NEW CD: BING CROSBY - IMMERSED IN MR. MERCER'S VERSE

It is so nice that we are starting to see a few more new Bing CDs out there. Here is one where Bing sings Johnny Mercer.

You can purchase the CD through Amazon, and here are the track details. Some of the recordings are from radio, but I do not know which ones yet...

Track Listing

1. Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean
2.  I’m an Old Cowhand
3.  Too Marvellous for Words

4  .Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)

5.  You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
6.  On Behalf of the Visiting Firemen
7.  Mister Meadowlark

8.  The Waiter and the Porter and the Upstairs Maid
9.  Dearly Beloved
10. Blues in the Night
11. Skylark
12. On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

13. Accentuate the Positive
14. There’s a Fella Waiting in Poughkeepsie
15. The Yodel Blues
16. The Big Movie Show in the Sky
17. Autumn Leaves
18. Lazy Bones
19. In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening
20. The Glow Worm
21. P.S. I Love You
22. Jeepers Creepers
23. That Old Black Magic

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REMEMBERING: KEN BARNES (1933-2015)

Record producer and musical genius Ken Barnes has died today. No words can express what he meant to Bing's career in the 1970s - so here are a few pictures of the greats he worked with - Bing, Fred Astaire, and Johnny Mercer.

He will be missed...

PETE MOORE: BING ARRANGER AND CONDUCTOR DIES

In a career spanning six decades, composer-arranger-conductor,Pete Moore’s music was and is known to millions the world over, but his name is less familiar to the average person. As a composer, he wrote themes for many TV commercials including such famous brands as Coca Cola and Lux Toilet Soap, numerous songs recorded by such artists as Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Frankie Laine and Fred Astaire. But it is his composition “Asteroid” – the famous theme for Pearl and Dean’s cinema advertisements – that remains his most familiar and most successful composition. Apart from being heard every day (for the last 45 years) on cinema screens in the U.K., it is constantly featured around the world in commercials and documentaries. For many people, the very sound of its “pa-papa-pa” fanfare spells “cinema.” It has also been “sampled” by modern-day pop artists and enjoyed chart success on more than one occasion.

But that is only a small portion of a career that saw him providing orchestrations and accompaniments for such artists as Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Julie Andrews, Frankie Laine, Rosemary Clooney, Slim Whitman and Randy Crawford – to name but a few. His orchestrations can be found in the repertoires of such world famous musical units as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the Rochester Symphony Orchestra – in addition to writing scores for such luminaries as Burt Bacharach, Marvin Hamlisch and Liberace.

A quiet, soft-spoken and unassuming man, cockney-raised and academy-trained, Pete Moore usually declined to do interviews because he was always “too busy.” In fact, it would seem that he never actively sought work, it just came to him. Which is why he was often referred to as “The Invisible Genius.” As a person and as a musician, he was liked and admired by everyone who knew him. While he may not be a household name, Pete Moore’s music remains alive and well. As it has for the past half-century.

His funeral takes place at 1.20 pm next Friday December 13th at Mortlake Crematorium, Kew Meadow Path, Townmead Road, London TW9 4EN

Pete Moore with Johnny Mercer and Ken Barnes

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NEW BING CROSBY CDS - FALL OF 2013

This is great news...

This fall The Bing Crosby Archive will release two new CDs through Universal Music Enterprises. Bing Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook is a new CD compilation celebrating Bing Crosby’s recordings of songs composed by his friend and frequent collaborator, Johnny Mercer. The recordings span more than two decades – starting with a rare 1934 radio performance of “P.S. I Love You.” Other highlights include “Lazy Bones,” a duet with Louis Armstrong, and several of Bing’s Decca hits like “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” which features the Andrews Sisters, and “Mr. Meadowlark,” a duet with Mercer. Also included among the 22 selections are 10 previously unissued recordings, including “That Old Black Magic,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Glow Worm,” and “Autumn Leaves.”

The CD release of Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris – 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be the first-ever reissue of Bing Crosby’s first LP. The original 1953 release, recorded in Paris with Bing singing in French, was an eight song, 10″ album and one of the first concept albums ever made. Bing’s French language recordings include “La Vie En Rose” and “Madamoiselle de Paris.” The anniversary edition expands Le Bing to 24 tracks – 15 never before released ­– including rare studio outtakes, and several English language bonus tracks including a pair of Cole Porter favorites, “I Love Paris” and “Allez Vous En (Go Away.)”

More news as it happens...

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COMMAND PERFORMANCE: APRIL 5, 1945

World War II was a horrible time for this country and the world for that matter. However, the entertainment at the time was some of the best the world has ever known. Radio was the most popular medium and a great show heard by soldiers was "Command Performance".

Hosted by Harry “Bing” Crosby, who is congratulated for his win of the Academy Award. Bing sings, This Heart of Mine. Marilyn Maxwell flirts with Bing before she sings, Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week.

Singer and songwriter, Johnny Mercer joins Bing for some good natured teasing. Bing and Johnny sing Swing is Here to Stay. Or something like that. Mayor of Hollywood, Lionel Barrymore talks with Bing and shares pointers on dramatic acting. Bing sings with the Charioteers, Dear Old Girl.

Dame Whittier, an older star of the stage drops in to share admireing words for Bing. Bing sings a final tune, the Fifth Marines...

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BING CROSBY AND JOHNNY MERCER - 1960

What a great team!