I enjoyed the set. Some great recordings that Bing never recorded commercially. I am glad though I did not pay full price, because the Buddy Cole Orchestra gets annoying on some songs, but it is a nice set. It is the first Mosaic set I have bought. I did borrow from the library the three CD set of Johnny Mercer they put out that was wonderful too!

Last edited by Lobosco (18/1/2015 1:06 am)

Anton G.-F. wrote:

... I am one of those people who wish that Bing had recorded more often in a small-group setting

I'm with you all the way on that, Anton. When minimal accompaniment lets one hear every nuance of Bing's voice, there is magic in the air.

I am a bit fonder of Buddy Cole than some others, however, not because I think all of his electric organ work is wonderful, but more because it is a piece of Cole's offerings as a very talented and versatile musician and arranger, of whom it must also be said was well respected and liked by Bing.
 

Anton, I too prefer Cole's piano playing to some of his electric organ playing during the period covered by the Mosaic set, but Cole's organ capability shouldn't be judged only on his work on electrics.  He started his career playing theater pipe organ, back when the finest movie houses had such an organist providing the soundtrack behind films with, when it was done well, an orchestral breadth, variety, energy.   On some of the Mosaic tracks I imagnine Cole moving between the keyboards of Piano, Organ, Celeste like a pipe organist moving the stops and playing on different ranks of keys. If you think of his arranger role, another hand on another set of keys can be imagined.   And regarding the piano, a lot of people didn't realize that Buddy plays piano on some of Nat King Cole's hit recordings (because wouldn't most people assume that we were hearing pianist Nat) and Buddy also played piano for some of the other Cole's tours, leaving it easier for Nat to just stand up in front of the orchestra facing the audience, something the audience very much liked.  Here's a short blurb on Buddy that touches on some of these things:  http://www.spaceagepop.com/cole.htm

Mosaic is having a sale through the end of June with the Bing Crosby set reduced to $99.

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=245-MD-CD

Also, eBay has a copy of the Mosaic set signed by Mary Crosby, with the discs still sealed:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BING-CROSBY-CBS-Radio-Recordings-MOSAIC-7-CD-BOX-Autographed-by-MARY-CROSBY/372335731674?hash=item56b0f063da:g:NDMAAOSwhEVbItye
 

I think that CD is from a chronological series of studio recordings that Redmond Nostalgia put out. I don't think it was as complete or as well remastered, as the Chronological Bing Crosby and Through the Years series, but it was probably less expensive.

Anton G.-F. wrote:

David,

I absolutely love the Mosaic 7-CD set because I am one of those people who wish that Bing had recorded more often in a small-group setting (I feel the same way about Sinatra). Since he didn't do it very often commercially, it's nice to have these CBS recordings, particularly because, as you say, there are many songs on the set that he didn't get around to recording commercially, and that perhaps he never would have done if not for these radio series. I do agree, though, that the Buddy Cole combo can get annoying at times, particularly when Buddy decides to play the organ, or when the arrangements are a little cheesy, as with the castanuelas on "In a Little Spanish Town." I get that it's a Spanish town that they're talking about, but do they really need to punctuate it with castanuelas???

Regarding Mosaic's sets, I agree with you -- they are very complete and the sound and presentation are usually excellent, but they are outrageously expensive. For that reason, I have very few of them. Besides the one by Bing, I have one by Bobby Hackett and one by Jack Teagarden, who is one of my favorite trombonists of all time. I just wish I had more money to spare to buy many of the other sets in their catalog... 

Oh Anton, you are as usual "spot on"! I also love to hear both Bing and Frank in small group, "jazzier" settings and wish they had done more, as Tony Bennett has for decades. I'm so grateful for the Sinatra sextet concert tours of 1959 and 1962 and that wonderful 1977 concert Bing gave in Norway with Joe Bushkin's quartet and of course this magnificent Mosaic box set.

I do agree that some the odd musical effects may perhaps jar a little in such small scale surroundings and perhaps inevitably over seven discs a slight element of homogeny is bound to set in but overall, I find it so irresistibly appealing to hear Bing perform in a more freewheeling, intimate setting.

Mosiac-money wise, well yes - I only remember being able to justify the huge expense when an extremely dear, close friend of mine, despite having just freshly landed from India, was already able to delightedly inform me that a UK high street bank at the time was giving away a hundred pounds to each new current account holder. He subsequently frog marched change-averse little me to their nearest city branch to open an account. Having performed this altruistic act, he was then beyond horrified that ninety-three of said pounds was then very soon spent on, as he knowingly and derisively insisted (with deliberate emphasis), "That Bloody Binjee Crosby!!!"  

The only other major Mosiac production I have is their George Shearing Live box set - which was purchased second hand and under a third of the price I paid for the Bing set - and therefore with slightly less condemnation from my non CD buying but burning friend.   

I first remember hearing Bing in Buddy's musical company on the earlier sides of his 1954 musical autobiography LP box set. I bought a copy of the later yellow cover re-release at the age of eighteen from the same shop where I ended up happily working  just a few years later. Was this the first occasion he and Buddy Cole worked together? 
 

Last edited by Ian Kerstein (21/3/2022 3:52 am)