Editing Easy listening (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2016}}
{{external media |width=220px |audio1= You may hear examples of easy listening music performed by John Serry on his album ''Squeeze Play'' in 1956 <br> [https://listenbrainz.org/artist/9ff7e10c-d72b-4948-9a2e-635b0ad19be0/ '''Here on listenbrainz.org''']}}

The style has been synonymous with the tag "with strings". String instruments had been used in sweet bands in the 1930s and was the dominant soundtrack to movies of Hollywood's Golden Age. In the 1940s and 1950s strings had been used in [[jazz]] and [[popular music]] contexts. As examples in the jazz genre, there are recordings of [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref>[https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351553780/chapters/10.4324/9781315089669-8 Frank Sinatra Easy Listenning and TV] Retrieved January 28, 2021</ref> Another example of a practitioner in the popular context was [[Dinah Washington]]'s "What a Difference a Day Makes". In the 1950s the use of strings quickly became a main feature of the developing easy listening genre.

[[Jackie Gleason]], whose first ten albums went gold, expressed the goal of producing "musical wallpaper that should never be intrusive, but conducive".<ref>{{cite web|title=Jackie Gleason Albums |url=http://music.aol.com/album/the-romantic-moods-of-jackie-gleason/191846 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712164054/http://music.aol.com/album/the-romantic-moods-of-jackie-gleason/191846 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 12, 2012 |work=AoL Music |publisher=AOL Inc |access-date=August 16, 2012 |author=AoL Music |year=2012 }}</ref>

Similarly, in 1956 [[John Serry Sr.]] sought to utilize the accordion within the context of a jazz sextet in order to create a soothing mood ideally suited for "low pressure" listening on his album ''[[Squeeze Play (album)|Squeeze Play]]''.<ref>The Cash Box, ''Album Reviews'', Cash Box Publishing Co., New York, December 8, 1956, Vol.XVIII No. 12, p. 38 [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Cash-Box/50s/1956/CB-1956-12-08.pdf Review of album "Squeeze Play" in Cash Box magazine, Pg. 38 on americanradiohistory.com]</ref><ref>[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box-Magazine.htm Review of the album "Squeeze Play" in "The Cash Box" magazine - See Album Reviews column on December 8, 1956 p. 38 on americanradiohistory.com]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hgoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 ''The Billboard'' - Review and Ratings of New Popular Albums - ''Squeeze Play'', December 1, 1956 p. 22 on books.google.com]</ref>