I'm listening to a lot of "old-fashioned" Christmas Carols--by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, Andy Williams, etc. Harry Connick Jr. also came up in the playlist. I noticed that they all have a similar quality to their voice, which, for lack of a better word, I'm going to call "velvety." I got to wondering about the relationship between this vocal quality and early methods of musical dissemination--AM radio and early records. Were these voices privileged because they sounded good on AM radio (they do, I think--better than on FM)? Were they popular because they recorded well on the early recording technology? A bit of both? None of the above?
Thoughts would be welcome. I'd be surprised if someone hasn't looked into this in some way.
Happy holidays!
Thoughts would be welcome. I'd be surprised if someone hasn't looked into this in some way.
Happy holidays!