Kraft Music Hall: Selected Performances 1935-1936 (JSP Records, 2015)

The fine British reissue label JSP Records just released a single-CD collection of rare Kraft Music Hall broadcasts from the mid 1930s, the scarcity of which is well known to serious Bing Crosby fans. I recently published the following review of it in my classic jazz website, The Vintage Bandstand, and I now reprint it here because it also belongs in this blog.

The new JSP Records release, Kraft Music Hall: Selected Performances 1935-1936, is an unexpected but wonderful surprise for all Bing Crosby fans and collectors, which I have just received from the International Club Crosby. Although the medium of radio was of paramount importance in Crosby's meteoric rise as a multimedia star in the 1930s, unfortunately not too many broadcasts from this early period of his career have survived. As the subtitle of this disc ("Lost radio recordings rediscovered and released here for the first time") suggests, this compilation attempts to fill that void by presenting material from early Kraft Music Hall programs that have not been heard since they first aired in 1935 and 1936. At that particular point in time, December of 1935, Crosby's old boss, Paul Whiteman, was still the host of KMH, and the singer was simply a guest on the program. While the show was broadcast from New York, Bing's segments were relayed from Hollywood, as we can hear on the first track of this album, which has Whiteman introducing Crosby, who was not backed by Whiteman's outfit but by the excellent, swinging Jimmy Dorsey orchestra. It appears that it was common practice for Crosby during his guest spots to sing a medley of songs associated with him or taken from one of his then-current movies, as well as a few tunes that he had introduced or helped make popular, such as "On Treasure Island," "Red Sails in the Sunset," "Dinah" (unfortunately sans the Mills Brothers here), and "After You've Gone." As John Newton observes in the liner notes, Bing sings the romantic ballad "I'm Yours," which "fits neither category, but is nevertheless a welcome addition" and would later be beautifully recorded by Dean Martin.

Jimmy Dorsey leads the band on these shows

These performances are not interesting merely because of their rarity, but rather because they prove that Crosby was a master interpreter of popular song who was even more exciting, jazzy, and improvisatory when he was singing to a radio audience in front of a microphone and supported by a bandleader of the caliber of Jimmy Dorsey. On the December 26, 1935, broadcast, which includes a rather sleepy version of "I Get a Kick Out of You" by Kay Weber that sounds as though she were not getting any kicks out of singing the song, it becomes clear that Crosby is acquiring more protagonism, since he sings more numbers than on previous programs. In fact, come January 1936, Crosby began to host the KMH himself, quickly turning it into one of the most popular radio shows in the country, with a weekly listenership estimated at dozens of millions. From the first two shows hosted by Crosby we get some fantastic performances of songs like "Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Mo," "I'll See You in My Dreams," "A Little Bit Independent," and "Some of These Days," still backed by Dorsey, who would remain on the show until July 1937. This new release complements JSP's very recommendable 2007 four-CD set, The Vintage Years, which included broadcasts made between 1932 and 1950, featuring some interesting duets with Judy Garland and Jimmy Durante, and will delight Crosby fans for the scarcity of this type of material and also for the fact that it is up to the usual audio restoration standards of the fine British reissue label.

With Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra / In Hollywood 1930-33 / In Hollywood 1933-34 (Chansons Cinema, 1995)

The music that Bing Crosby recorded for his movies of the 1930s has been available in different digital editions, notably the first two volumes of the Going Hollywood series released by the British label Jasmine Records. However, the first collection of Bing's film music that I ever purchased is this three-CD set from the French label Chansons Cinema, first issued in 1995 and now long out of print. It only includes the songs featured in Bing's movies from the period between 1930 and 1934—The King of Jazz (1930), The Big Broadcast (1932), College Humor (1933), Too Much Harmony (1933), Going Hollywood (1933), We're Not Dressing (1934), and She Loves Me Not (1934). Unlike the Jasmine series, which often includes music taken directly from the film soundtrack, the sides presented here seem to come from studio sessions, and the sound quality is consistently high bearing in mind the age of the recordings. Overall, this is a very attractive release, and the three discs come in jewel cases housed within a black cardboard box that hasn't fallen apart even though I bought it almost twenty years ago. Some recording information is provided on the back cover of each disc, and the biographical essay on Bing, written by Sarah Leibovitz-Dambre and presented in both English and French, is very well written and informative.

In addition to two discs' worth of Bing's movie tracks from 1930-34, there is a third CD that features a good cross-section of recordings by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from 1928 and 1929, with Bing as vocalist and Bix Beiderbecke on cornet. These range from Rhythm Boys sides ("That's My Weakness Now," "Out O'Town Gal"), to songs on which he is part of a vocal quartet or quintet, to some solo features ("Coquette," "Reaching for Someone," "S'posin'," "A Bundle of Old Love Letters"). Although there are more comprehensive releases out there covering this period of his career, this is actually not a bad introduction to Crosby's sound with Whiteman. Strangely, on the 1928 "I'm Bringing a Red, Red Rose," Jack Fulton takes on the vocal duties and Bing doesn't seem to be featured at all! Bing's movies from this era are graced with excellent music, so some of the songs included here, such as "Please," "Learn to Croon," "Black Moonlight," "Just an Echo in the Valley," "Temptation," and "May I?" belong in any compilation of his greatest recordings from the thirties. Though not as well known, other tunes such as "Moonstruck," "After Sundown," "We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines," "Once in a Blue Moon," and "She Reminds Me of You" qualify as overlooked gems from Bing's discography that deserve more recognition. On the whole, and although this music is available elsewhere (in fact, the two volumes from Collectables Records entitled In Hollywood 1930-34 cover almost exactly the same material as discs 2 and 3 here), this is an outstanding set that every Crosby fan should purchase—if able to find it, that is!

Bing with the Rhythm Boys

DISC 1 - With Paul Whiteman: C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E / Get Out and Get Under the Moon / 'Taint So, Honey, 'Taint So / I'd Rather Cry Over You / I'm on the Crest of a Wave / That's My Weakness Now / Because My Baby Don't Mean "Maybe" Now! / Out-o'-Town Gal / I'm Bringing a Red, Red Rose (vcl Jack Fulton) / Coquette / Reaching for Someone / S'posin' / At Twilight / When You're Counting the Stars Alone / I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All? / A Bundle of Old Love Letters.

DISC 2 - In Hollywood 1930-33: Happy Feet / A Bench in the Park / A Bench in the Park / It Happened in Monterey / I Like to Do Things for You / Ragamuffin Romeo / So the Bluebirds and the Blackbirds Got Together / Song of the Dawn / Dinah / Please / Here Lies Love / Learn to Croon / Moonstruck / Down the Old Ox Road / Thanks / The Day You Came Along / I Guess It Had to Be That Way / Black Moonlight.

DISC 3 - In Hollywood 1933-34: Just an Echo in the Valley / Beautiful Girl / After Sundown / We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines / Temptation / Our Big Love Scene / Love Thy Neighbor / Once in a Blue Moon / Good-Night, Lovely Little Lady / May I? / She Reminds Me of You / I'm Hummin'—I'm Whistlin'—I'm Singin' / Love in Bloom / Straight from the Shoulder.