Bing & Satchmo
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Bing & Satchmo
| type = studio
| artist = Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong
| cover = bingandsatchmo.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|1960|10}}
| venue =
| studio = Hollywood, Los Angeles
| genre = Vocal jazz, traditional pop
| length = {{Duration|m=38|s=51}}
| label = MGM
| producer = Simon Rady
| chronology = Bing Crosby
| prev_title = Join Bing and Sing Along
| prev_year = 1960
| next_title = Songs of Christmas
| next_year = 1960
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = Louis Armstrong
| type = studio
| prev_title = Louie and the Dukes of Dixieland
| prev_year = 1961
| title = Bing & Louis
| year = 1960
| next_title = Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington: The Great Summit/Complete Sessions
| next_year = 1961
}}
}}
Bing & Satchmo is a 1960 studio album by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong that was arranged and conducted by Billy May.{{cite web|last1=Bush|first1=John|title=Bing & Satchmo – Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/bing-satchmo-mw0000810433|website=AllMusic|access-date=28 July 2017}} The album was recorded for Crosby's label, Project Records, and released by MGM.
Crosby and Armstrong worked together many times before they recorded this album, appearing in films such as Pennies from Heaven (1936), Here Comes the Groom (1951), and High Society (1956). They made several radio broadcasts together between 1949 and 1951.{{cite book|last1=Stein|first1=Daniel|title=Music Is My Life: Louis Armstrong, Autobiography, and American Jazz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWoUsW3MgSoC&pg=PA2|publisher=University of Michigan Press|access-date=18 August 2013|date=3 May 2012|isbn=978-0472051809}}
The lyrics of the songs were adapted for them by a number of notable songwriters.{{cite web|title=Rady Cutting Bing-Satchmo Dust Package|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16|website=Google Books|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|access-date=18 August 2013|date=12 October 1959}}
Eleven tracks were issued on the LP, excluding "(Up A) Lazy River" because Armstrong had recorded it for another company. Permission was granted for it to be included in the All Star Festival LP issued in 1963 on behalf of the United Nations to help refugees around the world.{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Fred|title=The Crosby Collection 1926-1977|publisher=Fred Reynolds|page=304|edition=Part Four: 1951-1960}} Johnny Mercer sings a few lines with the chorus on this track.
"Dardanella" and "Muskrat Ramble" were released as singles in October 1960. Billboard magazine commented that the tracks would be popular with "jocks".{{cite web|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FCAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51|website=Google Books|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|access-date=18 August 2013|date=24 October 1960}}
Reception
{{Music ratings
|rev1 = Allmusic
}}
The Billboard magazine review from 31 October 1960 selected the album for its pop spotlight and called it a "group of nostalgic tunes that provide excellent easy listening programming."{{cite web|title=Discourse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43|website=Google Books|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|access-date=18 August 2013|date=31 October 1960}}
Variety said that the album "provides a lot of listening pleasure. Both are masters of their craft and know how to pack a vocal punch with seemingly little effort.{{cite journal|title=Variety|journal=Variety|date=November 30, 1960}}
John Bush on Allmusic.com gave the album three and half stars out of five. Bush said that "Could anything but warmth and playfulness result when the two most seminal, expressive voices of the 20th century found the room to stretch out on a full LP together?". Bush reserved criticism for the vocal chorus that appears on the album.
Track listing
{{track listing
|title1 = Muskrat Ramble
|writer1 = Kid Ory, Ray Gilbert
|length1 = 3:03
|title2 = Sugar (That Sugar Baby O' Mine)
|writer2 = Maceo Pinkard, Edna Alexander, Sidney D. Mitchell
|length2 = 5:13
|title3 = The Preacher
|writer3 = Horace Silver
|length3 = 2:21
|title4 = Dardanella
|writer4 = Fred Fisher, Felix Bernard, Johnny S. Black
|length4 = 2:50
|title5 = Let's Sing Like a Dixieland Band
|writer5 = Alan Bergman
|length5 = 2:21
|title6 = Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
|writer6 = Joe Turner Layton, Henry Creamer
|length6 = 3:09
|title7 = Brother Bill
|writer7 = Louis Armstrong
|length7 = 3:01
|title8 = Little Ol' Tune
|writer8 = Johnny Mercer
|length8 = 3:07
|title9 = At the Jazz Band Ball
|writer9 = Nick LaRocca, Larry Shields, Johnny Mercer
|length9 = 3:02
|title10 = Rocky Mountain Moon
|writer10 = Johnny Mercer
|length10 = 3:42
|title11 = Bye Bye Blues
|writer11 = Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Bert Lown, and Chauncey Gray
|length11 = 3:48
|title12 = (Up a) Lazy River
|note12 = bonus song on 2009 CD reissue
|writer12 = Hoagy Carmichael, Sidney Arodin
|length12 = 3:14}}
Personnel
- Bing Crosby – vocals
- Louis Armstrong – trumpet, vocals
- Dick Cathcart – trumpet
- Shorty Sherock – trumpet
- Abe Lincoln – trombone
- Tommy Pederson – trombone
- Moe Schneider – trombone
- Chuck Gentry – saxophone
- Matty Matlock – saxophone
- Wilbur Schwartz – saxophone
- Justin Gordon – reeds
- Stan Wrightsman – piano
- George Van Eps – guitar
- Morty Corb – double bass
- Nick Fatool – drums
- Johnny Mercer – special effects, vocals
- Billy May – arranger, conductor
- Judd Conlon – choir contractor, choir director
- Gil Mershorn – choir, Bernie Parks, Thomas D. Kenny, Joseph Pryor, Burton A. Dole, Jack Graberman, Paul Ely
Production
- Simon Rady – record producer
- Wild Bill Thompson – choir arrangement
Reissue CD
- Will Friedwald – liner notes
- Anaida Garcia – associate producer
- Hugh Fordin – reissue producer
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Bing Crosby}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bing and Satchmo}}
Category:1960 collaborative albums
Category:Louis Armstrong albums
Category:Albums arranged by Billy May