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Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra on 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.