Welcome to Afterglow, [a show of vocal jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook] I’m your host, Mark Chilla.

December 12th is the birthday of The Voice, The Chairman of the Board, Ol’ Blue Eyes, Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra. So, to celebrate Sinatra’s birthday this week, we’re looking back on the singer’s first five years as a recording artist, from the end of the 1930s through the end of World War II. Along the way, we’ll encounter the individuals who helped shape his early career: including bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, and arranger Axel Stordahl, who he worked with at Columbia records.

It’s Harry, Tommy, and Axel: Sinatra’s First Five Years, coming up next on Afterglow

MUSIC CLIP - ART TATUM, “STORMY WEATHER” 

We’ll start off this show with a demonstration of sorts of why Frank Sinatra stood out among his peers in this early era of recorded sound. His voice wasn’t as powerful as some other singers in his day, but he stood out for his tenderness, his breath control and long musical lines, and most of all, his ability to get inside the lyrics and tell a story. Take this version of Sinatra and the Ken Lane Singers in 1944 doing Harold Arlen’s “Stormy Weather.” There’s a moment about three minutes in, right after the big climax. A lesser singer might have kept that energy going, but Sinatra, using the microphone to his advantage, cuts above the orchestra and very delicately turns the phrase “Can’t go on, everything I have is gone.” Sinatra’s a singing actor, and he makes you believe what’s saying. Here he is with “Stormy Weather,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “STORMY WEATHER” 

MUSIC CLIP - ART TATUM, “MOONGLOW”

Mark Chilla here on Afterglow. This hour, we turn the spotlight on Frank Sinatra’s first 5 years as a recording artist, focusing on the influential figures he met along the way.

Frank Sinatra grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, under the protective gaze of his mother Molly. A hard-nosed woman, Molly’s political clout in the area would help secure the young Frank his first professional gig: a spot in the local singing group the The Three Flashes (now renamed the Hoboken Four with the addition of teenage Frankie). With the rail-thin, blue-eyed heartthrob now singing lead, the Hoboken Four found success on the Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour radio program, and later on Bowes’ traveling circuit. But even then Sinatra knew he was destined for better things. 

Determined, Sinatra soon landed a job as a singing waiter at the Rustic Cabin, a club in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The Cabin had a special feature: there was a direct line from the stage to WNEW, a local radio station that would broadcast their performances. It was on one of these broadcasts where he was first heard by the young trumpeter and bandleader Harry James.

James knew right away that he wanted Frank in his band. Sinatra’s voice was still thin and tender. But with his Italian heritage and lingering Hoboken accent, it was considered a bit exotic, at least compared to the All-American sound of Sinatra’s idol Bing Crosby, which made him a compelling prospect.

Here’s Frank Sinatra and Harry James with their first recording together, on July 13, 1939 with “From the Bottom of My Heart,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART”

MUSIC - HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL”

“All or Nothing at All” and before that “From The Bottom Of My Heart,” performed by Frank Sinatra with Harry James and his Orchestra in 1939. 

“All Or Nothing At All” became a minor sensation at the end of 1939, creating quite a lot of buzz around the young singer. The success of this song provided Frank Sinatra with his next big break. In December of that year, bandleader Tommy Dorsey heard this song on the radio, and shortly after Sinatra’s 24th birthday, he was auditioning with Dorsey’s band.

The trombonist Dorsey was different from the freewheeling trumpeter James in almost every way. James was younger than Sinatra, just getting his band off the ground when Sinatra joined. By this point, Dorsey, The Old Man as they called him, was already an established pro, and a notoriously unsentimental taskmaster—despite his ironic nickname “The Sentimental Gentleman.” Sinatra nailed the audition, and early in 1940, He said his farewell to James and began his tenure with Dorsey. 

Dorsey’s established brand helped elevate Sinatra’s status over the next two years. But even still, it became evident that the singer brought something special to his performances that other singers couldn’t match. By April of 1940, Sinatra had his first charting single, the song “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” written by his old pal from the 1930s, Jimmy Van Heusen. 

Here’s Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey in March of 1940 with “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “POLKA DOTS AND MOONBEAMS”

MUSIC - TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “I'LL NEVER SMILE AGAIN”

Frank Sinatra, the Pied Pipers (which featured a young Jo Stafford among its ranks), and Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra in 1940 with “I’ll Never Smile Again” and before that “Polka Dots And Moonbeams.” 

