Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby was a revolutionary figure in music -- he adopted singing to the microphone, brought jazz into white pop, and was our first multimedia star (radio, records, movies, TV). He crooned it all -- from Hawaiian to Country --but was at his best on easygoing, improv heavy rhythm tunes. Crosby always paid his respects to Louis Armstrong (and loved working with him) but much of his best jazz recordings are currently out of print. This is a shame because to paraphrase Tony Bennett, Crosby was the first cool white man in American music.