The Capitol Years, Part 6
The Peggy Lee Discography and Videography

Return to Table of Contents

Note

This page is currently being updated. The finished version will contain additional issues, personnel, and other details. The prospective date for the online debut of the updated page is May, 2008.

Meanwhile, I have made a few basic additions for the benefit of readers in search of recommended CD's. Such recommended items are now easy to locate in the page, because their titles are in capitals and bold lettering. For instance, the following CD set is a highly recommended anthology of Peggy Lee's Capitol recordings: THE SINGLES COLLECTION. Recommendations are based primarily on above-average sound quality and overall production (design, liner notes, track information).

Peggy Lee (ldr), Shorty Rogers (con, a), Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin (pdr), William H. "Bill" Hood (bar), Jack Sheldon, Stuart "Stu" Williamson (t), Dick Hyde, Richard Leith (tb), unknown (bfb), Don Randi (key), Arnold Belnick, Emil F. Briano, William "Bill" Kurasch, Ralph Schaeffer, Daryl Terwilliger, Tibor Zelig (vn), Joseph Di Tullio, Nathan "Nate" Gershman, Raymond J. Kelley, Jerome A. Kessler (vc), Peggy Lee (v)

Lee's vocals overdubbed on previously recorded orchestral tracks. On a July 1, 1968 Melody Maker article, Lee talks about this alteration of her recording routine, brought about by Capitol's delegation of her records to the young producing team of Charles Koopelman and Don Rubin: "I was used to hearing demonstration records, talking over material, rehearsing the rhythm section, selecting my arranger, deciding on a style of interpretation. Under the new system, they just sent me lead sheets and I waited for them to call me up. I had nothing to do with the instrumental aspects of the records. When I found out Shorty Rogers was going to arrange and conduct the first session, I felt a lot more secure ... It wasn't a mechanical process at all. They'd put a lot of creative effort into it, preparing backgrounds so that I could just step in and bring my own interpretation of the lyric to whatever they had set up for me." Despite Lee's stated approval, her association with this producing team lasted only a few months, and years later she would express disapproval of recording sessions in which either the vocalist or the orchestra are absent.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin (pdr), Michael Deasy (g), Max Bennett (b), Lou Levy (p), Hal Blaine, Norman Jeffries (d), David Cohen (per), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Shorty Rogers (con), Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin (pdr), Jim Horn, John "Plas" Johnson (sax), Stan Fishelson, Jack Sheldon, Stuart "Stu" Williamson (t), Richard Leith, Lew McCreary (tb), Lou Levy (p), Michael Lang (key), George Poole, Daryl Terwilliger (vn), Norman Botnick (vl), Jesse Ehrlich (vc), John E. Lowe (wds), Peggy Lee (v)

Masters

1. "Daydream"
At present time, (April, 2008), "Daydream" is deemed irretrievably lost. A search in Capitol's vaults resulted in no success. Because this track was independently produced (and because it was originally left unissued), the original tape which contained the track might have not been sent to Capitol. The tape might have been lost or discarded by the parties who originally kept it. (This is not the only unissued track that seems lost for the same reasons. Fortunately, in the case of another track, other parties involved in the recording process kept safety copies, thereby making possible the eventual release of the performance.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Lou Levy (con), Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin (pdr), Lou Levy and His Orchestra (acc), Hubert Laws (sax, f), Al Derisi, Victor Paz, Tony Robilotte, Lew Soloff (t, fh), Ray De Sio, Mort Trautman, Bill Watrous (tb), Alan Robinson (frh), Mundell Lowe (g), Ben Tucker (b), Toots Thielemans (h), Grady Tate (d), Francisco Aguabella (per), Peggy Lee (v)

Though listed in Capitol's session reports, these live performances of "Don't Speak" and "Paradise" were not assigned a matrix number, and so far they have not been located in the vaults.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Lou Levy (con), Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin (pdr), Lou Levy and His Orchestra (acc), Hubert Laws (sax, f), Al Derisi, Victor Paz, Tony Robilotte, Lew Soloff (t, fh), Ray De Sio, Mort Trautman, Bill Watrous (tb), Alan Robinson (frh), Mundell Lowe (g), Ben Tucker (b), Toots Thielemans (h), Grady Tate (d), Francisco Aguabella (per), Peggy Lee (v)

Though listed on the sheets, the songs Big Spender was not assigned a matrix number, and so far no recordings of them have not been located in the Capitol vaults.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Lou Levy (con), Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin (pdr), Lou Levy and His Orchestra (acc), Hubert Laws (sax, f), Al Derisi, Victor Paz, Tony Robilotte, Lew Soloff (t, fh), Ray De Sio, Mort Trautman, Bill Watrous (tb), Alan Robinson (frh), Mundell Lowe (g), Ben Tucker (b), Toots Thielemans (h), Grady Tate (d), Francisco Aguabella (per), Peggy Lee (v)

Though listed in Capitol's session reports, these live performances of "Fever," "Why Don't You Do Right," and "Traveling Light" were not assigned matrix numbers, and so far no recordings of them have been located in the vaults.

