Art Gilham (1895-1961) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, known as “The Whispering Pianist.” He became a popular radio and recording personality in the early electrical recording era.

Gilham appears in the Pristine catalogue through 1925: Landmarks from the Dawn of Electrical Recording, where his work helps represent the broader sound-world of early microphone recording beyond the strictly classical sphere.

His style was intimate, conversational and ideally suited to the new electrical process, which could catch subtleties too quiet for the acoustic horn. The microphone made his whisper into a commercial personality.

This artist note is included because the release is about recording history as much as repertory. Gilham is a small but telling figure in the moment when recorded sound learned to lean closer.