Bing with a Beat

Last updated
Bing with a Beat
Bingwithabeat.JPG
Studio album by
Released1957
RecordedFebruary 19–20, 1957
Genre Vocal
Length37:44
Label RCA Victor
Bing Crosby chronology
High Society
(1956)
Bing with a Beat
(1957)
A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket
(1957)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Bing with a Beat was Bing Crosby's seventh long play album but his first with RCA Victor. It was recorded at the Radio Recorders "Annex" Studio in Los Angeles and released on vinyl in September 1957. Bing with a Beat is a 1957 concept album where the songs feature "hot" jazz and dixieland arrangements by Matty Matlock, played by Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band.

Contents

The album was issued on CD by BMG Music and Bluebird Records in 2004.

Reception

Variety liked the album, saying, "Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band has put Bing Crosby in one of his happiest and swingiest vocal frames. The evergreens are ever-bright when Crosby and Scobey match wits." [2]

Record producer, Ken Barnes, wrote, "After his high-powered outing with Buddy Bregman, Bing probably felt a desire to get back to the roots of his singing style and this pleasantly swinging album with Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band was probably the best artistic therapy for him at this point in his career. Bing always responded enthusiastically to a Dixie-style backing and with songs like 'Some Sunny Day', 'Whispering' and 'Mama Loves Papa' he is in top-notch form. Scobey plays some tasty trumpet and there are telling solos from others in the band - notably Ralph Sutton on piano. The cleanly crisp arrangements are by Matty Matlock and the album is almost a total joy from beginning to end. The only mild disappointment is a rather lack-lustre version of 'Mack the Knife' which should have been a standout. [3]

The writer Will Friedwald, in his book Jazz Singing: America's Great Voices from Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond, commented, "Communicating the obvious joy the music arises in him, Crosby fairly oozes with charming insouciance above and beyond even the call of Crosby, expressed in semi-spoken asides and lyric alterations." [4]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella" Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal, Francis Wheeler2:50
2."I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" Fred E. Ahlert, Joe Young 3:03
3."Along the Way to Waikiki" Richard A. Whiting, Gus Kahn 3:29
4."Exactly Like You" Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields 3:14
5."Dream a Little Dream of Me" Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt, Gus Kahn 2:40
6."Last Night on the Back Porch"Carl Schraubstader, Lew Brown 2:48
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Some Sunny Day" Irving Berlin 2:46
2."Whispering"John Schonberger, Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose 3:26
3."Tell Me" J. Will Callahan, Max Kortlander2:56
4."Mack the Knife" Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht 3:53
5."Down Among the Sheltering Palms" Abe Olman, James Brockman, Leo Wood 3:15
6."Mama Loves Papa" Abel Baer, Cliff Friend 3:10

Personnel

Bob Scobey (trumpet and leader), Frank Beach (trumpet); Abe Lincoln (trombone); Matty Matlock (clarinet); Dave Harris (tenor saxophone); Ralph Sutton (piano); Clancy Hayes (guitar); Red Callender (bass); Nick Fatool (drums). [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy May</span> American composer, arranger and trumpeter

Edward William May Jr. was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for The Green Hornet (1966), The Mod Squad (1968), Batman, and Naked City (1960). He collaborated on films such as Pennies from Heaven (1981), and orchestrated Cocoon, and Cocoon: The Return, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Van Eps</span> American swing and jazz guitarist (1913–1998)

George Abel Van Eps was an American swing and mainstream jazz guitarist.

<i>Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings</i> 1956 studio album by Bing Crosby

Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings was Bing Crosby's sixth LP, his first album for Verve, recorded and released in a mono format in 1956.

