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Stordahl and Frank Sinatra at the first Capitol recording session in 1953
Axel Stordahl (8 August 1913-August 30 1963) was an arranger who was active from the late 1930s through the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his work with Frank Sinatra in the 1940s at Columbia Records. With his sophisticated orchestrations, Stordahl is credited with helping to bring pop arranging into the modern age.
Stordahl was born in Staten Island, New York to Norwegian parents. He began his career as a trumpeter in jazz bands which played in dance halls. In 1935, he joined Tommy Dorsey's new orchestra and soon became the band's arranger. In January, 1940, Sinatra joined the group as vocalist, and it became apparent that Stordahl's arrangements were particularly well-suited to the singer's voice.
In the subsequent decade, Sinatra cut some four hundred sides for Columbia, of which three quarters were arranged by Stordahl. Stordahl was admired for his skills in framing Sinatra's voice, creating a soft, opulent sound with swirling strings, understated rhythms and woodwinds. He was one of the first American arrangers to tailor his work to the vocal qualities of a specific singer. When Sinatra move to Capitol Records Stordahl arranged his first album, In The Wee Small Hours. For subsequent albums, Sinatra worked with Nelson Riddle, who cultivated his jazz-oriented qualities.
Stordahl subsequently married singer June Hutton (of the Pied Pipers) and went on to work with such singers as Bing Crosby, Doris Day Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore, and Dean Martin, among others. In 1961, Sinatra returned to collaborate with Stordahl for his final Capitol recording, Point of No Return.
Although best known as an arranger, Stordahl also composed a number of songs of which "Day by Day" is the best known.
Stordahl died in 1963 at age sixty of cancer in Encino, California.
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