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1949 in jazz

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Decade
  
1940s in jazz

Music
  
1949 in music

1949 in jazz

See also
  
1948 in jazz – 1950 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1949.

Contents

In 1949 Bebop dominates the scene, but Dixieland is still being played. Miles Davis makes the first recordings with other artists of what will be known as Cool Jazz. The first LPs are issued, as are the first 45s.

Shows, movies and events

  • Begone Dull Care is an animated film directed by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart, giving a visual presentation of Oscar Peterson's jazz music.
  • My Foolish Heart was a film starring Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward that was panned by the critics, but the title song "My Foolish Heart", written by singer Billie Holiday and sung by Martha Mears, was a hit and became a jazz standard.
  • Sarah Vaughan made her first appearance with a symphony orchestra in a benefit for the Philadelphia Orchestra entitled "100 Men and a Girl."
  • Al Jolson appeared in the film Jolson Sings Again, a sequel to the 1946 The Jolson Story.
  • Dolly Rathebe's career was launched by an appearance as a nightclub singer in the British-produced movie Jim Comes To Jo'burg.
  • Frank Sinatra co-starred with Gene Kelly in Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
  • Lena Horne appeared in the movie Some of the Best.
  • Liza Minnelli made her debut aged three in the movie In the Good Old Summertime.
  • The musical Lost in the Stars premiered on Broadway.
  • At a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert, Ray Brown first worked with the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.
  • Sonny Rollins made his first recording with Babs Gonzales.
  • Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced to the jazz standard "They Can't Take That Away from Me" in their last movie The Barkleys of Broadway.
  • Waring's Pennsylvanians, a jazz - Dixieland band had their own TV show in 1949.
  • Club openings included Birdland, founded by Monte Kay in New York City, the Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach, California and The Black Hawk in San Francisco.
  • Recordings

  • "Ain't She Sweet": Pearl Bailey issued a recording of this standard on Harmony Records.
  • "All the Things You Are": Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli issued a version of the 1939 number.
  • "Baby Get Lost": a July, 1949 single by Dinah Washington.
  • "Baby Won't You Please Come Home", a recording of the 1919 standard by Sidney Bechet & His Feetwarmers.
  • "Baby, It's Cold Outside": there were several recordings of this song in 1949. The version by Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark reached number four on the Billboard chart.
  • "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered": recorded by Doris Day with The Mellomen.
  • "Blue Moon": a version of the standard recorded by Mel Tormé.
  • "Blue Skies": Donald Peers recorded the standard at Royal Albert Hall, London.
  • "Bye Bye Blues": Dinah Shore recorded the standard.
  • "C'est si bon": recorded by Johnny Desmond.
  • "Charley, My Boy": recorded by The Andrews Sisters and released by Decca Records.
  • "Dust My Broom": a cover of the Robert Johnson classic by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.
  • "Early Autumn", composed by Ralph Burns and Woody Herman with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, was first released in 1949 and became a hit.
  • "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)": recorded by Sarah Vaughan.
  • "Exactly Like You": Nat King Cole recording of the standard.
  • "How Blue Can You Get": recorded by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers.
  • "Ain't Nobody's Business": a hit sung by Jimmy Witherspoon with the Jay McShann band.
  • "Moody's Mood for Love": saxophonist James Moody's instrumental solo.
  • "Saturday Night Fish Fry": an R&B hit recorded by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five.
  • Industry and technology

  • New labels launched in 1949 included Coral Records, EMS Recordings, Fantasy Records, Good Time Jazz Records, Jazzology Records, New Orleans Records, Peacock Records, Prestige Records, Roost Records and Tempo Records, a subsidiary of Decca Records.
  • Columbia Records opened their CBS 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, New York, thought by some to have been the greatest recording studio in history.
  • The Fender Telecaster guitar was introduced, and Gibson launched their ES-165, ES-175 and ES-5 guitars.
  • Capitol Records and Decca Records introduced their first LPs (33-1/3 rpm). In response, RCA Records released the first 45 rpm recordings, while Universal Audio was granted a patent for "Double Feature", a method for putting two songs on each side of a 10-inch record.
  • References

    1949 in jazz Wikipedia