It was warm outside, and it was hot in the studio as Al Jolson laid down almost a score of tracks during the month of June. Here they are for your enjoyment!
The Columbia Recordings
04 Jun 1913: Pullman Porter's Parade - With this recording of an Irving Berlin - Maurice Abraham number, Al Jolson began his career with the Columbia Record Company. With an orchestra directed by Charles Prince on this day's session, this song reached #5 on the Billboard charts, remaining on the charts for four weeks.
04 Jun 1913: You Made Me Love You - One of Al Jolson's musical idioms, this song was interpolated into the show The Honeymoon Express. In this recording, which was #1 on the Billboard charts for seven of the thirteen weeks it was listed, Jolson sang the original lyric, "the brand of kisses," changing it to "the kind of kisses" later in his career. It was also during this song that he may have first used a technique he saw Blossom Seeley employ a year earlier: dropping to one knee and singing to the heavens full blast. Seeley may have done it first, but it was Jolson who raised the gesture to high art.
04 Jun 1913: That Little German Band - This is typical of the bouncy novelty songs that Jolson loved to sing. You can just see him playing it for chorus after chorus with the audience during his run in The Honeymoon Express. They must have loved it, as it reached the fifth position on the Billboard charts, being listed for four weeks.
04 Jun 1913: Everybody Snap Your Fingers With Me - Here's another bouncy novelty number that Al Jolson sounds like he's having a great time with. One can just see him strolling through the audience, singing to the folks and engaging them in this song.
06 Jun 1916: I'm Saving Up The Means To Get To New Orleans - Robinson Crusoe, Jr. closed at the Winter Garden the day after this song was recorded, to begin a tour of the country later in the summer. Whether Jolie interpolated this song into the show is not known, but it stay on the charts for four weeks, peaking at number 3.
12 Jun 1923: Waitin' For The Evening Mail - Bombo, the show that contained so many of Jolie's hits, closed at the Winter Garden three days before this song was recorded, to begin a tour of the country in the fall. Whether Jolie interpolated this song into the show is not known. Listen for the line about the seventy year sentence, which would expire in the distant future - 1993!
The Brunswick Recordings
01 Jun 1926: When The Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along - Five months after this recording was made, Al Jolson would have a great time singing this song in his first talkie, A Plantation Act. The public must have loved it as well, it was number 1 for two of the eight weeks it stayed on the Billboard charts.
01 Jun 1926: Here I Am - Recorded on the same day as the bouncy "Red Robin," this poignant ballad allowed Al Jolson to show us the flip side of his singing ability. Whether he interpolated this song into Big Boy, running at the time, is not known, but it would have brought down the house!
Watch this page all this month for the complete book of June recordings of the World's Greatest Entertainer!
Unless otherwise noted, transcriptions on this page are from the personal collection of the webmaster.
