The MacGregor Transcriptions
The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography And Videography

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Peggy Lee recorded a total of 17 numbers for MacGregor, a company that specialized in making recordings for radio airplay only. The 17 numbers were performed over four sessions, and originally sent to radio stations in three transcription discs. Copies of those MacGregor discs are extant at the Library of Congress.


Capitol Records And MacGregor Services

For commentary about MacGregor's ties to Capitol Records -- the retail record label to which Peggy Lee was officially contracted by this time -- see this page's final note.


Commercial Issues Of The MacGregor Transcriptions

Transcription discs were originally made for syndicated radio broadcast, not for retail. They were virtually unavailable to the general public, which needed special equipment to play them. Nevertheless, soon enough (as early as in the late 1940's) some MacGregor transcriptions began to be transferred to EP, for commercial issue.

Peggy Lee's MacGregor material did not make its commercial debut until the 1980's, through two mail order labels. Both labels had p.o. box addresses in Glendale, California. One of them, called Glendale Records, released the LP You Can Depend On Me in 1981. The other company, Starline Records, released the cassette I've Had My Moments in 1987. Glendale's 1981 LP includes the following statement in its record sleeve: "All selections released for the first time / Material licensed from the archives of C. P. MacGregor Library / Photos from the collection of Ron Towe." (Towe was the author of an unpublished bio-discography of Peggy Lee, and is said to have owned an extensive collection of Lee memorabilia.)

In 1991, the Laserlight label made Lee's MacGregor songs part of the compact disc era. Titled Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band, Laserlight's CD is actually a reissue of the aforementioned Glendale LP, with the same tracks but different title, artwork, and notes.

In the years that followed the Laserlight release, an ever-growing number of public domain labels appropriated and re-released the MacGregor material. Their CDs often mix the transcriptions with Peggy Lee's studio recordings, and with performances taken from various radio sources.

At present time, during the first decade of the twenty-first century, Peggy Lee With The Dave Barbour Band still remains the most adequate pick for fans who want to own the bulk of Lee's MacGregor output. The CD contains fourteen of her seventeen MacGregor songs, in unobjectionable sound quality. It is, nevertheless, an unattractive budget issue. Let's hope for a future release of all 17 MacGregor songs in a CD with informative liner notes and appealing artwork.

The three songs absent from the Laserlight CD and the Glendale LP can be found piecemeal only. To wit:

1. "You Turned The Tables On Me" is available in a CD issued by an online mail order company, as shown below.

2. "I Get The Blues (When It Rains)" was issued in the cassette I've Had My Moments, which is no longer in print. (A different, second Peggy Lee version of "I Get The Blues" is also commercially available. See page for War & Government Transcriptions, once it opens for viewing.)

3. "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" is actually commercially unavailable, and can thus be heard only on the original 16" transcription disc. (Another Peggy Lee version of "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" can be found in numerous CDs. It was recorded not for MacGregor, but for World Records.)


Personnel

The personnel of Peggy Lee's MacGregor transcriptions is identified in only one of the sources consulted: the Starline cassette I've Had My Moments, whose tracks stem from all four MacGregor sessions. The cassette gives a collective (as opposed to a session-by-session) personnel.


Dating

I have consulted two texts that supply recording dates for some transcriptions: Charles Garrod's MacGregor Radio Transcriptions and Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions, by Michael Sparke and Peter Venudor. Unfortunately, Peggy Lee's sessions are not among those for which Garrod, Sparke and Venudor provide dating. Nor is there any other source in which I have been able to find this information. But a look at the dating of other acts' MacGregor sessions (as given in the above-mentioned texts) suggests that Peggy Lee's sessions date from January, 1945. The year 1945 (though not the month) is further corroborated by the files of the Library of Congress, which owns MacGregor's master-books. The month should thus be deemed hypothetical, albeit strongly suggested by examination and comparison with the aforementioned MacGregor recordings from other artists.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (acc), Heinie Beau (cl), Herbert Haymer (ts), Billy May (t), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Buddy Cole (p), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Issues

1. MacGregor ET 130-131

MacGregor discs bear two numbers, one per side. Listed herein is number 130, the side that contains all five performances from this session. (As for side number 131, it contains performances from Peggy Lee's second MacGregor session.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (acc), Heinie Beau (cl), Herbert Haymer (ts), Billy May (t), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Buddy Cole (p), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Issues And Sources

1. MacGregor ET 130-131

MacGregor discs bear two numbers, one per side. Listed immediately above is number 131, the side that contains all four performances from this session. (As for side number 131, it contains performances from Peggy Lee's first session for MacGregor.)

2. Orthotone / United ET UTS 490-491

Orthotone discs bear two numbers, one per side. Side number 490 contains the Peggy Lee performances found in this session. Side number 491 features numbers by singer Ray Eberle.


3. The Henry King Show (CD)
King At Court (Radio Show)

The CD The Henry King Show contains two episodes from the pianist's show, both broadcast at an unknown date between 1948 and 1950. Only one episode, numbered 46, features Peggy Lee; the other episode, numbered 37, features The Les Paul Trio.

