For decades, Bing Crosby was the most popular vocalist in all of show business -- more successful even than Chick Bullock. JSP's four-CD, 106-track anthology The Vintage Years is an affordable and entertaining overview of Crosby's career from 1932 to 1950 that mingles studio recordings with live radio broadcasts. "Der Bingle" is heard at first backed by the Paramount Studio Orchestra, then for a while by Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra, but by and large the vast majority of the performances reproduced here find him backed by John ...
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For decades, Bing Crosby was the most popular vocalist in all of show business -- more successful even than Chick Bullock. JSP's four-CD, 106-track anthology The Vintage Years is an affordable and entertaining overview of Crosby's career from 1932 to 1950 that mingles studio recordings with live radio broadcasts. "Der Bingle" is heard at first backed by the Paramount Studio Orchestra, then for a while by Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra, but by and large the vast majority of the performances reproduced here find him backed by John Scott Trotter's orchestra (and, at times, chorus). The Crosby/Trotter collaboration was lasting and lucrative. Guest performers on this set include Constance Bennett, Gertrude Niesen, Dick Haymes, a delightfully well-adjusted Judy Garland and the impossible-to-contain Jimmy Durante. There are just enough examples of Crosby the romantic crooner, a good many upbeat pleasantries (such as Hoagy Carmichael's "Old Buttermilk Sky") and quite a load of vaudeville-styled entertainment, particularly on the fourth disc, which is almost entirely devoted to the scripted Crosby/Durante comedy act, here playing to studio audiences who laugh loudly at every punch line. The Crosby/Garland team comes across wonderfully, particularly when tossing off old-fashioned melodies like "Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie," "For Me and My Gal" and "Embraceable You." ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi
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