Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 15th Feb 2022

Les Paul and Mary Ford are this week's Phantom Dancer feature artists. Les was a jazz guitarist. Mary was a country guitarist. Together, they pioneered multitracking and had a string of hits in the 1950s. The Phantom dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. LISTEN to this week's Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 15 February) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ Here's Les Paul and Mary Ford waiting for the sunrise in a short 1953 TV spot... [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4[/embed]

MULTITRACK

In 1946, Les Paul's mother complimented him on a song she had heard on the radio, when in fact she had heard guitarist, George Barnes. This motivated Paul to spend two years in his Hollywood garage recording studio, creating his unique sound, his New Sound. Paul stunned the music industry with his New Sound in 1948, all recorded using acetate discs only. With the assistance of Bing Crosby who was a major shareholder in Ampex Tapes and Tape Recorders, and who Paul backed on recordings in the 1940s, Paul started his studio in the garage of his home in Hollywood. He experimented with microphone placement, track speed, and recording overdubs. These methods resulted in a clarity previously unheard in this type of multitrack recording. Capitol Records released "Lover (When You're Near Me)", on which Paul played eight different parts on electric guitar, some recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. This was the first time he used multitracking in a recording. His early multitrack recordings, including "Lover" and "Brazil" were made with acetate discs. He recorded a track onto a disk, then recorded himself playing another part with the first. He built the multitrack recording with overlaid tracks rather than parallel ones as he did later. By the time he had a result that satisfied him, he had discarded some five hundred recording disks. As a teen he had built a disc-cutter assembly using the flywheel from a Cadillac, a dental belt and other parts from his father's car repair shop. Years later in his Hollywood garage, he used the acetate disc setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. In 1949, Crosby gave Paul one of the first Ampex Model 200A reel to reel tape recorders. Paul invented sound on sound recording using this machine by placing an additional playback head, located before the conventional erase/record/playback heads. This allowed Paul to play along with a previously recorded track, both of which were mixed together onto a new track. The Ampex was a monophonic tape recorder with only one track across the entire width of quarter-inch tape, and therefore, the recording was "destructive" in the sense that the original recording was permanently replaced with the new, mixed recording. He eventually enhanced this by using one tape machine to play back the original recording and a second to record the combined track. This preserved the original recording. In 1952, Paul invented the flange effect, where a sound phases in and out in harmonic tone. The first example of this can be heard on his song "Mammy's Boogie". Observing film recordings inspired Paul to design the stacking of eight tape recorders. He worked with Ross Snyder on the design of the first eight-track recording deck built for him by Ampex for his home studio. Rein Narma built a custom 8-channel mixing console for him. The mixing board included in-line equalization and vibrato effects. He named the recorder "The Octopus" and the mixing console "The Monster". The name "octopus" was inspired by comedian W. C. Fields who was the first person to hear Paul play his multi-tracked guitar experiments. "He came to my garage to make a little record (in 1946)," Les recalled. "I played him the acetate of 'Lover' that I'd done. When he heard it, he said, 'My boy, you sound like an octopus.'" [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlG7qb3iCs[/embed]

LES PAUL AND MARY FORD

In mid-1945, Paul met country-western singer Iris Colleen Summers. They began working together on Paul's radio show, as Rhubarb Red and The Ozark Apple Knockers with Mary Lou. Later Paul suggested the stage name Mary Ford. They married in Milwaukee in 1949. Their hits included "How High the Moon", "Bye Bye Blues", "Song in Blue", "Don'cha Hear Them Bells", "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise", and "Vaya con Dios". The songs were recorded with multiple tracks where Ford harmonized with herself and Paul played multiple layers of guitars. They used the recording technique known as close miking where the microphone is less than 6 inches (15 cm) from the singer's mouth. This produces a more intimate, less reverberant sound than when a singer is 1 foot (30 cm) or more from the microphone. When using a pressure-gradient (uni- or bi-directional) microphone, it emphasizes low-frequency sounds in the voice due to the microphone's proximity effect and gives a more relaxed feel because the performer is not working as hard. They also performed music-hall style semi-comic routines with Mary mimicking whatever line Les decided to improvise. Here, Les Paul and Mary Ford explain their multitrack recording technique to Alistair Cooke on his Omnibus TV show... [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjKX0P4t_ac[/embed]