<i>New Tricks</i> (album) 1957 studio album by Bing Crosby

New Tricks was Bing Crosby's eighth long-playing album and sixth vinyl LP for Decca Records, originally released in 1957 as number DL-8575.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Sandke</span> American jazz trumpeter and guitarist

Jay Randall Sandke is a jazz trumpeter and guitarist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)</span> Song written and composed by Fred Fisher

"Chicago" is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and published in 1922. The original sheet music variously spelled the title "Todd'ling" or "Toddling." The song has been recorded by many artists, but the best-known versions are by Frank Sinatra, Ben Selvin and Judy Garland. The song alludes to the city's colorful past, feigning "... the surprise of my life / I saw a man dancing with his own wife", mentioning evangelist Billy Sunday as having not been able to "shut down" the city, and State Street where "they do things they don't do on Broadway".

"God Bless the Child" is a song written by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. in 1939. It was first recorded on May 9, 1941, by Billie Holiday and released by the Okeh Records in 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crazy Rhythm</span> Song by Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra

"Crazy Rhythm" is a thirty-two-bar swing show tune written in 1928 by Irving Caesar with music by Joseph Meyer and Roger Wolfe Kahn for the Broadway musical Here's Howe.

Robert Alexander Scobey Jr. was an American jazz trumpet player of traditional or Dixieland music based originally in the San Francisco area and later in Chicago, Illinois. He was born in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and died in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Barris</span> American singer and songwriter

Harry Barris was an American popular singer and songwriter. He was one of the earliest singers to use "scat singing" in recordings. Barris, one of Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys, along with Bing Crosby and Al Rinker, scatted on several songs, including "Mississippi Mud," which Barris wrote in 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matty Matlock</span> Musical artist

Julian Clifton "Matty" Matlock was an American Dixieland jazz clarinettist, saxophonist and arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Fatool</span> American drummer

Nick Fatool was an American jazz drummer.

Mortimer Gerald Corb was an American jazz double-bassist.

"Sugar", also known as "That Sugar Baby o' Mine", is a popular song by Maceo Pinkard, his wife Edna Alexander and Sidney D. Mitchell. Recorded by Ethel Waters on February 20, 1926, it soon achieved chart success.

<i>Bing & Satchmo</i> 1960 studio album by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong

Bing & Satchmo is a 1960 studio album by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong that was arranged and conducted by Billy May. The album was recorded for Crosby's label, Project Records, and released by MGM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bing Crosby's record labels after 1955</span>

After Bing Crosby's long-term Decca Records contract was up, he signed many short-term contracts with a wide variety of labels. These included many popular labels such as Reprise, RCA, Verve, Decca (again), United Artists, Capitol and more.

<i>Thats What Life Is All About</i> (album) 1975 studio album by Bing Crosby

That’s What Life Is All About is a 1975 vinyl album recorded by Bing Crosby for United Artists at Chappells in London in February 1975. He was accompanied by Pete Moore and his Orchestra.

<i>Bing and the Dixieland Bands</i> 1951 compilation album by Bing Crosby

'Bing and the Dixieland Bands is a Decca Records album by Bing Crosby featuring songs with a Dixieland flavour which was issued as a 10” LP with catalog No. DL5323 and as a 4-disc 78rpm box set (A-852) and as a 4-disc 45rpm set (9–232).

Stanley Aubrey Wrightsman was an American jazz pianist.

"Old Folks" is a 1938 popular song and jazz standard composed by Willard Robison with lyrics by Dedette Lee Hill, the wife and occasional colleague of Billy Hill. The lyrics tell of an old man nicknamed "Old Folks" and reference his service in the American Civil War, his habit of smoking with a "yellow cob pipe", and the prospect of his death.

References

  1. Planer, Lindsay. "Bing with a Beat". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  2. Variety. September 2, 1957.{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. Barnes, Ken (1980). The Crosby Years. Elm Tree Books. p. 93.
  4. Friedwald, Will (1996). Jazz singing : America's great voices from Bessie Smith to bebop and beyond (1 ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. p.  45. ISBN   0306807122.
  5. Reynolds, Fred. The Crosby Collection 1926-1977 (Part Four 1951–1960 ed.). John Joyce. p. 206.