Connee Boswell, Bing Crosby - Connee Boswell: Concentratin' On You - Her 51 Finest 1931-1959 (2021)

Here is the most comprehensive 2CD survey available of one of the great entertainers of the 30s-50s. Connee Boswell (1907-1976) was a truly outstanding vocal talent, becoming a big star despite having to overcome the disability of being confined to a wheelchair through polio. She rose to fame as the most talented part of the close harmony trio The Boswell Sisters (see Shout, Sister, Shout! on Retrospective RTS 4242), but she then carved a highly successful solo career from 1935 onwards. Her casual, swinging style was a strong influence on other singers such as Ella Fitzgerald.

Concentratin’ On You provides the title and opens Retrospective’s winning collection of her 51 finest recordings, from her very first (I’m Gonna Cry) in 1925 to her last (Where Or When?) in 1959. She was one of the earliest white jazz singers, as the 1932 Me Minus You (with a fine Bunny Berigan trumpet solo) demonstrates, but also had the most persuasive touch with more commercial ballads such as Stormy Weather, Deep In A Dream, The Isle Of May or Sand In My Shoes. Connee was one of Bing Crosby’s favourite duet partners and the sequence includes six of their delightful vocal sparrings, including the chart-topping Bob White and An Apple For The Teacher. But every track by Connee Boswell is special.

Tracklist:
1-1. Connee Boswell - Concentratin' On You (03:17)
1-2. Connee Boswell - Time On My Hands (03:18)
1-3. Connee Boswell - Washboard Blues (05:07)
1-4. Connee Boswell - Hummin' to Myself (I've Got the Words - I've Got the Tune) (03:06)
1-5. Connee Boswell - Me Minus You (03:01)
1-6. Connee Boswell - It's the Talk of the Town (03:03)
1-7. Connee Boswell - The Carioca (03:17)
1-8. Connee Boswell - All I Do Is Dream of You (03:14)
1-9. Connee Boswell - Lost In a Fog (03:34)
1-10. Connee Boswell - In the Middle of a Kiss (03:02)
1-11. Connee Boswell - I'll Never Say 'Never Again' Again (02:34)
1-12. Connee Boswell - I Can't Give You Anything but Love (02:56)
1-13. Connee Boswell - On the Beach At Bali-bali (03:07)
1-14. Connee Boswell - That Old Feeling (02:56)
1-15. Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell - Bob White (02:39)
1-16. Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell - Basin Street Blues (03:00)
1-17. Connee Boswell - Martha (Ah, so Pure!) (03:07)
1-18. Connee Boswell - You Forgot to Remember (03:02)
1-19. Connee Boswell - Home On the Range (02:37)
1-20. Connee Boswell - I Hadn't Anyone Till You (03:06)
1-21. Connee Boswell - Gypsy Love Song (02:48)
1-22. Connee Boswell - I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (03:10)
1-23. Connee Boswell - Deep In a Dream (02:55)
1-24. Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell - An Apple for the Teacher (03:05)
1-25. Connee Boswell - Sunrise Serenade (02:35)
2-1. Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell - Between 18th and 19th On Chestnut Street (03:05)
2-2. Connee Boswell - On the Isle of May (02:40)
2-3. Connee Boswell - Dinah (03:04)
2-4. Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell - Yes, Indeed! (03:12)
2-5. Connee Boswell - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (03:12)
2-6. Connee Boswell - Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy) (03:04)
2-7. Connee Boswell - Sand In My Shoes (03:16)
2-8. Connee Boswell - Look for the Silver Lining (02:59)
2-9. Connee Boswell - Stormy Weather (03:14)
2-10. Connee Boswell - One Dozen Roses (02:52)
2-11. Connee Boswell - Let It Snow! Let Is Snow! Let It Snow! (02:44)
2-12. Connee Boswell - Ole Buttermilk Sky (02:49)
2-13. Connee Boswell - My Little Nest of Heavenly Blue (Serenade) (03:09)
2-14. Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell - That's a Plenty (02:23)
2-15. Connee Boswell - If I Give My Heart to You (02:55)
2-16. Connee Boswell - When My Sugar Walks Down the Street (02:44)
2-17. Connee Boswell - Say It Isn't so (03:25)
2-18. Connee Boswell - When the Saints Go Marching In (02:50)
2-19. Connee Boswell - Make Love to Me (Tin Roof Blues) (03:00)
2-20. Connee Boswell - Blue Skies (03:08)
2-21. Connee Boswell - Always (02:28)
2-22. Connee Boswell - Cheek to Cheek (03:21)
2-23. Connee Boswell - My Funny Valentine (02:38)
2-24. Connee Boswell - I Could Write a Book (02:28)
2-25. Connee Boswell - Where or When (04:15)
2-26. Connee Boswell - I'm Gonna Cry (02:42)