Jazz Articles about Bing Crosby

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

by David Rickert
January 25, 2010

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 ...

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

by Michael Steinman
December 5, 2009

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 ...

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Bing Crosby: Bing With A Beat

by David Rickert
November 17, 2004

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 ...

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

by David Rickert
October 3, 2004

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 ...