15 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINECommunity Radio Network Show CRN #531
107.3 2SER Tuesday 15 February 2022 12:04 - 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 - 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 - 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 - 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 - 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 - 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 - 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 - 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 - 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 - 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am - 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 - 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 - 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 - 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 - 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 - 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 - 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 - 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 - 6pm
Set 1	1940s Swing Radio
Pretty Little Petticoat (theme) + A Symphony Under the Stars	Raymond Scott Orchestra	Brunswick Hotel WBZ NBC Bosyon 6 Dec 1941
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem	Mal Hallett Orchestra	'Spotlight Bands' AFRS Hollywood 7 Jun 1945
Moten Swing + Cirribiiribin (theme)	Harry James Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KFI NBC LA 1944
Set 2	Spike Jones
Open + By The Sea	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Trio	'Corn's a-Poppin' AFRS Re-broadcast 21 May 1949
The Barber of Seville	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Sir Frederick Gas	'Corn's a-Poppin' AFRS Re-broadcast 1948
Carolina Moon + When Yuba Plays the Rhumba on the Tuba	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Prof. Beetlebaum	'Corn's a-Poppin' AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Feb 1949
Set 3	Modern Jazz
One O'Clock Jump + Perdido	Count Basie Orchestra	'All-Star Parade of Bands' Zardi's KNX NBC Los Angeles 2 Jul 1956
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm	Benny Goodman Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 1949
Take the A-Train + Close	Ted Heath Orchestra	'International Bandstand' BBC/NBC 1959
Set 4	Les Paul and Mary Ford
Open + Brazil	Les Paul Trio (voc) Mary Ford	'Les Paul Show' NBC 12 May 1950
Some of These Days	Les Paul Trio (voc) Mary Ford	'Les Paul Show' NBC 30 Jun 1950
Puttin' on the Style	Les Paul Trio (voc) Mary Ford	'Les Paul Show' NBC 26 May 1950
What Is This Called Love? + If a Nightinggale Could Sing Like You	Les Paul Trio (voc) Mary Ford	'Les Paul Show' NBC 26 May 1950
Set 5	Glenn Miller Hits Played by Other Orks
I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo	Joe Marsala Orchestra (voc) Al Jennings	Aircheck Log Cabin Farms Armouk NY 23 Oct 1942
In the Mood	Louis Armstrong Orchestra	'Jubilee' AFRS NYC early 1943
Moonlight Serenade	Gray Gordon and his Tic Toc Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Cliff Grass	Radio Transcription New York City 1939
Set 6	Hit of the Week Cardboard Discs
Sweet Jennie Lee	Reser's Radio Orchestra (voc) Frank Luther	Hit of the Week Records 29 Dec 1930
My Extraordinary Girl	Hit of the Week Orchestra (voc) Ralph Kirbery	Hit of the Week Records 26 May 1932
Let's Get Friendly	The New York Twelve (voc) Smith Bellew	Hit of the Week Records May 1931
Me	Sam Lanin Orchestra (voc) Male Trio	Hit of the Week Records 8 Oct 1931
Set 7	1930s Radio Dance Bands
St Louis Blues	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (tb) Jack Teagarden	'Paul Whiteman's Musical Varieties' WJZ NBC Blue NYC 16 Feb 1936
Lady Be Good	Barney Rapp and His New Englanders	Sign of the Drum NBC Cincinnati OH 17 Jun 1939
King of Bongo Bong	Roy Eldridge Orchestra	Aircheck Arcadia Restaurant NYC 1939
I Wanna Be a Rug Cutter	Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra	Savoy Balllroom WEAF NBC Red NYC 4 Mar 1940
Set 8	Modern Jazz
Micro	Django Reinhardt Hot Club of France	Radio Geneva Switzerland 25 Oct 1949
The Cinch	Buddy Rich Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 8 Nov 1958
Theme + The Dart Game	Shelly Manne Quintet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC 1956