Bing Crosby: The Bing Crosby CBS Recordings 1954-56

From Mosaic Records: http://www.mosaicrecords.com Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong revolutionized the art of singing and changed the course of American music forever. Of course, they did it with recordings like “Just One More Chance” and “Heebie Jeebies” rather than “White Christmas” and “Hello Dolly.” Recently, the Bing Crosby estate has begun cataloguing and restoring music recorded for Crosby’s various radio programs. The 160 songs in this Mosaic collection were recorded with the Buddy Cole Quartet between 1954 and 1956 for Bing’s CBS show are absolutely revelatory. Crosby’s early jazz roots informed his influential career as a pop singer. To our knowledge, these are the only recorded performances of Crosby singing the Great American Songbook in an informal atmosphere with a consummate small jazz ensemble. Without the pressure of phonograph recording sessions which by definition are always in search of hits, these recordings put Crosby’s artistry in bold relief and redefine the depths of his art. Only 16 of these performances were commercially released over three Decca albums. The personnel (Buddy Cole on keyboards, Vince Terri on guitar, Don Whitaker on bass and Nick Fatool on drums and percussion) is consistent throughout. The repertoire includes plenty of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Fats Waller. One 13-song session adds clarinetist Matty Matlock, tenor saxophonist Fred Falensby, trumpeter Clyde Hurley and trombonist Abe Lincoln and finds Bing exploring his roots on tunes like “Muskrat Ramble”, “That’s A-Plenty” and “At The Jazz Band Ball.”