The Best of the Bob Crosby Orchestra Thanks to Mosaic Records

The story begins with drummer/bandleader Ben Pollack.

Pollack had been leading dance orchestras since the 1920s, and they were filled with excellent musicians - Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Ray Bauduc, Charlie Teagarden and Glenn Miller were part of the Pollack Orchestra in the latter part of the decade. Alto saxophonist Gil Rodin was also a member, and he would play an important part of the Bob Crosby band story later on.

Pollack decided that he wanted to be out in front of the band instead of its drummer, so he became a crooner and toned down the jazz. He made an early sound short for WB in 1929. For years this was hard to see, but now it is on YouTube.

By the 1930s, he had a female singer named Doris Robbins, and foolishly decided to make her the focus of the band. By September of 1934, morale was pretty low, so the band walked out en masse. It was Rodin who suggested that the band stay together and find a new front man. Bing Crosby’s brother Bob had been singing and recording with the Dorsey Bros. Orchestra, so he was drafted. He was good enough, and stayed out of the way of the music.

The Crosby Orchestra was known for its two-beat style, as opposed to the four beats of most 1930s swing orchestras (Jimmie Lunceford was a notable exception), and much of its repertoire was made up of pre-swing classics (the term ‘dixieland’ is often used to categorize 1920s jazz), new instrumentals and current pop songs (trumpet artist/historian Richard Sudhalter called it the first jazz repertory band). This was another band with important soloists like Yank Lawson and Eddie Miller, and later Billy Butterfield, Bob Zurke, Charlie Spivak, Jess Stacy, Muggsy Spanier and Irving Fazola. Its arrangers were Deane Kincaide (who could play any instrument and later was part of the NBC staff orchestra), clarinetist Matty Matlock, and bass player Bob Haggart, who’d started as a guitarist studying with George Van Eps, but picked up the bass on his own in high school. He was so good that important bandleaders wanted to hire him, but he turned them down. Then the gig with the Crosby band came up, and he liked that this was a new group starting fresh.

Under the management of Rodin, the band was a hit, with several popular recordings with Crosby’s vocals, and instrumental hits as well, such as “Down Rampart Street Parade,” and “Big Noise from Winnetka,” a duet of Haggart whistling and drummer Ray Bauduc using his drumsticks on Haggart’s bass. Haggart in particular contributed important music such as a piece called “I’m Free;” when lyrics were added, it became the song “What’s New,” a big hit that became more and more popular as the years went by. Another song of his that has become a standard was “My Inspiration.”

The current Mosaic box focuses on the instrumental side of the full band, and the band-within-a-band, The Bobcats. This is exactly the type of project that only Mosaic would do, in this case six CDs of an important band that has not always been thought of when the great big bands of the era are mentioned. It is getting it’s due here; listeners can clearly hear that it was a band with a powerful swing, perfect for dancers.

We must first start with the drummer Ray Bauduc, a name that is seldom mentioned when it comes to great drummers of the era except by historians. Born in New Orleans, he supplied a powerful yet often subtle rock-steady beat enhanced by fills on woodblocks, cowbells, cymbals et. al. The Decca engineers achieved excellent balances on these records, and Bauduc is a tremendous force. Also prominent is Haggart’s bass, strong with a ringing tone. To say that this band was always a two-beat band would not be correct, because even new treatments of 1920’s jazz standards were filled with ‘4 to the bar’ passages, and Haggart’s playing is sheer poetry. As an arranger, his approach was that the band sound like a small band, and had creative ways to get it to sound that way via different instrumental combinations, similar to the way Duke Ellington often wrote for his band. The band had a variety of pianists, from Joe Sullivan, to Bob Zurke, to Jess Stacy, all different and all excellent (we must remember that Stacy was the pianist with Benny Goodman’s band who stopped the show at Carnegie Hall). The instrumental soloists have been listed above; like Ellington’s ensemble, they show a variety of musical influences.

I confess that I never really spent a lot of time listening to this band over the years. This set is a real ear opener. Track after track is filled with glorious ensemble playing, excellent soloists and sheer excitement and joy. Haggart must be regarded as one of the very best arrangers in music. His settings are always interesting and fun, with clever touches. I found myself re-listening to tracks instead of listening all the way through the set to make sure that I heard a device, a harmony, or an instrumental blending. We hear Haggart growing and maturing as a writer as the years go by. “Digga Digga Do” is in fact one of the great recordings of that era, swinging like crazy with a fabulous arrangement (label owner Jack Kapp let the band have two sides to record the entire arrangement). “Summertime” was the band’s theme, approved by Gershwin himself. Gershwin loved this band and attended rehearsals.

There are very few tracks with Crosby vocals (he was okay) and there is one recording by a vocalist who has a cult following, Teddy Grace, who sang for a number of leaders before 1940, when she left the music business. She later lost her voice. I also love the Phil Moore compositions the band recorded. Moore was toiling anonymously at M-G-M and Paramount, and contributing music to various bands during this period. He would later make an important series of recordings with studio orchestra, as well as coach singers like Marilyn Monroe and write special material for them.

Like many bands during the war, important musicians left. By 1945, Crosby was leading a totally different band; the two-beat style was gone, but it recorded and broadcast excellent music, and this edition deserves more attention than it has gotten (arrangers included Tommy Todd, Dave Matthews and Nelson Riddle). Crosby eventually appeared on radio as Jack Benny’s sidekick replacing Phil Harris, and continued his vocal career. The original Bobcats often accompanied Crosby when he was signed to Capitol Records during the 1950s. They had reunions for many years after that.

Haggart? He was busy in the music world of New York, working with Bing Crosby, Eddie Condon, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and many more. He later led an excellent small group that toured for years. He continued writing excellent arrangements; an album on Dot Records of the music of “Porgy and Bess” is perhaps his masterpiece. I met him at a gig, either with Dick Hyman or Sudhalter, and he was very gracious. Unfortunately, I didn’t know the Crosby sides very well at that time; now I would have a lot of questions for him. I could kick myself!!!

As always, Mosaic boxes have excellent liner notes, here written by Michael Steinman.

To give you a taste of what this band was capable of, here is a YouTube link of a live broadcast from Chicago’s Congress Hotel from 1937.

This is a limited edition. This is going to disappear quickly, as most Mosaic boxes do. Don’t wait. You deserve this!!!!!