''New Tricks'' was

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

's eighth long-playing album and sixth vinyl LP for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

, originally released in 1957 as number DL-8575. ''New Tricks'' featured twelve standards recorded between August 1955 and August 1956 for Crosby's daily

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

with a trio led by Crosby's regular pianist Buddy Cole. They were mastered for LP release in March 1957. Crosby's earlier Decca LP ''

Some Fine Old Chestnuts ''Some Fine Old Chestnuts'' was Bing Crosby's second studio album for Decca Records, recorded and released as a 10" LP in 1954. The 1954 edition of ''Some Fine Old Chestnuts'' featured eight standards mastered on June 26, 1953, from tracks rec ...

'' (1954) similarly features songs recorded for radio accompanied by Cole. The album was first issued on CD in 1990 by

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

in Japan No. 25P2 2833. In 1998 it was included in a twofer CD called "Some Fine Old Chestnuts & New Tricks" issued by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

No. MCLD19377. Another CD issue took place in 2017 with the Universal Music release of ''New Tricks - 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition'' catalog No. B0027587-02. This contained 12 bonus tracks, all of which were culled from Crosby's radio shows.

Reception

Record producer, Ken Barnes, wrote: "While Bing broke no new ground with this album of oldies—accompanied by Buddy Cole’s trio—it was clearly something he enjoyed doing. The songs are all good—‘When I Take My Sugar to Tea’, ‘Avalon’, ‘Chicago’ and an outstanding ‘On the Alamo’ to name but four, and Bing puts it all across with great style. Cole plays his customary tasteful piano—his occasional excursions on to organ, however, only serve to point out how much better electronic organs sound today. This is a pity, because Cole had a considerable technique. Not a classic Crosby album by any means but a pleasant one, certainly. The jazz historian

Will Friedwald Will Friedwald (born September 16, 1961) is an American author and music critic. He has written for newspapers that include the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''New York Times'', ''Village Voice'', ''Newsday'', ''New York Observer'', and ''New York Su ...

describes ''New Tricks'' as "swingingly successful," adding that "its cover - a very Bingish basset bearing a Crosby-style pipe, hat, and even eyes - had won listeners over even before they dug into the disc."

Personnel

Buddy Cole (musician) Edwin LeMar "Buddy" Cole (December 15, 1916 – November 5, 1964), was a jazz pianist, organist, orchestra leader, and composer. He played behind a number of pop singers, including Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby. Biography Cole was born in Irvi ...

(piano); Vince Terri (guitar); Don Whitaker (bass); Nick Fatool (drums)

Track listing

Bonus tracks on ''New Tricks - 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition''

*Rain (Carey Morgan / Arthur Swanstrom / Eugene Ford) *Church Bells (Paul Sanders) *

I'll Remember Today "I'll Remember Today" is a popular song. The music was written by Edith Piaf, the lyrics by William Engvick. First recorded by Piaf, it was later popularized by Patti Page in the United States and by Ruby Murray in the United Kingdom. The record ...

*My How the Time Goes By (

Cy Coleman Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. Life and career Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents ...

Carolyn Leigh Carolyn Leigh (August 21, 1926 – November 19, 1983) was an American lyricist for Broadway, film, and popular songs. She is best known as the writer with partner Cy Coleman of the pop standards "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come". With ...

) * Chee Chee-Oo Chee (Sang the Little Bird) *Surprise (

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Living ...

) *All the Time (Jay Livingston / Ray Evans) * Gigi * Tammy * Big D (with

Lindsay Crosby Lindsay Harry Crosby (January 5, 1938 – December 11, 1989) was an American actor and singer. He was the youngest of four sons from Bing Crosby's first marriage to Dixie Lee (his older brothers being Gary and twins Phillip and Dennis). Lindsay ...

) *

Allegheny Moon ''Allegheny Moon'' is a popular song written by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning and published in 1956. The song is best known in a 1956 recording by Patti Page. This recording was released by Mercury Records as catalog number 70878, with the flip s ...

(with Lindsay Crosby) * More Than You Know

References

{{Authority control Bing Crosby albums 1957 albums Decca Records albums