Search - Jerry Gray & His Orchestra :: Re-Stringing the Pearls

+1/2 Little-known pop vocals-era big band

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 03/09/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"These late '40s, early '50s transcript recordings, made for Standard Radio Transcription Sevices, are a perfect snapshot of the searching, experimental efforts of the big band scene as it groped its way into the pop vocals era. Gray was a former arranger in the Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller bands, and many of these tunes nakedly refashion the old Miller sound -- big, muscular, melodic juggernauts, with an added brassiness that reflected the toughened machismo of the '50s arrangers. There are also some goofy, glitzy, softer tunes that feel more like movie music or show tunes, as well as several vocal numbers, featuring Tommy Traynor and the Crew Chiefs. It's the vocal tracks that save this disc for me, as well as the quaint spoken introductions that speckle the disc. For the most part this set is too brusque and too square for me -- more like Ray Anthony or Stan Kenton than Benny Goodman -- but there are some sweet moments worth checking out."