The signature singing and trombone licks of Pee Wee Hunt (1907-1979) were integral to the Casa Loma sound. Sketch of trombone player and singer Pee Wee Hunt. Though it should be said that over time, Casa Loma eventually came to sound not dissimilar from its competitors. His brilliant successors – Spud Murphy, Larry Clinton, Larry Wagner and others - proceeded in a similar spirit. However, the downside of Gifford, as noted by Dan Morgenstern in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, was that the writing could sound “somewhat repetitious and rhythmically stiff,” though it was “expertly crafted and executed with discipline and precision due, in part, to the stability of the band’s personnel.”Ĭuriously, Gifford’s protracted disengagement from the orchestra took place between 1934 and ‘39. His arrangements were quite popular and stock editions circulated widely. Gifford’s distinctive writing for brass and reeds made the orchestral sections sound almost like a dialog between soloists.
antiphonal blocs fused through call-and-response patterns into an ensemble sound.” Yet his charts differed markedly from his contemporaries such as Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman or Bill Challis. In Lost Chords, Richard Sudhalter asserts that Gifford “developed a concept of ensemble writing almost mathematical in its order and balance. And besides writing innovative hot music, the arranger created sumptuous original tone paintings for the orchestra, as they introduced audiences to more complex popular music. He was among the coterie of talented arrangers who mastered and excelled in solving the delicately interlocking tasks of organizing and focusing ten or more instruments in a Swing orchestra. Gifford composed and arranged distinctive music and motifs custom tailored for musicians who delivered with spirit and brio. Originally from Memphis, he started his own band in high school and was in the precursor band to Casa Loma, The Orange Blossoms. It’s not fully appreciated just how critical and integral these arrangers were to the success of the great Swing bands.Ī guitar player and banjo virtuoso before 1933, Gene Gifford (1908-1970) became one of the finest arrangers of his day. Their notably different sound and distinctive style came from the arranging of Gene Gifford and his talented successors.
The Casa Loma Orchestra swung with a terrific drive and precision. It should be noted that Glen Gray lent the Casa Loma name to numerous Hi-Fi recordings in the 1950s which had no relation to the orchestra of the 1930s yet were very good technically and musically.
In later years, all the previous Casa Lomans spoke with respect and fondness of their former leader and namesake. Gray was a skilled and knowledgeable musician, according to arranger Spud Murphy in a 2003 interview. Knoblauch (the German word for garlic) has sometimes been incorrectly characterized as a merely ceremonial conductor and front man. It was run thereafter as a more conventional business known as Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra. A stabilizing influence known to his fellow musicians as “Spike,” he was elected in 1933 to manage and front the band. Smart and personable, the 6’ 5” Grey had worked in or managed precursor Goldkette bands. Glen Gray (Knoblauch)(1906-1963) played first alto saxophone, directed the band and had a good head for business. Young Glen Gray, and at ease photographed by William J.
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