Can be a single track, a 78 with multiple tracks, early albums (as in literal albums of 78s bound together), a classical piece, a later compilation focusing on the year . . . whatever. Doesn't have to be a list, though of course you can post a list if you want. You can also just post one title at a time as you think of it/run across it (which is what I do in these threads).
Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five - "Five Guys Named Moe" The date on the Decca issue above might be 1943, but it was initially issued in 1942.
Cow Cow Boogie (song) - Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack Deep In The Heart Of Texas (song) - Alvino Ray Jingle, Jangle, Jingle (song) - Kay Kyser Night and Day (song) - Frank Sinatra Rodeo (ballet) - Aaron Copland Trav'lin' Light (song) - Billie Holiday with Paul Whiteman White Christmas (song) - Bing Crosby
Sonny Boy Williamson John Lee Williamson 78 Record: Sonny Boy Williamson [I] - She Don't Love Me That Way (1942) Illustrated John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson discography
One of the more interesting years in the history of recorded music, 1942 essentially ended early, as virtually nothing was recorded after July 31. On August 1, the American Federation of Musicians went on strike against American record labels. Most of the general public thought the strike would never happen, but record companies knew better. The labels thought they could wait out the union by, first, having most of their popular musicians in marathon sessions during the last few days of July 1942 and second, releasing these new recordings sporadically over a period of months if necessary. (Albums in those days were books of 78s, and consisted almost always of previously released singles. Those of new material revolved around a theme, for example Christmas.) Management wasn't prepared for a strike that lasted as long as it did. The recording ban didn't affect live performances, so musicians could continue to work on live radio and in person -- assuming, of course, that the then mostly male union members didn't volunteer or get drafted, as World War II was raging. As for the record labels, they started to run out of new material by Christmas of 1942, thus they re-released archival recordings and hoped for the best. Also, because singers were not considered "musicians" and therefore were not in the union, labels began replacing orchestras and bands with backing singers. Several a cappella recordings hit #1 on the best-seller chart in 1943, a feat that would not be repeated until 1988. One of the last big hits from the rush of recording in the middle of 1942 was "Pistol Packin' Mama" by Al Dexter and His Troopers. It was released in the spring of 1943 with relatively little notice outside of "hillbilly music" circles, but jukebox operators and disc jockeys in the cities, increasingly desperate for new material, started looking to this niche to fill the void. Eventually, "Pistol Packin' Mama" became a surprise #1 hit near the end of 1943; its success led directly to the creation of what eventually became the Billboard country charts. Even better for OKeh, the subsidiary of Columbia on which the Dexter 78 appeared, it had no competition from covers. As it was a Dexter original, he had first rights to record it, and literally no one else could record a competing cover because of the strike! By this point in '43, Decca and Capitol were struggling, and in October of 1943, both labels settled with the AFM, largely on terms favorable to the union. One of the first new recordings Decca made after the settlement was a cover of "Pistol Packin' Mama" by two of its most popular artists, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. The two biggest labels, Columbia and (RCA) Victor, which had large stockpiles of archives, refused to capitulate. But in 1944, Decca, which could make new records, dominated the best-seller chart in a way no label would ever do again, not even RSO in 1978. Finally, Victor and Columbia had no choice but to end their holdout. On November 11, 1944, the strike finally ended. Finally, I'm going to post a recording made in the rush of activity before the recording ban. I'm not 100 percent sure of this, but I think the 1942 album 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians was the first pop Christmas album consisting entirely of newly recorded material. The highlight was the title song, which was so long that it had to be issued on two sides rather than one. (It wouldn't appear on record with both sides together until 1949.) It became the Waring organization's signature song; they recorded it at least two more times over the years. But this is the 1942 original of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas":
Duke Ellington - C Jam Blues Dizzy Gillespie - A Night in Tunisia Thelonious Monk - Epistrophy Bohuslav Martinu - Piano Quartet 1 Aaron Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man Roy Harris - Symphony 5
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, nicknamed the Leningrad, was begun in Leningrad, completed in the city of Samara (then known as Kuybyshev) in December 1941, and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942. At first dedicated to Lenin, it was eventually submitted in honor of the besieged city of Leningrad, where it was first played under dire circumstances on August 9, 1942, during the siege by Axis and Finnish forces. The Leningrad soon became popular in both the Soviet Union and the West as a symbol of resistance to fascism and totalitarianism, thanks in part to the composer's microfilming of the score in Samara and its clandestine delivery, via Tehran and Cairo, to New York, where Arturo Toscanini led a broadcast performance (July 19, 1942) and Time magazine placed Shostakovich on its cover. That popularity faded somewhat after 1945, but the work is still regarded as a major musical testament to the 27 million Soviet people who lost their lives in World War II, and it is often played at Leningrad Cemetery, where half a million victims of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad are buried. [source: Wikipedia]
especially all the Big Band harmony groups! Glenn Miller and the rest of the Big Bands...it was amazing! I wish I could have heard them live... must have been spectacular...My Mom did...
Pretty good year for my tastes. Second essay for orchestra -Samuel Barber I wonder as I wander - Ernst Krenek Piano concerto - Bruno Maderna Fanfare for the common man - Copeland Piano concerto - Arnold Schoenberg String quartet No. 2 - Sergey Prokofiev Symphony Bo. 1 - Martinu
Tommy McClennan 78 Record: Tommy McClennan - Mozelle Blues (1942) Illustrated Tommy McClennan discography
Lonnie Johnson 78 Record: Lonnie Johnson - He’s A Jelly-Roll Baker (1942) Cover versions of He's a Jelly-Roll Baker by Lonnie Johnson | SecondHandSongs
Connee Boswell 78 Record: Connee Boswell - (As Long As You're Not In Love With Anyone Else) Why Don't You Fall In Love With Me? (1942)
'Fire Ball Mail' - Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys 78 Record: Roy Acuff And His Smoky Mountain Boys - Wreck On The Highway (1942) Cover versions of Fire Ball Mail written by Fred Rose | SecondHandSongs
Wade Mainer and Sons of the Mountaineers 78 Record: Wade Mainer And Sons Of The Mountaineers - Old Ruben (1942) Cover versions of Ramblin' Boy by Wade Mainer and Sons of the Mountaineers | SecondHandSongs
