Sablon (1906-94) was sometimes called "the French Bing Crosby," and there is a vocal resemblance, although the Frenchman had his own, highly romantic style. These recordings demonstrate some strikingly good singing from a robust baritone with excellent diction and an ingratiating manner.
Sablon had a long career, beginning in the Parisian cabarets with Mistinguett among others in the 1920s, continuing with Django Reinhardt in the 1930s, and then to the US for radio stardom in the 1940s.
These posts are almost entirely composed of American recordings made from 1942-52 for Decca, RCA Victor and Capitol.
The basic sound is very good and has been freshly remastered in ambient stereo. The links below are to the downloads.
Songs of Paris
This LP assembles Sablon's May and June 1942 recordings for Decca, concentrating on the vocalist's French repertoire. Leading off is the famous stepwise melody of "Ma mie," which may be more familiar to some of you under the title of "All of a Sudden My Heart Sings." Harold Rome wrote the English lyrics for Kathryn Grayson to present in the 1945 Sinatra-Kelly musical Anchors Aweigh.
The backing is by Paul Baron, a conductor who was on the radio at the time, and who also was on hand for some of the 1945-46 dates that we cover next.
Souvenir Album
These sides, also for Decca, date from December 1945 and February and April of the following year. Sablon sings in French and English, save for a superb rendition of Dorival Caymmi's "Porque" in Portuguese. (The singer had spent time in Brazil in the 1920s.)
On this LP, the orchestras are conducted by Baron and Irving Ross.
The RCA Victor LP
Sablon's RCA Victor LP got along without a title, unless you consider "Le Grand Specialiste de la chanson d'amour parisienne" to be such.
As with the Decca discs above, this was a compilation of singles that the vocalist made from 1938 to 1947, with Emil Stern, Toots Camarata and Lou Bring in charge of the orchestras - if the record labels are to be believed. (The information is incomplete.) A few numbers were made in France.
The RCA disc includes different performances of two songs on the Decca Souvenir Album - "J'attrandrai" and "Symphonie."
Songs of a Boulevardier
Sablon recorded eight songs for this Capitol LP in 1952, with backing by the young Skitch Henderson. This is a beautifully recorded set with different material, except for a remake of "Le fiacre," which also appears on the RCA album above. Sablon's voice was showing some wear by this time, however.
The Capitol set broke precedent by not using the same photo of Sablon as the three others above, instead relying on a spectacular cover illustration and confining Jean's mugshot to the back.
11 comments:
thanks as always; i have the rca victor lp (it is in fact a "little" 10" one; i mean the format.) and i have my handwrtten note that the track "J'ai Ta Main" is with claude thornhill and his orchestra. (confirmed now via discogs)
keep boppin´
marcel
Hi bicho - Yes, I've seen that attribution, but the label doesn't credit Thornhill, so who knows.
Great
Great, thanks Buster!
And thank you, folks!
Dave from Ardmore, whose wife is French, appreciates this gathering of recordings by a singer heard often in our home. Who's next? Rossi? Trenet?
Dave - Well, I have records by both of them ...
I was going to ask about his lack of head shots, but you beat me to it. :) Thanks for the music, Buster!
Hi Ernie - It's strange - there are quite a few photos of Sablon from that time. But then, such things are much more accessible these days!
Thank you for these treasures Buster. Apparently he was to appear in the Astaire/Rodgers picture about the Castles, but when he discovered how small his role was to be he declined. Nonetheless, you can hear him on the soundtrack in the scene in which Vernon and Irene conquer Paris - his is the voice singing the Darktown Strutters' Ball.
Hi Phillip - Thanks for your note! Sablon would have added to the film, which is the least of the series, IIRC.
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