Gray,Glen Glen Gray'S Casa Loma Orchestra CD

The Casa Loma Orchestra, a co-operative enterprise led for most of it's existence by saxophonist Glen Gray, was one of the most popular and successful of the "sweet" orchestras who rose to fame during the 1930s. They played middle-of-the-road dance music and the latest songs of the day, often from Broadway and Hollywood as well as Tin Pan Alley, although their music was very much rooted in the hot orchestral jazz of the 1920s, which was particularly reflected in their early recordings. During a career which lasted into the 1960s, the orchestra enjoyed a stellar period of chart success as they racked up no less than 60 hits between 1931 and 1945, including five No. 1s. This 68-track 3-CD set comprises selected A and B sides from their releases on the Okeh, Brunswick, Victor and Decca labels during this time, and features all those sixty hits, among them the No. 1s "Blue Moon", "When I Grow Too Old To Dream", "Heaven Can Wait", "Sunrise Serenade" and "My Heart Tells Me". There are some noted names among the band's featured vocalists whose performances are included here, that list comprising Pee Wee Hunt, Kenny Sargent, Mildred Bailey, Lee Wiley, Clyde Burke, Louis Armstrong, LeBrun Sisters, Eugenie Baird and Fats Daniel. Including as it does some of the first commercial recordings of standards of the Great American Songbook, it's not only a fine musical tribute to the Casa Loma orchestra but an evocative window on the music of the era.

1. Happy Days Are Here Again 2. Casa Loma Stomp 3. White Jazz 4. Do the New York 5. Blue Jazz 6. Sophisticated Lady 7. Under a Blanket of Blue 8. Wild Goose Chase 9. Trouble in Paradise 10. It's the Talk of the Town 11. Weep No More, My Baby 12. Heat Wave 13. You're Gonna Lose Your Gal 14. Dixie Lee 15. You Have Taken My Heart 16. A Hundred Years from Today 17. Infatuation 18. Love Me 19. The Champagne Waltz 20. The House Is Haunted (By the Echo of Your Last Goodbye) 21. Limehouse Blues 22. Spellbound 23. I Never Had a Chance 24. Moon Glow 25. Pardon My Southern Accent 26. Two Cigarettes in the Dark 27. Learning 28. Out in the Cold Again 29. You're a Builder Upper 30. The Object of My Affection 31. Blue Moon 32. When I Grow Too Old to Dream 33. The Night Is Young 34. Fare Thee Well, Annabelle 35. Lookie, Lookie Here Comes Cookie 36. My Heart Is An Open Book 37. With All My Heart 38. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm 39. Never in a Million Years 40. Smoke Rings 41. I've Got My Heart Set on You 42. Sweet As a Song 43. I See Your Face Before Me 44. You Go to My Head 45. I Cried for You 46. You Never Know 47. Song of India 48. Gotta Get Some Shut Eye 49. This Night (Will Be My Souvenir) 50. Heaven Can Wait 51. Sunrise Serenade 52. Tears from My Inkwell 53. Rockin' Chair 54. If I Had My Way 55. Tumbling Tumbleweeds 56. Yours Is My Heart Alone 57. A Lover's Lullaby 58. No Name Jive 59. One Dozen Roses 60. Don't Do It, Darling 61. Don't Get Around Much Anymore 62. Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie 63. My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart) 64. My Shining Hour 65. Suddenly It's Spring 66. Don't Take Your Love from Me 67. Gotta Be This or That 68. Blue Rhapsody