Recordings of Tin Pan Alley songs were often made by singers who came to be known as “crooners.” Indeed, Gene Austin, the singer on our recording of “My Blue Heaven,” was one of the pioneers of the style. Crooning is an intimate, comparatively soft style of singing that takes particular advantage of the increasing sensitivity of microphones over the decades after the invention of recording. The technology of recording was constantly developing over the turn of the century, and crooning was an excellent opportunity to investigate these advancements.
Early recording technology essentially involved the use of a horn and a needle that would cut into a blank disc (or at first, a wax cylinder). If we recall that sound waves consist of vibrating air molecules, the following will make a little more sense. In an early recording studio, the singer would sing into a cone that funneled the sound down to a needle that was cutting into a rotating vinyl disc. As the sound vibrated the needle, the grooves it cut literally “recorded” these vibrations. In order to play the record, simply reverse the process. Although this process seems fairly straightforward, it has its limitations, particularly when it comes to capturing the subtleties of a performance. Listen to the 1927 recording of Al Jolson’s “April Showers” on our Spotify playlist to hear the result of this early recording process, and note how Jolson seems to heavily articulate every word and sing in an exaggerated vibrato. A lot of his singing style was a result of his years singing onstage for big audiences without any amplification, but it worked well for early recording mediums too.
The invention of the microphone in the late 1920s changed all this. Rather than singing directly into a cone that vibrates the needle, the microphone contains a small diaphragm that transmits the vibrations as an electrical signal to the needle cutting the record. This clip from the film O Brother Where Art Thou shows this process at about 2:00 in. This allowed for a much wider frequency range on the recording and also enabled the recording to capture much softer and subtler sounds. Singers no longer had to “belt” like Jolson in order to be heard clearly. Gene Austin and his fellow crooners cultivated a much gentler, more intimate style of singing that took advantage of these new capabilities. To listeners, these crooners often exuded a certain sensual closeness, almost as if they were singing right in your ear. In any case, the more relaxed style became incredibly popular, especially in the hands of singers like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
In this clip from the film Road to Morocco, Bing Crosby manages to croon his way into a young lady’s heart. As you will read in your textbook and in the video, Sinatra built on Crosby’s style and imbued it with a new sense of emotionalism and vocal prowess. In particular, listen to “Nancy with the Laughing Face” on our Spotify playlist and pay attention to how Sinatra shoots for a longer vocal phrase between breaths, while never sounding as if he’s straining. He keeps the same relaxed and supple vocal tone throughout. Sinatra was inspired in this by Italian opera singers, particularly those working within the bel canto tradition of 19th century Italian opera. Bel canto prizes long lines and sense of effortless delivery throughout the singer’s range, perhaps epitomized in the aria “Casta Diva” from Vicenzo Bellini’s 1831 opera Norma. Note how Sinatra’s phrasing parallels the lengthy phrases of this excerpt. It’s also worth noting that the opera connection is also partly a product of Sinatra’s Italian-American background, as opera in general is a point of significant national pride in Italy.