Peggy Lee: 'Too Marvelous for Words,' 1955

The World Broadcasting System transcription tracks have been restored and remastered

Before satellite radio of the 2000s, the proliferation of FM in the 1970s and popularity of Top 40 programming in the 1960s, radio stations licensed extended prerecorded discs of music called archival transcriptions to air as specials. [Photo above of Peggy Lee in the 1950s]

When radio first became popular in the 1920s, the music that listeners heard on local stations was provided by live musicians playing in the studio. With the rise of recorded music on phonograph records, radio stations licensed these transcriptions on 16-inch, 33 1/3 rpm vinyl discs for extended play. These discs were produced only for radio air-play, and the music wasn’t sold to the public until decades later.

Among these transcription companies was the World Broadcasting System, founded in 1929. In 1955, WBS recorded 49 masters by singer Peggy Lee backed by a range of West Coast jazz and pop musicians. This Lee material first surfaced on the Audiophile label in October 2017 as a two-CD set entitled World Broadcasting Recordings 1955. Vinyl followed in July 2021 on Org Music as a limited-edition color LP for Record Store Day.

Now, Peggy Lee Associates has released Too Marvelous for Words, a newly restored and remastered digital-only set of the singer’s World Broadcasting transcription tracks recorded in 1955. The 49 songs are a treasure trove of music, featuring Lee singing American songbook standards. Not only does the new release sound warm and clear, but also half of the songs were recorded only once by Lee, including Autumn in New York, What Is This Thing Called Love? and Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.

More importantly, they feature Lee during a key period in her career—transitioning from eager and demure jazz-pop singer at Decca in the early and mid-1950s to laid-back superstar vocalist and sex symbol at Capitol in the LP and TV era of the late 1950s and early 1960s. You’ll find the new album at Spotify and other digital service providers.

Recorded over four sessions in February and August 1955 for the World Broadcasting System, the dates feature unidentified small groups. The musicians are thought to include Bill Pitman (g), Bob Whitlock or Don Prell (b), poss. Gene DiNovi (p), Stella Castellucci (harp), Larry Bunker or Ray Rivera (d) and Jack Constanzo (bgo). The only drawback are the arrangements, which tend to be wooden compared with her later swinging Capitol recordings.

Intimate ballads feature Lee influenced by Billie Holiday and backed by a wandering trumpet. Mid- and up-tempo songs include a Latin feel with bongos.

By 1957, Lee had re-signed with Capitol and began recording LPs with fresher arrangements. These Capitol albums include The Man I Love, Jump for Joy and Things Are Swingin’.

From the new WBS transcription album, here’s I May Be Wrong (but I Think You’re Wonderful)…

Here’s Mountain Greenery…

And here’s Speak Low…

Bonus: Here’s Lee in 1955 in the film Pete Kelly’s Blues…

Here’s Lee in 1955 recording He’s a Tramp for Lady & the Tramp…

For comparison between 1955 and 1958, here’s Lee in 1958 for Capitol singing Life Is For Livin’, from Things Are Swingin’, arranged and conducted by Jack Marshall…