The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

marcapra wrote:I remember the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 was very well done. Don't know who performed it. When I bought my first Victrola Orthophonic years ago, Uncle Vanya told me that these Philharmonic Transcription records were cheap or free and sounded good on an Orthophonic.

That one was by Artur Rodzinski leading the NBC SO--actually something of some historic significance, I suppose, given that he drew the task of assembling and "training" that celebrated ensemble in preparation for Toscanini. I'm not aware of any "mainstream" recordings in which he led it.

Yes, that became Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra into the 50s. Before that, Toscanini conducted the New York Philharmonic and guest conducted the BBC Symphony in England. When Toscanini walked out on NBC in 1942, he went to Philadelphia and guest conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra with Ormandy's permission. That's why there are some Stokowski NBC Symphony recordings from the early 40's.

gramophone-georg wrote: Harry James
All Or Nothing At All (1950s reissue- good luck finding an original 1939 "Jazz Masterworks pressing!)

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere here, but since I have 6 copies of this one, the other side "Flash" being a Jazz Masterwork doesn't do any good?

bfinan11 wrote:

gramophone-georg wrote: Harry James
All Or Nothing At All (1950s reissue- good luck finding an original 1939 "Jazz Masterworks pressing!)

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere here, but since I have 6 copies of this one, the other side "Flash" being a Jazz Masterwork doesn't do any good?

It's still the same recording, it's just that if it says "Featuring Frank Sinatra" as first billing in large letters above the Harry James orchestra on the "All Or Nothing At All" side, it's a reissue.

Originals of "All Or Nothing At All" are, in my experience, even tougher to turn up than "From The Bottom Of My Heart" by James + Sinatra on Brunswick that commands usually around $1000 plus. I think I've seen more than once that it sold maybe around 4000 copies, all on the East Coast.

Another real needle in a Sinatra haystack is Victor 26500, Sinatra's record debut with Tommy Dorsey, "Too Romantic". It's SO rare that RCA Victor couldn't find a master or a copy for their 40th anniversary "Dorsey Sinatra Sessions" reissue set, so they just left it out and start with "The Sky Fell Down" from the same session. "Too Romantic" never made it to the CD set of the same, either.

In Will Freidwald's excellent The Song Is You, he claims that the original release of All Or Nothing At All sold 8,000.

The record wasn't even first released until 1940, after Sinatra was already off the James band. His time there was just 6 months, in 1939.

Wolfe wrote:In Will Freidwald's excellent The Song Is You, he claims that the original release of All Or Nothing At All sold 8,000.

The record wasn't even first released until 1940, after Sinatra was already off the James band. His time there was just 6 months, in 1939.

That release date is possible- although "All Or Nothing" was recorded August 31, 1939, "Flash", the flip side, wasn't recorded till November, in LA, so it could have indeed been delayed till early 1940. Frank's first session with Dorsey was Feb. 1940.

All of Frank's records with Harry James are worth owning, whether reissue or original, in my opinion.

Here's the list:

From The Bottom Of My Heart/ Melancholy Mood, Brunswick 8443
My Buddy, Col. 35242
It's Funny To Everyone But Me, Col. 35209
Here Comes The Night, Col 35227
On A Little Street In Singapore/ Who Told You I Cared? Col. 35261
Ciribiribin, Columbia 35316
Every Day Of My Life Co 35531

Incidentally, for those interested, Connie Haines also got her start with Harry James, recording "Comes Love" and "I Can't Afford To Dream" with James on Brunswick 8395 on May 24, 1939. Interesting that they both wound up with Dorsey in early 1940. Supposedly Connie drove Frank crazy (not in a good way) but they made some good records together with TD. Interesting that they both started out with Harry James at the same time then moved to Dorsey at the same time or damn close.

The CD below rounds up the Sinatra / James sides handily, and in decent sound. Unless I hit on a lucky find 'in the wild' that's the only way I'm ever going to own them. Aside from the Columbia re-release of AONAA which I've run into lots of times and own one or two copies of.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Recordi ... B000002ARA

Wolfe wrote:The CD below rounds up the Sinatra / James sides handily, and in decent sound. Unless I hit on a lucky find 'in the wild' that's the only way I'm ever going to own them. Aside from the Columbia re-release of AONAA which I've run into lots of times and own one or two copies of.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Recordi ... B000002ARA

Somehow I forgot about "Every Day Of My Life". I edited my post to include it.

I've seen that CD. I've always been confused about what they meant by "album version", unless these were acetates from broadcasts or 16" transcriptions. Also, a lot of those titles were never issued on 78.

Suppose I should get a copy someday.

The 'album version' AONAA is a 1939 broadcast. There's a few from Sinatra's stint that have survived : https://youtu.be/a9aYNv3nU5s

And now, for fun, here's the DISCO version that Sinatra did in the 70's. A seldom encountered record. Though contrary to his normal practice, I believe Sinatra overdubbed his vocal on top of a track already prepared for him, rather than recording live with the band. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9_CJv3ACLg

gramophone-georg wrote: Harry James
All Or Nothing At All (1950s reissue- good luck finding an original 1939 "Jazz Masterworks pressing!)

The liner notes to the A Voice In Time CD box set also back up the 1940 release claim for # 35587. Says recorded 8/31/39, released 8/2/40. The box set was produced by Chuck Granata, so I'd take that info as pretty definitive.

Wolfe wrote:The 'album version' AONAA is a 1939 broadcast. There's a few from Sinatra's stint that have survived : https://youtu.be/a9aYNv3nU5s

And now, for fun, here's the DISCO version that Sinatra did in the 70's. A seldom encountered record. Though contrary to his normal practice, I believe Sinatra overdubbed his vocal on top of a track already prepared for him, rather than recording live with the band. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9_CJv3ACLg

gramophone-georg wrote: Harry James
All Or Nothing At All (1950s reissue- good luck finding an original 1939 "Jazz Masterworks pressing!)

The liner notes to the A Voice In Time CD box set also back up the 1940 release claim for # 35587. Says recorded 8/31/39, released 8/2/40. The box set was produced by Chuck Granata, so I'd take that info as pretty definitive.

Interesting that they kept it in a vault for almost a year. It's a great record!

I'm not entirely sure exactly WHAT I think of that disco version... I need to reflect on this.