BING & SATCHMO - Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong

YEAR: 1960
LABEL: MGM/EMI

TRACK LISTING: Muskrat Ramble, Sugar (That Sugar Baby O' Mine), The Preacher, Dardanella, Let's Sing Like A Dixieland Band, Way Down Yonder In New Orleans, Brother Bill, Little Ol' Tune, At the Jazz Band Ball, Rocky Mountain Moon, Bye Bye Blues

BONUS TRACKS: Lazy River

IMPRESSIONS: Here we have good friends getting together to record an album for the fun of it. Relaxed and easy, Bing and Louis settle into these old, old songs like a comfortable easy chair as each takes turns singing a verse then usually finishing up dueting together. The stereo orchestra by Billy May is lush (perhaps a little TOO lush) and the peppy chorus can be distracting and out-of-place as both occasionally attempt to drown out these two old pros; however, even these slight misteps cannot derail the camaraderie on display here between these two monumental performers. What makes rather ordinary songs extraordinary is the patented witty patter shooting back and forth between Bing and Louis which often makes each singer laugh at what sounds like ad-libs. Worn in as a pair of soft shoes, this album provides nothing challenging but is simply a celebration of a musical friendship.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Sugar (That Sugar Baby O' Mine), Dardanella, Let's Sing Like A Dixieland Band, Way Down Yonder In New Orleans, Brother Bill, At the Jazz Band Ball, Rocky Mountain Moon, Bye Bye Blues, Lazy River

FACT SHEET: BING & SATCHMO is the only album Crosby & Armstrong recorded together. The orchestra is arranged and conducted by Billy May.