22/1/2020 3:40 am  #1


Were any of Bing's radio performances with Arnheim recorded?

Gus Arnheim's Coconut Grove Orchestra had a radio show broadcast in California, and perhaps some nearby regions, and these broadcasts overlapped the period when Bing was singing with Arnheim's band. Does anyone know whether any of the shows including Bing were recorded by anyone (officially or unofficially). And if so, have any such recordings become available. 

The eleven studio recordings Bing made with Arnheim are available,  But I wonder whether other songs, or somewhat different arrangements might exist if some Arnheim-Crosby radio shows, or parts of them, could still be heard.

 

22/1/2020 11:59 am  #2


Re: Were any of Bing's radio performances with Arnheim recorded?

Back in 1995 Take Two Records issued three CDS in a sequence named "Echos From the Cocoanut Grove".
devoted to Gus Arnheim, Phil Harris and Jimmy Grier, and said to consist of recordings taken from radio relays from the Grove.

Bing appears on two tracks of the Arnheim issue, "Out Of Nowhere" and with Lois Whiteman on "What Is It?".
There is a lot of audience noise and interruption (and Bing's inter-action. I seem to remember that the main culprit was Jack Oakie, in the audience  wisecracking through "What Is It?"). 
I am not aware of the existence of any other such recordings..

The Arnheim tracks are available as MP3 downloads from Amazon and others.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=echos+from+the+coconut+grove&ref=nb_sb_noss
https://www.amazon.com/Gus-Arnheim-Echoes-Coconut-Grove/dp/B079J5Z1LH/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=echos+from+the+cocoanut+grove&qid=1579694208&sr=8-5

Searches including and excluding the "a" in "Cocoanut" produce slightly different results!





 

 

22/1/2020 3:11 pm  #3


Re: Were any of Bing's radio performances with Arnheim recorded?

I noticed AFTER posting my question that the cover picture of the Arnheim CD, which I had been glancing at in Definitive Discography book yesterday, as I listened to some of the Chronology recording tracks, actually says "transcriptions."  But the paragraph below the illustration doesn't go into any detail about recordings from radio, focusing more on Bings studio recordings and the rise of his popularity during that period.  I did wonder specifically how many of the track on that CD might include Bing, as well.

Hearing Bing interact with the crowd so early in his radio career would be interesting!

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