[Dixielandjazz] A "young lad's" recollection of Peggy Lee

[Don Ingle]

I use the term "young lad" with an understanding that at this writer's 
age, it is ancient history in play.
Yet for a budding wannabe cornet picker learning the tunes and what 
valve to push, listening to the jazz and big band pioneers was a pro 
forma part of our education.
So it was that when I heard Goodman's recording of Peggy Lee 
singing..."Why don't you do right...", the hormones kicked in big time. 
She was a sexy singer then and sexy in her vocals to the  time she 
passed. Even a by now "Old lad" could still get a tad horny at the silky 
implied come on in her voice. (in my mind,anyway.)
Her voice singing "I  can Sing a Rainbow"\ in Pete Kelly's Blues was a 
hint at what she would do later with"Is that all there is! If that 
didn't make you cry in your beer,it made you want to run out to buy some 
so you could.
She was among the early stable of artists that helped the fledgling 
Capitol Records get going. It was started by Johnny Mercer, Buddy 
DeSilva, and Glenn Wallach. Johnny and DeSilva as place to spend some of 
their royalities, and Wallich to help add new sounds and platters to his 
large record store near Sunset and Vine in Hollywood.
Peggy Lee joined the cast, as did Margaret Whiting, Nat Cole Trio, and 
of course in '46 by mon pere.
They also had a purple label, and a red label for black artists and 
country artists. Eventually they melded all into the familiar black 
lable. There were some fine blues artists, like the great Kansas /singer 
Julia Lee. And they even put out some trad sides,with Wingy Manone, Pee 
Wee Hunt, and a few sides by Eddie Miller (already establsihed with Paul 
Weston on his cut of "Dream." Uncle Eddie at his mello cello-sound best."
In time the Capitol catalog would be represented well in this fellow's 
stacks. There were, in fact, more jazz/swing goodies pressed by Capitol 
in their early years than most of the old established labels put out. 
(Mercer singing "Ugly Chile" a special gem, and Kay Star - just off of 
the Barnett band - doing a great Willard Robson tune, Share Croppers 
Blues with lines that knocked me out."My son's in Jeff City doing 10 to 
15, the old lady left me wen the pickin's got lean. My neighbors can't 
stand me, they call me bad news, I got the Share Cropper's Blues."
Of course they added big bands that featured a new crop of players like 
Stan Kenton, and vocalists like June Christie to keep us wannabes laying 
out the 75 cents to one buck for the stuff that was still turning us on.
But In time Capitol "popped up" and we began to the get the same 
run-of-the mill Prom Night catalog, and we learned to hunt for small 
shops where you could find a Blue Note, Jump, Verve, or other new labels 
that still served our niche of collectors.

But for a time, and Peggy Lee was a big part of that time, Capitol was 
the label to look to for some music for ears that understood the jazz 
artists' talents. Thank you, Peggy Lee, a "young lad" remembers it well.
Don Ingle