Bing Crosby's little brother
Bob led a very nice swing band during the 1930s and '40s. His overall discography extends as late as 1966, but the '30s and '40s were his heyday. The Bob Crosby Orchestra were capable of playing real jazz and did so from time to time, sometimes specializing in what soon became known as the Dixieland repertoire. Storyville's compendium of rare
Bob Crosby recordings made between February 26 and March 19, 1936, contains titles that do not appear in most session-by-session discographies. This is because the records were waxed for the Muzak Transcription Service and sold to radio stations for periodic airplay. The best tracks either have some solid connection with jazz or feature vocalists who manage the lyrics without sounding foolish. An instrumental take on
George Gershwin's "Summertime" is beautiful but lasts only about a minute and a half. "Old Man Mose," like many a
Louis Armstrong cover, is good fun rendered slightly fishy as white people try to sound like black people clapping their hands and singing in "Southern" dialect. "In a Sentimental Mood" is worth hearing in order to savor the Bob Crosby Orchestra negotiating a theme composed by
Duke Ellington. "Island in the West Indies" and "At the Codfish Ball" are entertaining, well-performed novelties with redeeming social value. Perhaps the best side in this stack of rare acetates is
Crosby's down-to-earth rendering of
Kid Ory's "Savoy Blues." This band always sounded best when reconnecting with the jazz tradition on which it and so many other bands built their successes. ~ arwulf arwulf