Pick a Day

Music History Events: Recordings

May 17, 1933 Weak from fighting tuberculosis, Jimmie Rodgers arrives in New York and starts recording his last songs. He dies nine days later.

January 16, 1932 Duke Ellington records "It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got that Swing)."

October 9, 1931 Russ Columbo records "Prisoner Of Love."

April 20, 1931 Louis Armstrong records "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" from the play Under A Virginia Moon. He adds the song to his live repertoire, and it becomes a jazz standard, later recorded by Billie Holiday, Louis Prima, Harry Connick, Jr. and many others.

January 22, 1931 Clyde McCoy and His Orchestra record "Sugar Blues."

December 10, 1930 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra record "Mood Indigo."

November 7, 1930 Wayne King records "The Waltz You Save For Me."

October 31, 1930 Count Basie records "Somebody Stole My Gal."

August 13, 1930 Guy Lombardo records "Go Home And Tell Your Mother."

November 20, 1929 Leo Reisman records "Happy Days Are Here Again."

November 11, 1929 Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy record "Froggy Bottom."

November 5, 1929 McKinney's Cotton Pickers, an African American jazz band from Detroit, record the instrumental "Plain Dirt" in New York City.

February 6, 1929 Rudy Vallee and His Orchestra record "Deep Night."

December 14, 1928 Fanny Brice records "If You Want the Rainbow (You Must Have the Rain)."

October 2, 1928 The first professional recordings in Nashville take place as DeFord Bailey lays down eight tracks in Victor Records (later RCA) Studios.

September 28, 1928 Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra records "Under A Blanket Of Blue."

March 1, 1928 Paul Whiteman and Paul Robeson record "Ol' Man River" for the stage production of Show Boat.

January 28, 1927 Jean Goldkette and His Dancing Orchestra records "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover."

December 17, 1926 Ben Pollack and His Californians record "He's the Last Word."

April 6, 1925 Eddie Cantor records "If You Knew Susie."

January 30, 1917 The Original Dixieland Jazz Band records "The Darktown Strutters' Ball."

May 26, 2016 Gucci Mane gets out of jail after serving three years on gun charges. He goes home and records vocals for "1st Day Out tha Feds," which is released the next day.

September 30, 2008 Disney releases Nightmare Revisited, a cover album of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The new album commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of the film's original 1993 release and features new arrangements by KoRn, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and Marilyn Manson.

December 10, 2006 A demo called KO At Home by Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O is accidentally leaked on the internet. The recording was meant to be a gift to friend Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio but it was stolen from Sitek's suitcase. Karen O shrugged off the leak, saying "s--t happens."

April 23, 2001 Metallica start recording their album St. Anger, which turns into some kind of monster: Frontman James Hetfield ends up in rehab during the sessions, and the band only complete it with the help of a psychologist who talks them through their issues in group therapy.

August 17, 1993 Jeff Buckley performs at the Sin-é café in New York City. A few months later, recordings from the show become his first release, an EP called Live at Sin-é.

February 7, 1993 Neil Young records a live set on MTV's Unplugged. Fraught with trouble due to Young's displeasure over the performances of his backing band, it's still released as an album later that year.

March 11, 1991 Pearl Jam begin recording their debut album, Ten, at London Bridge Studios in Seattle.

September 13, 1990 Eddie Vedder does some surfing, writes some lyrics, and adds his vocals to three instrumental tracks recorded by the guys he would later join in Pearl Jam. The songs become "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps."

January 23, 1988 Seattle producer Jack Endino oversees the first recording session of an unknown, unnamed grunge band soon to be called Nirvana. The session takes place at Reciprocal Recording, where many of the genre's pioneers - including Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and Green River - cut their seminal albums. Nirvana returns to the studio a few months later to work on their debut album, Bleach.