Jazz, blues and nostalgia, by Sjaak Roodenburg.
‘I will seduce you with my whispers‘.
In today’s episode of the Palace of Nostalgia we pay attention to Crooners.
The introduction of the electric microphone in 1925 by the Victor Talking Machine Company started a revolution in the popular music. From that time, singers didn’t have to shout out loud in some kind of horn to be heard. Instead, they could sing more softly and intimately. By using the microphone in an inventive way, they were able to interpret a song much better than before. This led to a relaxed and often a sensual way of singing, too. Artists were able to render love songs with an unprecedented intimacy. It was for that reason, that conservative movements called crooning ‘a devilish evil’ and judged singers like Rudy Vallée, who in their eyes ‘whined degenerated songs, an American bloke unworthy’.
Please listen to Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, Jack Teagarden, Dick Powell, Connee Boswell, Al Bowlly and ‘whispering’ Jack Smith.
Compilation and presentation: Sjaak Roodenburg
Technique: Willem van Schip
