Glen Gray

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Glen Gray, Paramount Theater, New York City, circa July 1946. Photo: William P. Gottlieb

Glen "Spike" Gray (born June 7, 1906 in Metamora , Illinois , † August 23, 1963 in Plymouth (Massachusetts) ) was an American jazz saxophonist (alto) and later director of the Casa Loma Orchestra .

Life

Gray lost his father, a railroad worker, at an early age. Gray led his own bands as a teenager, briefly attended Illinois Wesleyan University and then worked for the Santa Fe Railway Company . In 1928 he played the saxophone in the Orange Blossoms Band, which appeared for six months in Toronto at the Casa Loma Hotel, after it was called when it was founded in New York in 1929 (as a co-op band, i.e. all band members were involved). In the same year they made recordings for Okeh . They had great success, especially with students on the east coast in the early 1930s, and were one of the pioneers of swing with white audiences . Their band theme was "Smoke Rings". Gray took over the leadership of the band in 1935, which got his name as an addition. They recorded for Decca until 1942 , then for Mercury until 1946 .

Between 1942 and 1944, Gray had four top ten hits on the Decca label: 1942 One Dozen Roses , which reached number 8, and 1943 Don't Get Around Much Anymore , which came in at number 7. He had his greatest success in the winter of 1943 to 1944 with the title My Heart Tells Me , which occupied the top position of the US singles charts and was able to stay in the top 10 for 20 weeks. In January 1944, My Shining Hour , the B-side of My Heart Tells Me , was also in the charts, it came to number 4. After this great success and his change of record company, Gray did not manage to get another hit land.

Around 1950 he broke up the band. In the 1950s, Gray made some of the then successful recordings at Capitol with old hits from the big band era. In 1963 he died of cancer in his home.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US catalog number: Decca 18567; all chart listings according to Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Records 1940-1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 24

literature

  • Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon . Reinbek, Rowohlt (article Casa Loma Orchestra ).
  • George Borgman: Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra . The Mississippi Rag, October 2006.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gray, Glen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garlic, Glen Gray (maiden name); Spike (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz saxophonist and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Metamora , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 1963
Place of death Plymouth, Massachusetts