V-Discs

V-Discs, Volume VIII

       V-Disc was a record label produced during the World War II era by special arrangement between the United States government and various private U.S. record companies. The records were produced for use of United States military personnel overseas. 

Many popular singers, big bands and orchestra of the era recorded special V-Disc records. These 12-inch, 78 rpm gramophone recordings were created between 1943 and 1949. The "V" stands for "Victory."

The V-Disc project actually began in June 1941, as a way to improve moral. By 1942, the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) sent 16-inch, 33 rpm shellac transcription discs to troops. Meanwhile, the American Federation of Musicians, under the leadership of James Caesar Petrillo, were involved in a major recording strike against the four major record companies.

Thanks to the efforts of Lieutenant George Robert Vincent, on Oct. 27, 1943, Vincent convinced Petrillo to allow his union musicians to record sides for the military, as long as the records were not offered for purchase in the United States. From that moment on, artists who wanted to record now had an outlet for their productivity  -  as well as a guaranteed, receptive, enthusiastic worldwide audience of soldiers and sailors.

The collected V-Disc recordings on Volume VIII feature selections by the bands of Woody Herman, Vaughn Monroe, Major Glenn Miller and the AAFTC Band, Duke Ellington, Spike Jones and his City Slickers, Louis Armstrong and the V-Disc All-Stars, Muggsy Spanier and his V-Disc Jazz Band, and the New York All-Stars.

Also featured are Mildred Bailey, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Slam Stewart and Dick Farney.

V-Disc recordings are rare and offer a unique musical retrospective of the American home front during World War II.

Track  selections: Ah, Your Father's Moustache, Jammin' On A V-Disc, Worth Duckin', Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Going My Way, Time Alone Will Tell, Peggy, The Pin-Up Girl, Perfume Suite, I'm Confessin', White Christmas, And The Great Saw Came Nearer And Nearer, The Nutcracker Suite, Part 3, Which Of The Great Forty-Eight, Jazz Me Blues, Squeeze Me, China Boy, Spoken Intro by General Reynolds and Frank Sinatra, O, Little Town Of Bethlehem/Joy To The World/White Christmas.

V-Discs, Volume VIII is $10 plus $2.50 shipping and handling. To order, send e-mail to jazzconnection@hotmail.com  

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