have decided to follow the data at hand: two separate listings of the same song title are known to be shown in the label of the transcription disc:


Dating

The tentative dating that I have assigned to I'm In The Mood For Love relies on a comment made by Nat King Cole discographer Klaus Teubig. In his estimation, Cole's song theme F.S.T. (also found in disc X-16) was "probably recorded on Cole's first transcription session for Capitol." Teubig reasons that Cole's theme needed to be recorded before the first transcription batch could be sent to radio stations. Otherwise, stations would have not been able to assemble a full Cole-centered show, since there were no intro nor closing featuring the artist. (Also i support of the same notion, I would point that the same dilemma would apply to the Capitol-assembled discs which contained full Cole shows: would have missed a distinctive, emblematic theme.) If the the line of reasoning used for the Cole material is re-used to examine Lee's material, it would follows that I'm In The Mood For Love must have been waxed with the earliest transcription masters that she recorded (i.e., on May 7, 1946) or around that time.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Lee Gillette (pdr), John Palladino (eng), Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind (acc), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p, cel, org), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Personnel

1. Lee Gillette
One of my sources refers to Lee Gillette as the producer of Peggy Lee's entire Capitol transcription output. Because collective credits can be deceiving, I have abstained from fully trusting this blanket statement.

2. Accompaniment
All Peggy Lee transcription discs from the year 1946 credit the accompanying ensemble as "Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind, featuring guitar by Dave Barbour."


Masters

Most transcription companies treated the concept of a "master number" in a manner different from a retail label. Capitol honored this difference, thereby following a different logic for each type of master number. A lengthy explanation of this matter can be found below, under the entry that precedes the April 1949 sessions.


Arrangements

1. Sources
The booklet of Mosaic set #184 states that "Heinie Beau is credited as arranger for this session." Beau is also credited in the Capitol Label Discography by Michel Ruppli, Bill Daniels and Ed Novitsky, with assistance from Michel Cuscuna.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind (acc), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p, cel, org), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

At The Recording Session

1. "Don't Be So Mean To Baby"
In his essay for Mosaic's set #184, Will Friedwald shares a bit of spoken dialogue that was kept in one of the master discs -- yet, unfortunately, excluded from release in the Mosaic set. Described by Friedwald as "some fascinating instructions by Lee as she and Barbour arrange [a] newly-composed original on the spot," the spoken bit pertains to the recording of "Don't Be So Mean To Baby." Once Buddy Cole has played the song's first notes on piano, Lee is heard to exclaim, "Do you hear what that note sounds like?" Cole plays a few additional chords, and Lee then continues: "Let's just make it with guitar, then. You don't know, that note sounds awful! David, you're going to ruin the song that way, if you don't mind my saying so ... Gee." In the final take, Cole starts out on piano, introducing the melody and then accompanying Lee during the first chorus; afterwards, Barbour restates the melody in single notes.


Masters

1. "Don't Be So Mean To Baby"
This version of the Peggy Lee - Dave Barbour composition "Don't Be So Mean To Baby" was not included in any of Capitol's transcription discs. As a result, it did not see the light of day until Mosaic Records mastered and issued it, in 1998.


Arrangements

1. Heinie Beau
2. Head Arrangements?
My source for the arranging credit to Heinie Beau is the Capitol Label Discography by Ruppli et al. No other source at my reach identifies the arranger.

In previous editions of this discographical page, I proceeded under the assumption that Lee's transcriptions featured head arrangements, put together during the dates by the musicians and the singer. If we are to trust Ruppli's discography, such was not the case -- at least, not always. (And since its primary source is Capitol's log archive, Ruppli's work is highly trustworthy.)

It must be noted, however, that Ruppli's text does not give arranging credits for each individual song. For instance, this session lists Heinie Beau and his arranging role as part of a collective personnel. In other words, there is no arranger credit under "The Glory Of Love," or under "Melancholy Lullaby" or under any of the other performances. Hence all of the above-shown individual credits to Beau must be deemed tentative: I simply do not know if he should be credited for all 13 songs, or for a lesser quantity -- suck lesser quantity falling anywhere between twelve and just one.

Also worth keeping in mind is the chat that took place during the making of "Don't Be So Mean To Baby," and which was quoted above. If I am understanding its substance, Lee was requesting a change in the arrangement of this particular song. She addressed the request to Barbour, and the change was made. It must thus be concluded that Barbour and Lee deserve some (small?) degree of credit for the finalized arrangement of at least this particular song. (Of course, new questions arise: Was the reason why Barbour and Lee made the change simply that they themselves were the composers of "Don't Be So Mean To Baby," and thus felt entitled to do so? ... Or would they have been as likely to modify any of the other performances? ... What was the implication behind the comment that Barbour was going to "ruin the song"? ... Was it a reference to his role as session leader -- and thus dictator of the musical steps to be made -- or should it be taken as an indication that he might have dictated the direction of the arrangement?)

