When I Fall in Love

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When I Fall in Love (m. Victor Young, w. Edward Heyman) – The song was introduced, performed as an instrumental by Richard Hayman and his Orchestra, in the film One Minute to Zero, 1952, a box office flop starring Robert Mitchum and Ann Blyth.

Doris Day’s recording of 5 June 1952 was a hit that year, but Jeri Southern evidently recorded the song a couple of months earlier. I’d found the Jeri Southern recording in a video dated 1956 before I came across several comments on another video containing the same recording which suggested an earlier date, including this reminiscence:

I first heard Jeri Southern sing “When I Fall in Love” in 1952. I was a lonely Airman and hoplelessly in love with a girl 2500 miles away. She has always been one of my favorite vocalists.

Not long afterward, I found the following information attached to the recording at a Jeri Southern discography: “April 3, 1952; Victor Young, orch. dir.; piano by Jeri Southern.” The date seems to be a recording date, since, according to the Jeri Southern discography at 45cat.com, the single was released in June 1952.

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Jeri Southern with Victor Young, and his Orchestra — issued in June 1952 as the B-side of “A Mighty Pretty Waltz” on the single Decca 9-28224 — evidently recorded on 3 April 1952, as noted above.

Note on the video: The video features slide shots of the single record label and various Jeri Southern album covers, but oddly includes a photo of Peggy Lee from a 1971 press photo, displayed from about 0:55 to 1:20.

Doris Day — recorded 5 June 1952

Nat King Cole

recorded 28 December 1956, Capitol Recording Studio, Hollywood, CA

(below) From the 1957 film Istanbul. Probably recorded in the previous year as the film had January release dates. A studio recording became the first track of Cole’s 1957 album Love is the Thing, the first of four collaborations with arranger Gordon Jenkins.

Possibly from The Nat King Cole Show, Season 2, episode 2, which aired on 9 July 1957

Miles Davis Quintet – recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, 11 May 1956 — released on the album Steamin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet

Miles Davis – Trumpet
John Coltrane – Tenor saxophone (sits out)
Red Garland – Piano
Paul Chambers – Bass
Philly Joe Jones – drums

Sam Cooke – 1959

Bill Evans Trio – from Portrait in Jazz, recorded 28 December 1959, NY

Bill Evans – Piano
Scott LaFaro – Bass
Paul Motian – Drums

Wikipedia says:

Eight months after his successful collaboration with Miles Davis on the album Kind of Blue, Evans recorded Portrait in Jazz with a new group (the Bill Evans Trio) that helped change the direction of modern jazz.

Most noticeably, LaFaro’s bass is promoted from a mere accompanying instrument to one of almost equal status to the piano (though not to the extent that it would be on later albums such as Sunday at the Village Vanguard). It is one of Evans’ more up-tempo and swinging albums (the presence of several ballads notwithstanding).

The Lettermen – 1961

Brenda Lee – from her album Emotions, 1961

Bill Evans and Lee Konitz – from the album Crosscurrents, recorded 28 February, 1 & 2 March 1977 at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA — Lee Konitz (as) Bill Evans (pf)

Åke Johansson Trio with Chet Baker and Toots Thielemans – an album called Chet and Toots, 1985

Céline Dion with Clive Griffin on her album The Colour of my Love, 1993. The track was featured in the film Sleepless in Seattle (1993).