Bob Haggart

Bob Haggart stood among the final surviving members of Bob Crosby’s Bobcats, maintaining a prominent role as a bassist across six decades. Although he began as a guitarist, Haggart developed his bass technique through self-instruction during high school. Recognition arrived after he entered Bob Crosby’s circle in 1935, where his steady, propulsive lines supported the ensemble while he also supplied charts and composed pieces such as “What’s New,” “South Rampart Street Parade,” “My Inspiration,” and the buoyant “Big Noise From Winnetka,” which he performed as a spirited duet alongside drummer Ray Bauduc. When Crosby disbanded the group in 1942, Haggart shifted to full-time studio work, appearing on innumerable Decca dates among countless others. He further sustained a recording partnership with trumpeter Yank Lawson under the Lawson-Haggart Band name. Haggart rejoined former Bobcats colleagues for repeated Crosby reunions, shared leadership of the World’s Greatest Jazz Band with Lawson beginning in 1968, and remained a consistent presence at jazz gatherings and festivals until his passing on December 2, 1998.