DOIN' THE BING

Bing Crosby was once called the Mick Jagger of the 1920s. Spy Vibers who only know Der Bingle from his later years and Christmas tunes would be surprised to see him at his youthful prime, belting out hot jazz numbers with the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang. Bing was really the first super star, reaching the #1 spot as America's entertainer on radio, film, and records. As an innovator, he used early microphone technology and radio to invent a new expressive style of singing and he helped translate jazz idioms, like scat singing, to a wider audience. Bing essentially played himself in public, cultivating a relaxed, casual vibe. Way before the hat and pipe, viewers were introduced to his trademark cool in a series of Mack Sennett shorts in the early 1930s. On Christmas Eve 1962, ABC aired the Bing Crosby Christmas Special for Clairol (his fourth special and the network's first broadcast in color). The show included guests Mary Martin and Andre Previn, and featured this fantastically modern dance devoted to Bing's casual lifestyle, Doin' the Bing. I love the design choices, from the costumes and minimal staging to the use of contemporary furniture. If your season is filled with White Christmas and Holiday Inn and you crave more Bing, I challenge you to master this hilarious (and charming!) dance. Happy Holidays! Suggested Bing releases: Bix n Bing, 16 Most Requested Songs, Some Fine Old Chestnuts, Bing in Dixieland, So Rare, Johnny Mercer Songbook, Irving Berlin Songbook, And Some Jazz Friends, Fancy Meeting You Here, Favorite Hawaiian Songs. 

 

MOMA ON MUSIC

A new exhibit opened at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in November that focuses on the aesthetic connections between music and visual art and design. The scope of the collection is quite impressive, spanning designs for sound equipment, live hall spaces, sheet music, commercial design and graphics, as well as instruments themselves. Making Music Modern: Design for Ear and Eye was curated by the Department of Architecture and Design and will be up through November 1, 2015. Official description from MOMA: "Music and design- art forms that share aesthetics of rhythm, tonality, harmony, interaction, and improvisation- have long had a close affinity, perhaps never more so than during the 20th century. Radical design and technological innovations, from the LP to the iPod and from the transistor radio to the Stratocaster, have profoundly altered our sense of how music can be performed, heard, distributed, and visualized. Avant-garde designers- among them Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Lilly Reich, Saul Bass, Jørn Utzon, and Daniel Libeskind- have pushed the boundaries of their design work in tandem with the music of their time. Drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection, Making Music Modern gathers designs for auditoriums, instruments, and equipment for listening to music, along with posters, record sleeves, sheet music, and animation. The exhibition examines alternative music cultures of the early 20th century, the rise of radio during the interwar period, how design shaped the “cool” aesthetic of midcentury jazz and hi-fidelity culture, and its role in countercultural music scenes from pop to punk, and later 20th-century design explorations at the intersection of art, technology, and perception." More details here. As a music fan and musician, I hope to make it to the exhibit. I image they included a number of graphic scores, which I'd love to see up close. And as a record collector, it must be thrilling to see the various designs for LP jackets and players. Promo image below: Radio by Hiroshi Ohchi, 1954. Ohchi (2008-1974) was a prominent designer and art director of IDEA magazine. Related posts: my visit to SFMOMA to see the Dieter Rams design show here, 8-Track Museum, Vintage Vinyl, London HMV.