Heinie Beau is actually listed as the arranger of a very large number of Capitol recordings (both commercial and radio masters) by Lee. Perhaps his role in this and other sessions should be better understood as that of someone who did a simple preliminary sketch, to be modified and developed at the session by Barbour, Lee, and the accompanying musicians.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind (acc), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p, cel, org), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Arrangements

1. Source
My source for the arranging credit to Heinie Beau is the Capitol Label Discography by Ruppli et al. No other source at my reach identifies the arranger. See also related comments about head arrangements in note above, under session dated May 14, 1946.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Frank DeVol (con), Frank Devol and His Orchestra (acc), Skeets Herfurt aka Arthur Herfurt, Jerome Kasper, Jules Kinsler, Ron Perry, Ted Romersa (r), Abe Benike, Uan Rasey, Irv Shulkin (t), George Faye, Si Zentner (tb), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p), June Weiland (hrp), Tommy Romersa (d), Victor Arno, Joseph Livoti, Joseph Quadri, Henry Sugar (vn), Jacob Kaz, Paul Lowenkron (vl), Fred Goerner, Joseph Saxon, Julius Tannenbaum (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

Personnel

1. Frank DeVol
In his 1998 notes for the Mosaic set The Complete Peggy Lee & June Christy Capitol Transcription Sessions, Will Friedwald estimates this session to be among Frank DeVol's earliest at Capitol Records. The more recently published Capitol Label Discography reveals that DeVol had previously recorded about eight commercial sessions for Capitol, starting with a couple of late 1945 dates in which he backed Hal Derwin. Before he accompanied Lee, DeVol had also recorded over 15 transcription sessions with other artists, including one with The King Sisters. Peggy Lee was, however, the first female solo singer to be backed by DeVol at Capitol Records.


Masters

1. "A Nightingale Can Sing The Blues"
Peggy Lee's Capitol session files show that she and Frank DeVol recorded this song again just a month later, on July 15, 1946. Nevertheless, I suspect that the two versions are actually one and the same: I do not detect any significant differences between them. If my suspicion is correct, July 15 would have been the day on which the transcription performance was transferred to Capitol's phono reels, as part of the process leading to its release on a 78-rpm single.

Capitol is known to have followed the above-discussed procedure in at least two other cases: "Twelfth Street Rag" and "Intermission Riff." The former became a hit for its interpreter, Pee Wee Herman. According to Ken Nelson, one of Capitol's A&R men in the country field, it was "dubbed off a 16-inch electrical transcription by his co-worker, Lee Gillette. As for "Intermission Riff," was recorded by Stan Kenton for the Capitol transcription service (master #524-2) on December 20, 1945, and included in transcription disc #B-96. On January 14, 1946 session, Kenton's transcription performance was transferred to master #892, and then released on Capitol 78-rpm single #298. According to Michael Sparke and Pete Venudor in Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions, union rules were behind Capitol's assignation of a new master number to the original transcription performance: thanks to such a re-assignation, the musicians had the right to be compensated for not only for the transcription master but also the commercial "sub-master."


Issues

1. The A Transcription Series
2. Capitol A-11/A-12 [Transcription Disc]
Capitol's transcription discs bear two numbers, one per side. Generally the same artist is heard on both sides of the disc. However, in the specific case of Capitol's A series, sometimes there is a different artist on each side. Case in point: Peggy Lee and Frank DeVol are featured on one side of Capitol transcription disc A-11. The disc's other side is A-12, which spotlights Jan Garber And His Orchestra. (For another Lee disc in the A series, see session dated July 29, 1946. For additional details about this and other Capitol transcription series, see this page's final note.)

3. Capitol B-531/B-532 [Transcription Disc]
The above-listed disc Capitol B-531 is essentially a reissue of Capitol A-11, with its tracks reshuffled. The exact date on which it was prepared and sent out to subscribing radio stations is unknown to me. Based on its catalogue number, I have given it a tentative 1950 dating, but any year between 1949 and 1953 remains viable as a possibility. For a picture of the disc, consult notes further down below, under the transcription session dated July 29, 1946.


Arrangements

1. Sources
My sources for the arranging credit to Frank DeVol are the booklet of Mosaic set #184 and the Capitol Label Discography by Ruppli et al.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind (acc), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p, cel, org), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Arrangements

1. Source (Heinie Beau)
The source for the arranging credit to Heinie Beau is the Capitol Label Discography by Ruppli et al. No other source at my reach identifies the arranger. Notice that Ruppli's text is giving a collective credit; it is assumed that all the arrangements should be credited to Beau, but there is no explicit statement about it. See also related comment about head arrangements in note above, under session dated May 14, 1946.

2. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
Peggy Lee's sheet music library contains two arrangements of this song. One, known to have been written for a Decca master, is by Neal Hefti and Peggy Lee. The other one is by Billy May, but it is not known on which Peggy Lee performance (if any) it was used. In addition to this transcription version, Lee also recorded the song twice, for commercial release on Capitol singles. One of those versions (January 29, 1947) is credited to Lee and her husband; the other (October 17, 1946) is not credited, but its arrangement is very similar to the later, 1947 one.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind (acc), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p, cel, org), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Arrangements

1. Heinie Beau
For comments about the tentativeness of this page's credits to Beau, see note above, under session dated May 14, 1946.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Frank DeVol (con), Frank Devol and His Orchestra (acc), Skeets Herfurt aka Arthur Herfurt, Jules Kinsler, Paul McLarand, Joseph Palange (r), Leonard Mach, Uan Rasey (t), Paul Weigand (tb), Richard "Dick" Perissi (frh), Dave Barbour (g), Fred Whiting (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p), June Weiland (hrp), John Cyr (d), Victor Arno, Walter Edelstein, Joseph Livoti, Joseph Quadri, Ted Rosen, Henry Sugar (vn), Paul Lowenkron, Elizabeth Sugar (vl), Julius Tannenbaum (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

Personnel

1. Frank DeVol
This is one of two transcription sessions in which Peggy Lee was accompanied not by combos featuring Dave Barbour, but by Frank DeVol And His Orchestra. (For the other session, see June 10, 1946 date above.) DeVol also joined Lee on the following Capitol studio dates: July 15, 1946, August 14 and October 13, 1947.


Songs And Songwriters

1. "Love Doesn't Grow On Trees"
Various sets of lyrics with the title "Love Doesn't Grow On Trees" exist. No less than three of them date back to the decades of the 1930s and 1940s. One set is credited to ASCAP songwriters Ralph Freed and Burton Lane, the other to BMI songwriters Roy Alfred and Wes Farrell. (The third set is discussed in the next paragraph.) According to Mosaic's box #Md5 184, Lee sings the version by Alfred and Farrell. Since neither ASCAP nor BMI list Peggy Lee's transcription version, the Mosaic set is my only source for the identification of the songwriters.

Further complicating matters is a third pair of songwriters, Dupre and Palmer, who various sources credit with mid-1940s versions of "Love Doesn't Grow On Trees" that were performed by Gene Krupa and by Art Lund. After giving the a listen, it is clear that Krupa's vocalist Irene Day indeed sings lyrics different from those recorded by Lee. The lyrics sung by Art Lund are, on the other hand, the same ones sung by Lee. I am tentatively assuming that a mistake was made in the case of Lund's recording: it was wrongly credited to Dupre and Palmer, rather than to Alfred and Farrell.


Issues

1. Capitol Transcription Disc A-15/A-16
The flip side of transcription disc A-16 features Skitch Henderson And His Orchestra, not Peggy Lee. For more details about discs bearing the A prefix in their catalogue numbers, see Issues notes under session dated June 10, 1946, and also this page's final note.

2. Capitol B-531/B-532 [Transcription Disc]
The above-listed disc Capitol B-532 is essentially a reissue of Capitol A-16, with its tracks reshuffled, and one track skipped. The exact date on which it was prepared and sent out to subscribing radio stations is unknown to me. Based on its catalogue number, I have given it a tentative 1950 dating, but any year between 1949 and 1953 remains viable as a possibility. (The disc actually features Lee on its other side as well, numbered B-531.)


Arrangements

1. Sources
My sources for the arranging credit to Frank DeVol are the booklet of Mosaic set #184 and the Capitol Label Discography by Ruppli et al.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), Buddy Cole's Four Of A Kind (acc), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p, cel, org), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Songs

1. "I Wanna Go Where You Go (Then I'll Be Happy)"
Mosaic set #184 gives the alternative title "Then I'll Be Happy" to this song. I have preferred to use instead the title found at ASCAP, and in sources contemporaneous with the song.


Arrangements

1. Heinie Beau
This page's arranging credits to Beau should be considered tentative. See related comments in note above, under session dated May 14, 1946.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), The Dave Barbour Four (acc), Dave Barbour, George Van Eps (g), Phil Stephens (b), Hal Schaefer (p, cel), Nick Fatool (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Arrangements (And Rehearsals)

1. Peggy Lee and Hal Schaefer
In his essay for the booklet of Mosaic set #184, annotator Will Friedwald shares various comments from an interview with pianist Hal Schaefer. Schaefer told Friedwald that "much of the repertoire in the two 1949 transcriptions are songs that Lee did in person with the quartet." The arrangements, however, were less rigorous than on the road, where "sometimes we'd play more and longer solos."

Schaefer further told Friedwald that "Peggy used to call me to go up to her house to rehearse her and go over things and give her some of my ideas. Dave Barbour did not do that - I did it. He thought it would be like trying to teach your wife to drive a car, you know. There are some things you don't do. After she got a tune and liked it, we found what keys and tempo she'd like to do it in, and worked out a rough arrangement, then David would come in and make his contribution." Schaefer, who worked with Lee from late 1947 to 1949, participated only in the last two sessions found in this page, both dated 1949.

Peggy Lee (ldr), John Palladino (eng), The Dave Barbour Four (acc), Dave Barbour, George Van Eps (g), Phil Stephens (b), Hal Schaefer (p, cel), Nick Fatool (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Masters

1. " 'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So"
This version of the Willard Robison composition " 'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So" was not included in any of Capitol's transcription discs. As a result, it did not see the light of day until Mosaic Records mastered and issued it, in 1998.