I am not well acquainted with King, nor with his show, whose official name was King At Court. I presume the show to have had a connection with the similarly named King Cole At Court, hosted by Nat King Cole. Perhaps the two were "brother versions" of the same show, or one was an incarnation of the other.

At the end of the King At Court episodes, announcer Charles Arlington states that King's shows were "produced and transcribed in Hollywood, the cinema's showplace of the nation, by C. P. MacGregor." In other words, the songs heard during the episodes were not performed "live" or during broadcast time, but were instead being played from MacGregor transcription recordings.

However, Peggy Lee is present during the broadcast, to provide some patter. Her presence in the show is labeled a "return visit." In other words, other songs from Lee's MacGregor transcription discs must have been played in previous episodes -- of which I have no knowledge.

Peggy Lee's participation in the broadcast starts off with what sounds like pre-recorded, transcribed patter: "This is Peggy Lee, ladies and gentlemen, and may I say, it's nice of you all to invite me over for the show. I always enjoy singing and naturally welcome the opportunity of being a part of any program where good music is the ordered thing. By way of contribution, however small, I'd like to review one of the old favorites that always seem to bring pleasant memories for me. Hope it will for you, too. Goes like this."

Following her recording of "I've Had My Moments," the following conversation between Lee and the show's announcer takes place:

Arlington: Peggy, Peggy Lee, come back here, Peggy. You know that was swell, and you know we just got to have more.
Lee: Well, alright, I'm ready, you just say when.
Arlington: Well, Peggy, we'd kind of like to know what's going on with you and Dave Barbour, your husband, in the realm of music nowadays. New records, television, and so on I suppose?
Lee: Well, Charles, Dave and I are pretty much on the active side of things these days and very happy about it all too. Our records are still coming off the presses with a certain amount of regularity and every now and then there is a television show and there's been a lot of personal appearances to take out any spare time from radio, records, and TV, you know.
Arlington: Ha, ha, say, that does make for a right active existence, doesn't it, Peg!?
Lee: Yes, I almost forgot we have to squeeze a little time for songwriting, too!
Arlington: Ha, ha, ha, for songs like "Mañana," huh?
Lee: Um-h-umm.
Arlington: Well, say, with a busy schedule like that I guess we better go on the move if we ever expect another song right now.
Lee: Always gonna make time for a song, Charles. What's you wish?
Arlington: Well, anything that meets with your approval, Peggy.
Lee: Closer not said than done. If the maestro will make with a little music I'd like very much to move in with this.

After her recording of "You Turned The Tables On Me" finishes playing, Peggy Lee bids adieu: "Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I've enjoyed being here with all of you very much, and I hope that we can take up here in the hall soon. Until then, goodbye."

Peggy Lee (ldr), Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (acc), Heinie Beau (cl), Herbert Haymer (ts), Billy May (t), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Buddy Cole (p), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Issues

1. MacGregor ET 143-144
2. MacGregor ET 641-642

Transcription companies such as MacGregor gave a separate issue number to each side of any given disc. The performances on this session are all included on side 144 of a disc whose other side (143) contains performances by Thomas Peluso.

The exact same Peggy Lee performances are also found in another MacGregor disc, side 641. That disc's other side, 642, contains recordings by Les Paul, who is accompanied by vocalist Trudy Williams.


Masters

This session's songs have two matrix numbers. MMo 694, the original master number, is connected to MacGregor disc 143-144. When the songs were reissued on MacGregor disc 641-642, the new matrix number (MMo 1198DS) was assigned.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (acc), Heinie Beau (cl), Herbert Haymer (ts), Billy May (t), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Buddy Cole (p), Tommy Romersa (d), Peggy Lee (v)

Capitol Records And MacGregor Services

From 1944 to 1945, Capitol Records seems to have had a contractual agreement with MacGregor. Capitol's artists would come to C. P. MacGregor Studios to record not only commercial material (for Capitol) but also radio transcriptions (for MacGregor).

In his book Straighten Up And Fly Right: A Chronology And Discography Of Nat King Cole, Klaus Teubig quotes a relevant article from a Downbeat issue, published on February 1, 1945. The magazine reports that "Capitol Records, which has used the facilities of C. P. MacGregor sound studios exclusively for recording purposes and for a time had a deal under which the sound firm's commercial phonograph facilities were available only to Capitol, has 'split' with MacGregor for unrevealed reasons."

"With Capitol so rapidly increasing its recording activities the single studio at C.P. MacGregor had proved inadequate to meet the company's growing requirement for studio time. In 1945, Capitol moved to Radio Recorders, the West Coast's leading independent," add Michael Sparke and Peter Venudor, authors of Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions.

Whereas Capitol apparently stopped using the MacGregor studio for commercial recording, Capitol artists such as Nat King Cole and Stan Kenton still continued to record transcriptions for MacGregor during the entire year of 1945. (Cole recorded some around July; Kenton did same as late as December 28, 1945.)

By the last quarter of 1945, Capitol was operating its own transcription service. Hence, from 1946 onwards, Capitol artists such as Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton, and Peggy Lee would record only for Capitol's transcription service. Meanwhile, MacGregor continued its transcription program with artists who were not affiliated with Capitol at recording time, such as Matt Dennis, The Milton DeLugg Quartet and, in 1947, Mel Tormé.

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