Casa Loma Orchestra

Saxophonist Glen Gray originally assembled the Casa Loma Orchestra as a cooperative unit. The group cut its first sides in 1929 and, over the ensuing six years, stood among the foremost swing-oriented big bands in jazz at a time when that term had yet to enter common parlance in 1935. Subsequent critics found the ensembles mechanical, owing largely to the density of Gene Gifford’s charts, yet the orchestra generated authentic swing and showcased strong soloists such as clarinetist Clarence Hutchenrider, high-note trumpeter Sonny Dunham whose performance on “Memories of You” still commands attention, and trombonist-singer Pee Wee Hunt, while Kenny Sargent supplied understated ballad vocals. Once Benny Goodman’s triumph in 1935 prompted a wave of new big bands, the Casa Loma Orchestra never regained its pioneering status, though it remained active into the 1940s with sidemen including Red Nichols, Bobby Hackett, and Herb Ellis. Glen Gray received top billing from the late 1930s onward; after he withdrew from touring around 1950, he initiated a profitable yet formulaic series of Capitol dates. Those sessions, performed mostly by studio musicians, continually revisited and often recreated swing-era successes. The band’s earliest recordings of “San Sue Strut,” “Case Loma Stomp,” “No Name Jive,” and “Smoke Rings,” however, remain worth seeking out.