Glen Gray

GLEN GRAY d1963. American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the big band business following the end of World War 2 it disbanded in 1947. However from 1957 to 1963, it re-emerged as a recording session band in Hollywood, made up of top-flight studio musicians. The reconstituted band made a limited number appearances live and on television and recorded fifteen LP albums for Capitol Records before Gray died in 1963. The band recorded and released the original version of the jazz and big band standard "Sunrise Serenade" in 1938 with Frankie Carle on piano