After the above-listed April Copacabana concert taping and March studio sessions, Capitol's Lee session report shows no evidence of recording activity for the remainder of 1968. This is a very large and unusual gap in Lee's Capitol recording activity, paralleled only by the absence of sessions for most of 1948. In 1948, a musicians' ban had caused Lee's abstention from going into the studio. In 1968, no reason is apparent. Clearly, Lee was not taking a vacation from the music business: she is known to have played in Las Vegas during both May and December, and again at the Copacabana in September.

The possibility exists that Lee did record during this period, and that the resulting performances, currently unissued, were not listed in her session file. (The discographers have learned about a hitherto unknown Capitol performance by Lee. Titled "Please, Don't Go," it seems to have been recorded circa 1970, but could conceivably date from as early as 1968.) Among the numbers that Lee would perform in concert this year were "Yesterday I Heard The Rain," "Everybody's Gone to The Moon," "I've Gotta Be Me," and "This Girl's In Love With You."

Peggy Lee (ldr), Randy Newman (con, a), Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller (pdr), Sandy Lehmann-Haupt (eng), Peggy Lee (v)

DATING

Date (based on recollections in print, by producer Jerry Leiber) should be deemed tentative. Capitol's files give a different date, January 29, 1969. However, the 29th seems to have been the date on which mastering and additional recording work was done by Lee and the producers (see below).

MASTERS

"Is That All There Is" was recorded by engineer Sandy Lehman-Haupt at United Recording, then edited on subsequent dates by engineer Bill Halverson, with Leiber & Stoller, at Wally Heider. See also January 29, 1969.

For an edit, or later version, of "Is That All There Is," see also session dated October 15, 1969.

Also attempted during this session, and apparently scrapped: an orchestral version of "Me And My Shadow." For the combo-backed, released version of "Me And My Shadow," see session dated January 29, 1969.


AT THE RECORDING SESSION

Lee, Leiber & Stoller have all talked extensively about the making of this number, which became a substantial success for all three artists. Leiber has shared that Lee came into United Recording studio with the objective to do about three takes, but he and Stoller pushed for far more, in search for a take that they could deem perfect. Number 36 was such a take. (Leiber remembers it as one of the two greatest takes that he has produced in his career, the one coming from his work with Big Mama Thornton on "Hound Dog.") Unfortunately, human error prevented the preservation and release of this take: engineer Sandy Lehman-Haupt had somehow neglected to push the recording button for this particular take. One final, 37th take was made (deemed as very good by Leiber, but not as good as the 36th).

The 37th take was used as the master, with numerous splices (of the spoken parts, in particular) taken from some of the earlier takes. The producers performed this mixing process over subsequent dates, at a different studio (Wally Heider) and with another engineer (Bill Halverson). See January 29, 1969.

CROSSREFERENCES

Literary works were the source of inspiration for some of the Leiber & Stoller songs that Lee recorded. Thomas Mann's novella "Disllusionment" directly inspired the lyrics of "Is That All There Is." See also Crossreferences under sessions dated June 13 and ca. August 4, 1975.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mundell Lowe (con, a), Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller (pdr), Bill Halverson (eng), Peggy Lee (v)

During this session, "Is That All There Is" was also edited by engineer Bill Halverson, with Leiber & Stoller. "Me And My Shadow" had been previously attempted. See January 24, 1969.

Mundell Lowe's involvement as both arranger and conductor of this session is given on the back cover of Capitol LP . One of the session's participants have no recollection of Lowe's presence in the session. It is therefore possible that Capitol gave the conductor credit to Lowe as a matter of course, because he had done the arrangement for "Me And My Shadow."

