Search - Glen Gray and The Casa Loma Orchestra :: Swinging Sounds of the Great Bands

One of the best re-recordings of swing orchestra hits

Ryan Harvey | Los Angeles, CA USA | 12/08/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Stereo Recordings" of old swinging big band hits are pretty much a dime a dozen-or in most cases, $6.99 in the bargain section of the music store. Most of them are flat out awful, performed by some cheap, thrown together, no-name orchestra, complete with flat tones and lazy readings of the original music.



But not this album...this is as good as recreation as you're likely to hear. The tracks on this album are collected from recordings made in Capitol Studios in L..A., one of the great dynamic recording studios, between 1957 and 1964 and released under the name "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra" on a series of popular LPs. The wide separation stereo sound and airy acoustics arouns the instruments sounds better than a lot of the more run-of-the-mill digital stereo recordings made today. Stereo was a point of pride back then!



Technically, this isn't the TRUE Casa Loma Orchestra. That unit formed in 1929 out of a Detroit band called the Orange Blossoms and was the first all-white professional swin band, paving the way six years later for Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, et al. They took their name from a hotel in Toronto where they played an extended gig and formed as a corporation with each member as a stockholder. Glen Gray was the bandstand leader and front man, but was never the true leader of the band and his name never appeared in front of the bands until years later on LPs. The band ceased to exist in 1942.



The band heard here is a studio recording group that Glen Gray brought together for the stereo LP series. And even though they aren't the TRUE Casa Loma Orchestra, the musicians on here are topnotch and graduates from some of the great big bands of the period. They do a superior job covering the numbers presented here. The arrangements are strictly those of the famous versions: if you're familiar with the Glenn Miller version of "In the Mood," you'll recognize here pretty much note for note, only in wide spread stereo.



Pretty much everything on here is great listening. The two pieces that particularly impressed me are "Cherokee" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside." The first is strongly identified with Charlie Barnet and his growling saxophone, but almost every cover I hear of his version falls miserably flat -- nobody can get the right boune and fury in their sound to match the origina. But the Casa Loma Orchestra here gets damned close to getting the job done, and this is the only cover I've heard that does justice to the original. As for "Jumpin' at the Woodside," one of Count Basie's big hits. the Casa Lomans almost sound exactly like Basie, and that's a tough thing to pull off.



The only piece on here that doesn't strictly follow the original orchestration is "New No-Name Jive," one of the original Casa Loma Orchestra hits. Glen Gray felt he could play around with it a bit.



The enclosed booklet provides details on each of the pieces, as well as comments from Glen Gray himself that were on the original LPs. Altogether, it's a nice package, and even though more expensive than someother re-recordings, it's the best one to get. Also check out the follow-up CD: More Sounds of the Great Swing Bands"

Test your stereo rig with this!

professormovie | Ewa Beach, HI USA | 08/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a big band "swing" fan for lots of years. Problem is most of the original recordings are very poor by today's standards. The recording equipment of the day was just not up to the challenge. In particular, there is practically no bass whatsoever on many BB recordings. Even in the higher registers, many recordings sound flat or tinny. Try to get a decent rendition of "Opus One" and you'll know what I mean.



This album and its sequel, "More Sounds of the Great Swing Bands" are the cleanest, most robust big band recordings I have ever heard. Most of the cuts are covers of other BB theme songs, but they never sounded this good on vinyl.



Crank up your Bose system, or whatever you have, and be prepared to be thoroughly impressed. Your neighbors will be, also! And, if you want to impress your children with the power of great swing music, this would be the album to educate them.



"Leap Frog" sounds as good as it did live by Les Brown at the Carnation Pavilion at Disneyland, back when one could actually afford to go there to dance. Anyone remember those Saturday nights when you could buy a "dance only" pass after sunset?



In short, buy this album and the "More Sounds..." sequel, which I think actually sounds even better. I don't think you will be disappointed.

"

Good performance but poor recording

Daveyboy | UK | 01/15/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, I agree with other reviewers here - this is a well performed selection of music. If only I could say the same about the recording quality, which sounds more like two channel mono than full dimensional stereo. There is practically no central information in the stereo soundstage and the general quality is quite thin with a sound which favours the upper frequencies.



Anyone who is used to listening to decent quality classical recordings or who has a halfway decent hi - fi system, is going to be rather disappointed. Why can't anyone produce decent big band recordings without resorting to a totally artificial sound balance?"