Customer Reviews

Swinging Sounds of the Great Bands

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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

This CD faithfully captures the big band sound from the swing era using high quality recording technique unavailable from the technology of that day. Next to big band music that was included on 35-millimeter film sound tracks in the 1930's and 40's, there are few recordings that sound this good. The musicians who contributed their talents on the CD are a who's who of great sidemen who actually played in famous bands of the swing era. The fine styling of these performers lends authenticity to this collection of "covers". I strongly recommend this CD as a first big band album in someone's collection, and also as a very worthwhile addition to the library of a hard core big band enthusiast.

This is a magnificent CD! It has about 70 minutes of great big band tunes, the original arrangements, of many great songs. Outstanding stereo recordings that will bring back memeories to all who "lived" this wonderful era in American music. If you like the sounds of the big bands and want excellent quality recordings, original arrangements, and over an hour of it, get this one for sure! Eric Records produces top-notch quality that will not disappoint even the most discriminating ear. A most definate 5 star CD!

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.

This is another of the great Glen Gray Cds and another happy experience of the wonderful times we had in the 1940s and 50s

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?

I must confess i don't reckon much to the 30s/40s casa loma sound.
Or most 30/40s jazz for that matter.

I'm curious as to who the 'hired guns' were to form this superior sounding band - sounds alot like billy may's boys (but who cares!)


The Casa Loma is a castle in Toronto where they played alot at originally back in the 30s. One of the first white jazz bands.
Glen Gray "Spike" Knoblauch was his actual name

Spike Knoblauch sounds pretty catchy actually !