Casa Loma Orchestra
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The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American swing band active from 1927 to 1963. It did not tour after 1950 but continued to record as a studio group.
The band was organized in 1927, in Detroit, by saxophonist Glen Gray (1900-1963), with help from Jean Goldkette. Originally known as the Orange Blossoms, the band had adopted the Casa Loma name by the time of its first recordings in 1929, when it was the house band at Casa Loma in Toronto, which was then operating as a hotel.
From 1929 until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands, featuring trombonist Pee Wee Hunt, trumpeter Frank L. Ryerson, trumpeter Sonny Dunham, clarinetist Clarence Hutchenrider, drummer Tony Briglia and singer Kenny Sargent. Arrangements were by Gene Gifford, who also composed much of the band's book, Salvador "Tutti" Camarata and Horace Henderson. Their mid-1930s appearances on the long run radio comedy-variety program,The Camel Caravan (introduced with their theme, "Smoke Rings") increased their popularity.
Hits included "Casa Loma Stomp," "No Name Jive" and "Maniac's Ball". Part of the reason for the band's decline is that other big bands included in their books hard-swinging numbers emulating the hot Casa Loma style. In the late 1930s Gray took top billing. In the 1940s the band featured guitarist Herb Ellis, trumpeter Bobby Hackett and cornetist Red Nichols. Jazz historians George A. Borgman and Bill Cahill are currently researching and writing a book about the orchestra.
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[edit] References
- The Mississippi Rag, "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra." George A. Borgman, October 2006, pages 1-10.