Peggy Lee (ldr), Bobby Bryant (con, a), Mike Melvoin (con, org), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

"Please Send Me Someone To Love" arranged and conducted by Bobby Bryant, according to Capitol CD 72438212042.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Phil Wright (pdr), Bobby Bryant (a, t), Peggy Lee (v), unknown (bkv)

The identification of Bobby Bryant on trumpet is tentative.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mike Melvoin (con, a, org), Phil Wright (pdr), John "Plas" Johnson (ts), Grady Tate (d), Peggy Lee (v)

The identification of Mike Melvoin on organ is tentative. So is the identification of Plas Johnson on tenor sax.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Bobby Bryant (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

"My Old Flame" arranged by Bobby Bryant. Arranger(s) of the other performances unknown.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mundell Lowe, Mike Melvoin (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

"Love Story" and "Johnny (Linda)" arranged and conducted by Mundell Lowe. "Something" arranged and conducted by Mike Melvoin. Arranger and conductor of "Didn't We" unknown.

The track listing of Disky HR883492 wrongly claims that the disc includes a performance of "Something." Instead, the disc contains "Something Stupid" (recorded June 9, 1967).

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mike Melvoin, George Tipton (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

"Whistle For Happiness" arranged and conducted by George Tipton. "Don't Smoke In Bed" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" arranged and conducted by Mike Melvoin.


The qualifying parenthesis "short version" suggests that this master of "Is That All There Is" may have been an edit of the master recorded earlier, on January 29, 1969. While getting ready to record (and, eventually, release on single) "Is That All There Is," Peggy Lee found resistance from Capitol's A&R personnel, who deemed the song not only "too weird" and unmarketable, but also too long. Such corporate objections could have elicited the editing of the original master into a shortened version. (Notice also the mysteriously out-of-sequence master number.) In her autobiography, Lee also mentions taking a demo record of the song to the offices of Glenn Wallichs (one of the three founders of Capitol Records, and the company's president, although by 1969 his presidency of the EMI-ruled Capitol might have been chiefly nominal). Her autobiography's order of events suggests that this demo record was made before the 1/24/1969 date, however.

Since this master remains unreleased and there is no further information about it, the possibility remains that this is a newly recorded version. However, such a possibility seems unlikely. Among other reasons, the personnel does not include the original producers of the song, with whom any new version would have been made.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mike Melvoin (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

According to the liner note writer of Capitol CD 724382120421, an overdub of "The Thrill Is Gone" took place on February 27, 1970.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mike Melvoin (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Mike Melvoin (con, a), Peggy Lee (v)

This Oscar-nominated song was written for the 1970 movie of the same title. See also page for Movie Soundtracks, once it opens for viewing.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Benny Golson (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Benny Golson (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Benny Golson (con, a), Phil Wright (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Don Sebesky (con, a), Snuff Garrett (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Don Sebesky (con, a), Snuff Garrett (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Don Sebesky (con, a), Snuff Garrett (pdr), Al Capps (a), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Artie Butler (con, a, p), Tom Catalano (pdr), Larry Carlton, Louie Shelton (g), Reinhold Press (b), unknown (str), Michael Omartian (p), Earl Palmer (d), Garry Coleman, Victor Feldman (per), Peggy Lee (v)

According to Capitol CD 7243-8-21204-2-1, the songs on this and subsequent 1972 sessions are not listed in Capitol's Peggy Lee session file. The liner note writer raises the possibility that these sessions could have been produced independently, and later sold to the label. Indeed, Tom Catalano was an independent producer who at the time had produced various gold adult contemporary albums, including those of Helen Reddy on Capitol.

Over 35 musicians are reported to have played in this and subsequent dates.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Artie Butler (con, a, p), Tom Catalano (pdr), Larry Carlton, Louie Shelton (g), Reinhold Press (b), unknown (str), Michael Omartian (p), Earl Palmer (d), Garry Coleman, Victor Feldman (per), Peggy Lee (v)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Artie Butler (con, a), Tom Catalano (pdr), Peggy Lee (v)

Lee has complained that the album which resulted from these sessions (Capitol LP ST-11077, much-admired by knowing fans, but otherwise not well-known) did not get proper promotion and distribution in the United States - a consequence, she asserts, of a new management shuffle at Capitol.

The reasons why Peggy Lee and the label parted company after this album are unknown. It is very possible that Capitol's new management decided not to renew her contract. According to Will Friedwald in his essay for Capitol/EMI CD 724353975623 (Peggy Lee: The Singles Collection), "[b]y then Lee was practically the only non-rock act on the label [n.b. : Nancy Wilson would remain on the label for the entire decade, but this erstwhile singer of jazz and standards had moved on to other music genres. During the 1970s, Wilson recorded chiefly rhythm & blues tunes, along with relatively obscure, lesser pop material. Later into the decade, Wilson would also make dance albums.] and the famous Capitol studios sometimes looked like an all-night commune. The label was also having serious financial problems such that it tried to get out of its contract to do the original Broadway cast album of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, and when it couldn't, exercised its right to release an incomplete version."

Return to Table of Contents