In July of 1940, Billboard magazine decided to release a chart of the top songs in the country based on sales and radio play. “I’ll Never Smile Again” topped this very first Billboard chart, a position it held for the next twelve weeks. This success helped make Frank Sinatra a household name in America, especially to groups of bobbysocks-wearing teenage girls.

By the end of 1940, it was clear that the draw of Tommy Dorsey’s band was now Frank Sinatra. And the Old Man began to realize it himself. 

Throughout 1941, Sinatra’s star continued to rise, so did his desire to branch out on his own. He was having trouble sharing the limelight with Dorsey’s other stars, notably the hotshot drummer Buddy Rich. Around the same time, Columbia Records Manny Sacks had convinced Sinatra he could have a successful solo career, just like his idol Bing Crosby. Not wanting to lose an opportunity to other singers on the rise like Perry Como or Bob Eberly, Sinatra had an idea.

Let’s hear another track with him and Tommy Dorsey. This is Frank Sinatra in 1941 with the song “You and I,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “YOU AND I”

Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey with “You and I,” arranged by Sy Oliver, and recorded there in June 1941.

MUSIC CLIP - ART TATUM, “MY LAST AFFAIR”

Early in 1942, Sinatra decided to give Dorsey his notice: he was going to try his hand at a solo career. But leaving Dorsey’s band was going to be no easy feat. Sinatra once said that there were two people in this world that he feared: his mother Dolly, and Tommy Dorsey. Contract negotiations were difficult. Dorsey threatened to claim a third of Sinatra’s future earnings, and depending on who you ask, Sinatra may have threatened Dorsey with some help from the mob.

But by September of 1942, Sinatra was free. In this farewell radio broadcast from September 3rd of that year, performed at the Circle Theater in Indianapolis, Dorsey wishes him well from the stage. But backstage, that was a different story. Dorsey’s final words to Sinatra’s weren’t so kind. 

Here’s Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey’s final collaboration. This is Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s “The Song is You,” on Afterglow. 

MUSIC - TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “FRANK SINATRA'S FAREWELL TO THE TOMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA” AND “THE SONG IS YOU”

Frank Sinatra’s farewell song with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, “The Song Is You” by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, from a radio broadcast at the Circle Theater in Indianapolis on September 3, 1942.

MUSIC CLIP - TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, “I'M GETTING SENTIMENTAL OVER YOU”

We’ll have more from Sinatra’s early years, after a short break.. Stay with us. 

I’m Mark Chilla, and you’re listening to Afterglow

MUSIC CLIP - TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FEATURING FRANK SINATRA, “IMAGINATION”

MUSIC CLIP - ART TATUM, “NIGHT AND DAY“

Welcome back to Afterglow, I’m Mark Chilla. We’ve been examining the early years of Frank Sinatra this hour, and where we left off, a twenty-six year-old Sinatra had just left Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra to make his way as a solo singer. It was unprecedented territory for a big band singer, but luckily Sinatra had the support of legions of teenage girls. Plus, he had another trick up his sleeve, a man by the name of Axel Stordahl. 

Axel Stordahl, who Sinatra had nicknamed “Sibelius,” started out as a mediocre trumpeter in Dorsey’s band. But his true talent was in the art of arranging, particularly the artful ballads with lush, orchestral strings that Sinatra loved to sing.

Sinatra brokered a deal with Stordahl to join him as soon as he left Dorsey’s orchestra. By that point, the duo—Sinatra and Stordahl—were already a proven commodity. In January 1942, eight months before Sinatra’s official departure, Sinatra and Stordahl recorded four songs on their own. It was a trial run of Sinatra the solo star, and it paid off. One of those songs, “Night and Day,” became a hit single, proving that Frank Sinatra and Axel Stordahl were a winning combination. 

Here’s that song now. This is Frank Sinatra and arranger Axel Stordahl with Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA WITH AXEL STORDAHL AND HIS ORCHESTRA, “NIGHT AND DAY”

Frank Sinatra in January 1942 with Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” arranged by Axel Stordahl. This song became a minor hit on the Bluebird label, a subsidiary of Tommy Dorsey’s label RCA. 

