In early 1956, Bing Crosby ended the two long-term company affiliations that had defined his career for more than 20 years, leaving his exclusive associations with Paramount Pictures and Decca Records. Thereafter, he made movies and records on a freelance basis. The immediate results were more felicitous for his film work than his recording, as he went to MGM for the successful movie High Society…
This is one of a set of 5 CDs released in 2000 by Avid. The Trio comprises Ralph Sharon on piano, Lennie Bush on bass and Jack Parnell on drums, all of whom played in the Ted Heath orchestra at some time. Lennie Bush also played in Jack Parnell's ATV orchestra. The other CDs in the series feature the music of George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. There are 20 tracks on the disc including three medleys. The tempo at which some of the tunes are played are not the ones we hear most often - but the music is none the worse for that. The Trio often include the verses as well as the refrains of some of the songs.
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television.