Jean Sablon Remastered

For this post I've revisited four 10-inch LPs of Jean Sablon's singing that I first offered a decade ago.

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.

LINK

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.

LINK

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."

LINK

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.

LINK

Jean Sablon on Capitol

About a year ago I began featuring the American recordings of French crooner Jean Sablon. The series started with 1942 and 1946 collections on Decca, moved on to 1938-47 RCA Victor sides, and here concludes with Sablon's 1952 album for Capitol.

This set is just as good as the other LPs, so needless to say I recommend it. The singer is in good voice. The highly sympathetic accompaniments are by Skitch Henderson and orchestra, plus an anonymous vocal troupe.

Jean Sablon

The sound is excellent on these sides, which made up a 10-inch LP presented here in its dual-EP form. Although the front cover only mentions six songs, eight are indeed included. This fact is helpfully mentioned on the back cover, although it does not go on to specify what those eight songs are. I have included label scans to clarify matters.

The wonderful cover art may be the best thing about the package. I think that's a hat on her head; at least the placement would indicate as much.

Note (May 2025): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

Jean Sablon on RCA Victor

I've been presenting early LPs by the legendary French crooner Jean Sablon now and then, and this is the third such post - also the third cover to feature the same photo of Sablon.

But while the first two albums were on the American Decca label, this is an RCA Victor product from the early 1950s, a double-EP version of a 10-inch LP. 

The EP gives no information about recording dates or conductor identities. However, I found the labels for the 10-inch LP equivalent (included in the download), which does have partial information. The recordings date from 1938, 1941 and 1947. The bandleaders include Emil Stern and Toots Camarata. Sablon first recorded some of these songs in the 1930s for Pathé Marconi.

These RCA recordings are just as good as the Decca sides from earlier in the 1942 and 1946, and the sound is excellent.

Later on, I'll complete our look at Sablon's American records with his 1952 Capitol LP.

Note (May 2025): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

More Jean Sablon

This is a follow-up to my recent post of the Jean Sablon Souvenir Album, which collected circa 1945-46 singles that the French crooner made for American Decca. This LP assembles his May and June 1942 recordings for the same label, completing the sides he inscribed for the Decca folks.

These earlier sessions concentrated on Sablon'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.

This present collection is just as fine as the earlier album. 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 1946 dates. Even the Sablon photo on the cover is the same as the first LP we featured. And I recommend this one just as heartily!

Note (May 2025): this LP has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

Jean Sablon

Jean Sablon (1906-94) was sometimes called "the French Bing Crosby," and there is a vocal resemblance, although Sablon had his own, highly romantic style.

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 sides, which date from December 1945 and February and April of the following year, were made in the US. 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.)

I once wrote on another forum that Sablon was limited both vocally and as an artist. While that harsh assessment may literally be true - he does not have much range - it would be just as accurate to say that what he does, he does extremely well. This is one of the more enjoyable records it has been my pleasure to feature, and more are forthcoming.

Note (May 2025): these recordings have now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK