Bing Crosby’s younger brother Bob Crosby has earned himself a secure place in the pantheon of great jazz artists – without playing a note! He had a pleasant crooning voice (if no match for big brother) but that wouldn’t have set him above hundreds of others. The reason he is still revered in this is because of the band he fronted during the late 30s and early 40s, which produced a unique brand of organized Dixieland that remains, quite simply, unsurpassed.

Rarely has there been such a collection of brilliant front-line jazz musicians, among them Billy Butterfield, Yank Lawson, Irving Fazola and Eddie Miller, propelled by the wonderful rhythm section of Bob Zurke (later Joe Sullivan or Jess Stacy), Nappy Lamare, Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc.

Retrospective’s centenary tribute, 'South Rampart Street Parade' (their most popular number), is the finest double-album Bob Crosby survey available, collecting together all the 52 finest recordings by the Crosby Orchestra and the superb band-within-a-band, The Bob Cats.

Bing Crosby himself drops in for a No.1 hit (You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby), as do The Andrews Sisters, Connee Boswell, Helen Ward and a 14-year-old Judy Garland making her debut.

This is white jazz of the Thirties at its hottest.

Track Listing:
CD 1
1. South Rampart Street Parade
2. Lullaby Of Broadway
3. Summertime
4. Muskrat Ramble
5. Dixieland Shuffle
6. Stompin’ At The Savoy
7. Savoy Blues
8. Royal Garden Blues
9. Gin Mill Blues
10. Little Rock Getaway
11. Stumbling
12. Who’s Sorry Now?
13. Coquette
14. Fidgety Feet
15. You’re Driving Me Crazy
16. Can’t We Be Friends?
17. Martha (Ah, So Pure!)
18. Dogtown Blues
19. Panama
20. Wolverine Blues
21. Milk Cow Blues
22. March Of The Bob Cats
23. Slow Mood
24. Big Foot Jump
25. The Big Crash From China
26. I Hear You Talking
27. Big Noise From Winnetka

CD 2
1. Five Point Blues
2. You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
3. Call Me a Taxi
4. I’m Prayin’ Humble
5. What’s New? (I’m Free)
6. Honky Tonk Train Blues
7. Diga-Diga-Doo
8. My Inspiration
9. Deep in a Dream
10. Loopin’ the Loop
11. Skaters’ Waltz in Swingtime
12. Stomp off, Let’s Go
13. Smokey Mary
14. Begin the Beguine
15. Hindustan
16. Mournin’ Blues
17. Rose of Washington Square
18. Day in, Day Out
19. The Love Nest
20. Spain
21. Jazz Me Blues
22. Speakeasy
23. Vultee Special
24. That Da-Da Strain
25. Tin Roof Blues