BOB HAGGART

Robert Sherwood Haggart (March 13, 1914, New York City – December 2, 1998, Venice, Florida) was a dixieland jazz double bass player, composer and arranger. Although he is associated with dixieland he was in fact one of the finest rhythm bassists of the Swing Era. Haggart was a founder-member of the Bob Crosby Band (1935), arranging and part-composing several of the band's big successes, including "What's New?", "South Rampart Street Parade", "My Inspiration", and "Big Noise from Winnetka". He remained with the band until 1942. He then worked as a studio musician in New York and recorded with Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald; his arrangements can be heard on Ella's Decca release "Lullabies of Birdland". During the 1950s, Haggart organised, with Yank Lawson, a regular series of small band recordings and also arranged many of the tunes for Louis Armstrong's 1956-7 four-volume LP recreation set.  Bob Crosby also read more...