When Frank Sinatra decided to branch out on his own, his destination was Columbia records, with the help of record exec Manny Sachs. It was a bold move—bandleaders were typically the biggest draw in the early 1940s. But a successful run at New York’s Paramount Theatre at the end of 1942 proved to Columbia that the singer was ready to be a star.

There was a problem though. A musician’s strike at the end of 1942 meant that there was a recording ban for records featuring unioned instrumentalists. Columbia had a way to circumvent this: Sinatra’s first sessions would be a cappella, featuring choral accompaniment from a group called the Bobby Tucker singers, arranged and conducted by Alec Wilder. 

Here’s a standout track from those a cappella sessions from June 1943. This is Frank Sinatra with “Close to You,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA FEATURING THE BOBBY TUCKER SINGERS, “CLOSE TO YOU”

Frank Sinatra and the Bobby Tucker singers for Columbia Records in June 1942 with “Close to You,” arranged by composer Alec Wilder.

Despite the recording ban, Sinatra was very active in 1943 and 1944. He starred in several feature films, signed a movie contract with RKO, hosted a radio program, performed in prestigious venues like the Hollywood Bowl, and was still selling records. But it wasn’t until November of 1944 that Sinatra began to record with an orchestra again.

His signature became the slow ballad, love songs that could make young women swoon. And the key to these records, of course, were the artful arrangements by Axel Stordahl, who orchestrated primarily for strings and woodwinds, rather than the heavy reliance on horns heard in most swing bands at the time. 

Here’s a song from Sinatra and Stordahl’s first session together for Columbia. This is the lovely song “If You Are But a Dream,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “IF YOU ARE BUT A DREAM”

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY”

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “PUT YOUR DREAMS AWAY”

Three quintessential Sinatra and Stordahl arrangements from the early 1940s. We first heard Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton, and Nat Bonx’s “If You Are But a Dream” from November 1944, followed by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne’s “I Fall in Love too Easily” from December 1944. And just now, we heard Ruth Lowe, Paul Mann, and Stephen Weiss’s “Put Your Dreams Away” from May 1945.

The Axel Stordahl sound dominated the early Columbia years for Frank Sinatra. That confident swing and swagger that many of us associate with Sinatra didn’t come about until the 1950s when he worked with arrangers like Nelson Riddle and Billy May. However, that didn’t mean Sinatra still wasn’t swinging. In November 1944, the same session that produced “If You Are But a Dream,” Sinatra recorded the new Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn tune “Saturday Night (is the loneliest night of the week),” which swings as hard as any of his maturer works from the 1950s. The arrangement came not from Stordahl, but rather George Siravo. Evidently, Sinatra, who was primarily a ballad singer at this point, needed convincing that he could pull a swinging number like this off. 

Let’s hear it now. Here’s Frank Sinatra in November 1944 with “Saturday Night,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “SATURDAY NIGHT (IS THE LONELIEST NIGHT OF THE WEEK)”

Frank Sinatra’s one swinging number from the early 1940s, the George Siravo arrangement of “Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week).” 

We’ll close off the show with a taste of what was to come for Frank Sinatra. At the end of 1945, Sinatra and arranger Axel Stordahl collaborated on an entire album. In fact, this was one of the first true “albums” of its kind, released as four 78 rpm records, bound into a literal “album” booklet.

This album, titled The Voice of Frank Sinatra, showcased the tender Sinatra-Stordahl ballad, and would become a precursor for his later concept albums on Capitol Records LP in the 1950s, like In the Wee Small Hours and Sings Only the Lonely. This early album was, in fact, later released as an LP in 1948, earning the distinction of becoming the very first pop long-playing record. 

Here’s Frank Sinatra with an Axel Stordahl string arrangement of Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, “SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME”

Frank Sinatra and arranger Axel Stordahl from their 1945 album together on Columbia titled The Voice of Frank Sinatra, with George and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me.”

Thanks for tuning in to this look back at the first five years of Frank Sinatra on Afterglow.

MUSIC CLIP - TOMMY DORSEY WITH DUKE ELLINGTON & HIS FAMOUS ORCHESTRA, “TONIGHT I SHALL SLEEP”

Afterglow is part of the educational mission of Indiana University and produced by WFIU Public Radio in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. The executive producer is John Bailey.

Playlists for this and other Afterglow programs are available on our website. That’s at indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow.

I’m Mark Chilla, and join me next week for our mix of Vocal Jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook, here on Afterglow