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Glen Gray & the Casa Loma Orch. is a band that I don't have much material of. I've been coming across them a few times now, and I really should get some of their albums.
What would you recommend? What are you favorite recordings from them?

Brian

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The Hep releases are good:

http://www.hepjazz.com/1000.html#anchorcasa

This is so-so. Get it if you see it on clearance for a few...whatever it is you spend down there...because the sound quality's acceptable and the song selection works fine. But don't spend the price of another CD on it.

I have heard great things about Boneyard Shuffle. I own (though not from Hep) The Complete Brunswick/Okeh Recordings and Smoke Rings and they both are awesome.

Harrison

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www.lindyhopper.ca, Canada's Swing Site.

I have The Best of teh Big Bands from Columbia. It's a nice little 16 song disc. The version of I've got Rhythm is Fantastic. The first solo is by the bari sax player.

-Kevin

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"We called it music."
— Eddie Condon

Great, now I have "Smoke Rings" stuck in my head.

I recommend the following (in order of get first to get last):

Boneyard Shuffle


Maniac's Ball


Casa Loma Stomp


Some sweet stuff is mixed in among those albums, but all the hot stuff makes it all worth it.

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Reuben Brown
Southern California

there's actually another Hep Casa Loma release called "Stompin' Around", does anyone have it? Is it any good?

So, I finally got around to comparing the versions of Casa Loma Stomp on Anthology of Big Band Swing and Boneyard Shuffle. It is really bizarre; they are identical versions (listen to the solos, I guarantee they're not different takes) but the Boneyard Shuffle version is about 320-330 bpm while the AOBBS version is 300 bpm. Not only that, but they are both played in B flat.

Someone, somewhere, sped up or slowed down the original track while preserving the pitch. My question is: what is the original tempo that the band recorded it at?

As a guess, I'd say the HEP release is likely the more accurate representation of what they played. That release was remastered by John RT Davies and I've read in interviews that he is particular about correcting for pitch and timing. There was inconsistency in early recording and playback technology, so a straight dub from an early recording is not necessarily an accurate representation. Read: FAQs

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Oh, so that's why my Big Band Box Set & Strictly Jive overlapping tracks sound like that!

A listener writes -

"Sorry I can't specifically answer your question...

But if things are as you say, IMHO a ghastly Spectre is on the loose!

Changing the tempo of a side while retaining the pitch is now very easy to do: but can anyone think of a reason for doing it on a formal reissue? As yet, I can't.

Many of us may *prefer* such and such a record to be faster or slower and have played around doing this with software... but to actually issue the results seems very questionable, to say the least."

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Will big bands ever come back?

Another listener writes-

"Seeing as the Casa Loma Orchestra was a well-rehearsed, well-disciplined organization which would have played its arrangements pretty much the same every time, and seeing as the band recorded the piece for OKeh, Brunswick and Victor between 1930 and 1933, plus 2 takes for Decca in 1937 plus likely versions for transcription companies, are we 1000% sure that both issues use the same recording?"

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Will big bands ever come back?

I am positive both recordings are the same take. It's not just that the notes of the solos are the same, but the subtle glissandos between notes and timbre of each note are the same too.

It's now 11 years later, and I happened upon this thread while looking for something else. And, no, I don't believe those two are the same take. The first difference occurs three seconds in (or 2 and a bit in the faster version): there is a cymbal hit on the Anthology of BBS track, but not on the Boneyard Shuffle one.

I am fairly certain these are different takes, and the band was just very clean and well-rehearsed, as John suggested.

Dragging up the past is fun!

Nice find. There is so much good stuff on here - especially in the early years when information and recordings were hard to come by.

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