Glen Gray's & Casa Loma Orchestra - It's The Talk Of The Town (1933)
Old Movies and Music
2024-03-09
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Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra: "It's The Talk Of The Town" (song by Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, and Marty Symes) on Brunswick 6626, recorded on August 7, 1933.
It was reissued on Vocalion 4713 in 1939.
Kenny Sargent is the lead vocalist.
The Casa Loma Orchestra, led by Glen Gray, is viewed by some as the first ''swing'' band since as early as 1929 the relatively large ensemble played a mixture of hot jazz and sweet ballads, preparing the way for Benny Goodman's "sudden" success in 1935. Paul Whiteman was doing this to some extent too, but Whiteman's sound was too heavily orchestrated for many to view it as a "swing" band in the spirit of the early Casa Loma Orchestra.
The group, originally called the Orange Blossoms, was formed in Detroit during the mid-1920s as an offshoot of Jean Goldkette's orchestra. A now-forgotten Henry Biagini was the leader, but he did not last in that position.
Gray, then known as Spike Knoblaugh, joined the group in the winter of 1925-26 as a sax player. Glen Gray lived from June 7, 1906, to August 23, 1963. He was born in Roanoke, Illinois. The name on his birth certificate is Glen Gray Knoblauch. "Spike" was a nickname that he shed.
Working mostly in the Detroit area, the Orange Blossoms were booked into a Toronto club called the Casa Loma in 1927, and by 1929 the Orange Blossoms called themselves the Casa Loma Orchestra. (Actually, sources vary on this--one source says Casa Loma was the name planned in 1929 for a night spot in Detroit, but that club never opened. Toronto has an estate called Casa Loma, which was constructed between 1907 and 1914. It was home to Toronto financier Sir Henry Pellatt and his wife Mary. It was a home, not a club or hotel.)
Bandmembers elected Gray as president and leader. The group moved to New York and were soon booked into the Roseland Ballroom, even making Okeh records.
The band could play "hot" but also "sweet." That was one attraction in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The public was fond of the ensemble during its time on the Camel Caravan radio series in 1933-34.
But by the late 1930s, Gray's group was nearly always sweet, rarely hot. That may have been a good direction for managers interested in profit, but the Casa Loma records of this later sweet era have little appeal to critics or collectors today. The early "hot" numbers made the Casa Loma group remarkable.
On their first sides for Okeh and Brunswick, the group was called the ''Casa Loma Orchestra.'' However, by the time Victor signed the group, a new name was used: the Glen Gray Orchestra.
Two of the bands biggest records were ballads" "For You" (sung by Kenny Sargent) and the group's theme song, "Smoke Rings."
It was reissued on Vocalion 4713 in 1939.
Kenny Sargent is the lead vocalist.
The Casa Loma Orchestra, led by Glen Gray, is viewed by some as the first ''swing'' band since as early as 1929 the relatively large ensemble played a mixture of hot jazz and sweet ballads, preparing the way for Benny Goodman's "sudden" success in 1935. Paul Whiteman was doing this to some extent too, but Whiteman's sound was too heavily orchestrated for many to view it as a "swing" band in the spirit of the early Casa Loma Orchestra.
The group, originally called the Orange Blossoms, was formed in Detroit during the mid-1920s as an offshoot of Jean Goldkette's orchestra. A now-forgotten Henry Biagini was the leader, but he did not last in that position.
Gray, then known as Spike Knoblaugh, joined the group in the winter of 1925-26 as a sax player. Glen Gray lived from June 7, 1906, to August 23, 1963. He was born in Roanoke, Illinois. The name on his birth certificate is Glen Gray Knoblauch. "Spike" was a nickname that he shed.
Working mostly in the Detroit area, the Orange Blossoms were booked into a Toronto club called the Casa Loma in 1927, and by 1929 the Orange Blossoms called themselves the Casa Loma Orchestra. (Actually, sources vary on this--one source says Casa Loma was the name planned in 1929 for a night spot in Detroit, but that club never opened. Toronto has an estate called Casa Loma, which was constructed between 1907 and 1914. It was home to Toronto financier Sir Henry Pellatt and his wife Mary. It was a home, not a club or hotel.)
Bandmembers elected Gray as president and leader. The group moved to New York and were soon booked into the Roseland Ballroom, even making Okeh records.
The band could play "hot" but also "sweet." That was one attraction in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The public was fond of the ensemble during its time on the Camel Caravan radio series in 1933-34.
But by the late 1930s, Gray's group was nearly always sweet, rarely hot. That may have been a good direction for managers interested in profit, but the Casa Loma records of this later sweet era have little appeal to critics or collectors today. The early "hot" numbers made the Casa Loma group remarkable.
On their first sides for Okeh and Brunswick, the group was called the ''Casa Loma Orchestra.'' However, by the time Victor signed the group, a new name was used: the Glen Gray Orchestra.
Two of the bands biggest records were ballads" "For You" (sung by Kenny Sargent) and the group's theme song, "Smoke Rings."
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