Whispering

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whispering is the title of a song by Tin Pan Alley authors Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose and Malvin Schonberger (text) and John Schonberger (composition). Its interpretation by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra , published in September 1920, was the world's first million seller in the pop music industry.

History of origin

The song, which is written in the AB song form , is performed at a moderate pace. The composition consists of 32 bars.

Audio file / audio sample The opening bars of whispering ? / i

Paul Whiteman's orchestra became the house band of the famous Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco on December 18, 1918 , where he presented his big band sound for the first time during his two-year contract in the city. Between June 28 and July 2, 1920, he performed with his orchestra at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City, where he was discovered by Calvin Child, an employee of the Victor Talking Machine Company , and signed a recording contract. The first recording session in Camden / New Jersey was scheduled for August 23, 1920. The first three recordings also included Whispering , selected as the A-side of the orchestra's first single, and the B-side The Japanese Sandman . This was an acoustic recording; an "orthophonic" (electrical) version was created on February 15, 1928.

First million seller of pop music

Paul Whiteman & His Ambassador Orchestra - Whispering

Released in September 1920, the record was sold almost 2 million times within a year, still dubbed Paul Whiteman & The Ambassador Orchestra (Victor # 18690). It was in first place on the hit parade from October 30 to December 4, 1920; even the B-side of the record hit number one on the charts for two weeks on December 11th, directly after the A-side. The record made Whiteman famous overnight and established his orchestra as the most important dance band of the time; his style of music is often classified as "symphonic jazz". Whispering's nearly 2 million records were roughly equivalent to the number of record players in the United States at the time. From September 1920 Whitemans Orchestra played for four years in New York's Palais Royal, the largest café in the city.

Cover versions

Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose and John & Malvin Schonberger are the composers of the song, which , according to ASCAP , will later be covered 65 times.

In Germany, the orchestras of Dajos Béla (as "Kapelle Sándor Józsi") with Odeon , Marek Weber with Parlophone and the Bohème orchestra with Beka recorded the title instrumentally. A contemporary German sung version entitled Tell me what dear, sweet little one was from Will Steinberg texted (1892-1934). The Comedian Harmonists recorded the English version of Whispering on December 17, 1934 in Berlin (HMV B.8274).

In jazz the title u. a interpreted by Louis Armstrong , Tommy Dorsey , Benny Goodman , Teddy Wilson , Red Nichols , Lennie Tristano , Chet Atkins , Arnett Cobb , Oscar Peterson / Benny Carter , Schnuckenack Reinhardt , Häns'che Weiss and the Frankfurt Swing All-Stars ; Miles Davis played "Whispering" on January 17, 1951 in his first session for Prestige with Sonny Rollins . Dizzy Gillespie used the composition as the bebop head for his popular Groovin 'High theme .

The most successful cover, however, comes from the siblings Nino Tempo & April Stevens , who recorded the song as a pop duet on October 21, 1963 and thus made it to number eleven in the charts.

The Viel Harmoniker published a recording with a German text between satire and frivolity under the title Let me sip your bath water in 1979.

Another million seller

Whiteman developed into one of the most successful interpreters of the Victor catalog, as the Three O'Clock In The Morning , recorded on August 22, 1922, sold 3.4 million copies after its publication in September 1922.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Carlo Bohländer: Reclam's Jazz Guide . Reclam, Stuttgart 1970.
  2. ↑ Richard Grudence, Kathryn Crosby: Bing Crosby . 2003, p. 123.
  3. ↑ Jean Pierre Lion: Bix: the definitive biography of a jazz legend . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, ISBN 0826416993 , p. 66 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
  4. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records . 1985, p. 17.
  5. ^ Arnold Shaw: The Jazz Age . Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 42
  6. ↑ Allan Vanneman: Forgotten And Fantastic - The King Of Jazz. In: Bright Lights Film , issue 26, November 1999
  7. ↑ ASCAP entry for whispering
  8. ↑ Odeon A 41 510 (mx. XBe 2453): “Chapel Sándor Józsi” [d. i. Dajos Béla], pick up. Berlin, December 1920.
  9. ↑ Parlophon P.1179-I (mx 2-2810.): Orchestra Marek Weber, consumpt. Berlin, February 19, 1921.
  10. ↑ published on Favorite F-313-I (mx. F-0179 from Beka-Matr. 30921): Bohème-Orchester, aufgen. Berlin, April 1, 1921.
  11. ↑ https://online.gema.de/werke/search.faces accessed on January 31, 2016
  12. ↑ Eberhard Fechner: The Comedian Harmonists. Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-13899-6 , p. 400
  13. ↑ Andreas Schmauder: Somewhere in the world. The records of the Comedian Harmonists and their successor groups. Self-published, Freiburg 1999, DNB 964170396 , p. 61
  14. ↑ Published as Miles Davis and Horns
  15. ↑ The Many Harmonists: The fourth ace. Ariola, Munich 1979 DNB 353588636
  16. ↑ Jean Pierre Lion: Bix: the definitive biography of a jazz legend . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, ISBN 0826416993 , p. 67 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).