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Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band.

Bing and the band's piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing's brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing "I Surrender, Dear" to the president of CBS. His live performances from New York were carried over the national radio network for 20 consecutive weeks in 1932.

His radio success led Paramount Pictures to include him in The Big Broadcast (1932), a film featuring radio favorites. His songs about not needing a bundle of money to make life happy was the right message for the decade of the Great Depression. His relaxed, low-key style carried over into the series of "Road" comedies he made with pal Bob Hope.

Crosby has had numerous jazz affiliations including with his first vocal group, The Rhythm Boys, but is normally classified as a pop music figure. Be that as it may, he remains associated with jazz through his many appearances with jazz greats, through his love for the music of jazz, and through his singing on several swinging jazz sides and albums.

The nickname “Bing” came at an early age and is really short for “Bingo,” a character in the comic strip “The Bingville Bugle” which he loved to read as a child. Crosby never studied music seriously. He was blessed with a naturally warm, deep, resonant, and appealing voice and learned how to phrase with it almost by osmosis. In the early 30’s Crosby’s chumming around with the jazz greats of the day helped him pick up on jazz phrasing. He claimed, "I used to hang around The Dorseys and Bix and Bunny Berigan and Glenn Miller and Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang - all the musicians I admired - and I was having a helluva good time. I really had no idea that I was learning anything. But I certainly was."

The talents of those he admired definitely affected his style. Ralph Gleason a noted Jazz writer once described Bing as the personification of the whole Jazz movement the relaxed, casual, natural, uninhibited approach to art. The same description appeared to apply to Crosby the man as well. Although a superstar he failed to travel with a large entourage of sycophants and yes-men.

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873
Album Review

Bing Crosby: Bing Crosby: The CBS Radio Recordings 1954-56

Read "Bing Crosby: The CBS Radio Recordings 1954-56" reviewed by David Rickert


For many years, in millions of homes, singer Bing Crosby ruled the airwaves. A large chunk of the US listened to his Kraft Music Hall on a weekly basis and as a result Crosby was able to dominate the music industry (and later the movie industry) without serious rivals. Aside from developing the template for radio programs, his most notable accomplishment may have been the move from live programming to taped recordings. Understandably, after doing it for years, Crosby wanted ...

310
Album Review

Bing Crosby: The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56)

Read "The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56)" reviewed by Michael Steinman


When contemporary culture acknowledges Bing Crosby at all, it is as a relic of ancient pop, his musical conservatism epitomized by “White Christmas." Happily, a new seven-disc Mosaic Records set reminds us that Crosby always swung without strain. In the mid-1950s, when he had apparently been eclipsed by Sinatra, then by Elvis, Crosby was still singing splendidly. The often high-level melodrama of his early records had given way to a masterful casualness.

The 160 tracks in this set ...

344
Album Review

Bing Crosby: Bing With A Beat

Read "Bing With A Beat" reviewed by David Rickert


They just don't write songs like “I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" anymore. It's a catchy melody combined with witty lyrics that conveys an innocent longing for love that would be inconceivable as a radio hit today. However, the same goes for just about any other song on Bing With A Beat.

But then they weren't really writing songs like that in 1957, either. That's when this album first appeared, and none of the songs were ...

611
Extended Analysis

Swingin' With Bing: Bing Crosby's Lost Radio Performances

Read "Swingin' With Bing: Bing Crosby's Lost Radio Performances" reviewed by David Rickert


Bing Crosby Swingin' With Bing: Bing Crosby's Lost Radio Performances Shout! Factory 2004

There's a well-known photograph from the early 20th century of a middle-class family huddled around a radio listening to one of the many programs that provided entertainment then. We laugh at this picture today, recognizing that the electronic device that captivates its audience in the picture was replaced by television, and what passed for entertainment was changed forever. But for the ...

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1

TV / Film

Bing Crosby documentary ‘Rediscovers’ enigmatic crooner

Bing Crosby documentary ‘Rediscovers’ enigmatic crooner

Source: Michael Ricci

If Bing Crosby seems like a voice from a long-forgotten era, it’s because in many ways he is. As cabaret star Michael Feinstein laments, “No one dreamed he’d fade.” Except maybe the four sons from his first marriage, two of whom committed suicide and two who died of natural causes. Crosby’s stern parenting, which included corporal punishment, was detailed in his late son Gary’s memoir Going My Own Way, the title an ironic comment on Crosby’s most famous film, which ...

2

Radio

Bing & Louis: A Pocketful Of Dreams With Gary Giddins, This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Bing & Louis: A Pocketful Of Dreams With Gary Giddins, This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Source: Don Mopsick

Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong struck up a friendship in the 1920s that flourished as they worked together—for almost half a century—on stage, in movies, and on radio and TV. This week on Riverwalkl Jazz, Gary Giddins, author of Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams-the Early Years, 1903-1940 shares a look into the friendship between Bing and Louis. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International. You can also drop in on a continuous stream of shows ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bing Crosby's birthday today! Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band\'s pianist, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing\'s brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing “I Surrender... ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bing Crosby's birthday today!

Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band\'s piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing\'s brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing “I ...

31

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bing Crosby's birthday today!

Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band\'s piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing\'s brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing “I ...

68

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bing Crosby

Source:

All About Jazz is celebrating Bing Crosby's birthday today!

Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band\'s piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing\'s brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing “I ...

54

Recording

Bing Bops with Patty and Peg

Bing Bops with Patty and Peg

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

I have no idea how Bing Crosby felt about bebop. But given his roots, one can only assume he viewed the jazz style as noisy, foolish and faddish. A veteran of Paul Whiteman's band in the '20s and the sweet vocal romanticism of the '30s, Crosby preferred his jazz straightforward and laid back. Though he certainly became more jazz-minded by the '40s, his hip recordings during the decade were more likely a reflection of his ties to Decca and his ...

201

Video / DVD

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans

Source: Jeff Abraham

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans As Bing Crosby Archive Opens Up Vault Once Again New Bing Crosby CD & DVD Releases Set For November 9th From Collectors' Choice Music and Infinity Entertainment Group The Crosby Christmas Sessions (CD) & Bing Sings the Great American Songbook (CD) The Television Specials: Volume 2—The Christmas Specials (DVD) Once again, the Bing Crosby Archive digs deep into the vault to release a treasure trove of rare and unreleased material guaranteed to satisfy ...

216

Recording

Bing Crosby Archive Opens Up Vault Once Again

Bing Crosby Archive Opens Up Vault Once Again

Source: Jonas Music Services

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans Bing Crosby Archive Opens Up Vault Once Again New Bing Crosby CD & DVD Releases Set For November 9th From Collectors' Choice Music and Infinity Entertainment Group The Crosby Christmas Sessions (CD) & Bing Sings the Great American Songbook (CD) The Television Specials: Volume 2—The Christmas Specials (DVD) 7" Vinyl Single of Bing Crosby/David Bowie Duet—The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth Once again, the Bing Crosby Archive digs deep ...

71

Recording

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans

Source: Jonas Music Services

Christmas Comes Early For Bing Crosby Fans: Bing Crosby Archive Opens Up Vault Once Again

New Bing Crosby CD Releases Set For November 9th From Collectors' Choice Music: The Crosby Christmas Sessions (CD) & Bing Sings the Great American Songbook (CD)


Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

El Señor Bing

Universal Music
2013

buy

Return To Paradise...

Universal Music
2010

buy

So Rare: Treasures...

Universal Music
2010

buy

On The Sentimental...

Universal Music
2010

buy

Bing On Broadway

Universal Music
2010

buy

Bing Crosby: The CBS...

Mosaic Records
2010

buy

Videos

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