Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 16th Nov 2021

Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra is this week's Phantom Dancer feature artist. It was a collective that was the top swing band before Benny Goodman. Loved for its complex, danceable arrangements, Coleman Hawkins named it as his favourite band. HEAR this Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 16 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ I'm Greg Poppleton and I've brought you The Phantom Dancer every week on 107.3 2SER radio Sydney since 1985. Here's a 1941 Warner Brothers short of the band featuring Lindy Hoppers, Dean Collins and Jewel McGowan. Key band soloists are also introduced in the fimal song... [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0SPauuiFmE[/embed]

COLLECTIVE

The Casa Loma Orchestra began in 1927 as a unit of the Jean Goldkette organisation under the name 'Orange Blossoms'. Orange Blossoms, in the early 20th century was the newspaper headline for reports on wedding receptions. The name, Casa Loma, came in 1929 when they were booked to play at the Casa Loma in Toronto, which suddenly closed. Stranded in that city, the musicians formed a musical collective, first under the direction of violinist Hank Biagini. In 1933, saxophonist Glen Gray was voted to front the band as the 'first among equals'. In 1930, the Casa Loma Orchestra was incorporated in New York with the members becoming owners, shareholders and board members. The band members were hired on the grounds of musical and congenial competence and followed strict conduct and financial rules. Because the band operated as a collective group, as opposed to almost all other bands that had a leader for whom everyone worked, the band maintained a stable collection of personnel that varied little. Members who broke the rules could be summoned before the board, have their contract bought out, and be ejected from the band. Even the orchestra's talent arranger, Gene Gifford, who created the unique Casa Loma sound, fell victim to the band's strict rules, being bought out in 1935 for alcohol-related infractions. In 1943, Eugenie Baird became the first woman vocalist with the Casa Loma Orchestra. Here she is being interviewed by Guy Lombardo on 1955 TV. She also sings, You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You... [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHEEbj8Fe5E[/embed]

RADIO

The orchestra featured in the mid-1930s incarnation of the long-running 'Camel Caravan' series, which you'll hear an excerpt from on this week's Phantom Dancer. You'll also hear a radio transcription of their famous sound made in 1934, and the orchestra live in 1943 and on the air with Eugenie Baird singing in 1944. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4HTsvKKNsM[/embed] 16 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #518
107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 NOVEMBER 2021 12:04 - 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 - 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 - 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 - 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 - 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 - 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 - 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 - 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 - 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 - 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am - 1am 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 - 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 - 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 - 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 - 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 - 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 - 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 - 6pm
Set 1	Ginny Simms Show
Theme + Come To Baby	Ginny Simms (voc) Frank deVol Orchestra	'The Ginny Simms Show' WABC CBS NYC 11 Jan 1946
I'll Always Be With You	Alton Williams (voc) Frank deVol Orchestra	'The Ginny Simms Show' WABC CBS NYC 11 Jan 1946
What a Deal	Ginny Simms (voc) Frank deVol Orchestra	'The Ginny Simms Show' WABC CBS NYC 11 Jan 1946
Indian Love Song	Ginny Simms and Gene Kelly (voc) Frank deVol Orchestra	'The Ginny Simms Show' WABC CBS NYC 11 Jan 1946
Set 2	Cocoanut Grove
Music in the Moonlight (theme) + Say That You Are Teasing Me	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo Delys	'Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription' Los Angeles 1932
Bon Voyage to Your Ship of Dreams	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis	'Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription' Los Angeles 1932
Dinah + Music in the Moonlight (theme)	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) The Three Cheers	'Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription' Los Angeles 1932
Set 3	Glen Gray 1945 Radio
Smoke Rings (theme) + Begin the Beguine	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (cl) Fats Daniels	'One Night Stand' Casino Gardens Ocan Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Oct 1945
A Door Will Open	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (voc) Skip Nelson	'One Night Stand' Casino Gardens Ocan Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Oct 1945
Midnight	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Casino Gardens Ocan Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Oct 1945
What a Drag	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (voc) Fats Daniel	'One Night Stand' Casino Gardens Ocan Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Oct 1945
Set 4	Glen Gray Vinyl
Maniac's Ball	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1934
Zonky	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	'Camel Caravan' WABC CBS NY 17 Dec 1935
My Heart Tells Me	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (voc) Eugenie Baird	Aircheck Hotel New Yorker Aug 1944
Blackberry Jam	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	'Spotlight Bands' Columbus OH AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Nov 1943
Set 5	1920s Orchestras
My Mother Was a  Lady + She May Have Seen Better Days	Tonsorial Twitterbugs Quartet	'Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street' WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem	Paul Lavalle	'Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street' WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
The Booglie Wooglie Piggy	Diane Courtney	'Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street' WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Beyond the Moon	Toots Mondello	'Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street' WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Bugle Woogie + Close	Henry Levine	'Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street' WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Set 6	Boogie Piano
Original Boogie	Lil Armstrong	'DuPont Show of the Week' 'Chicago and All That Jazz' NBC TV 26 Nov 1961
Who Put The Benzedrine in Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine?	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson	Radio Transcription 8 Feb 1946
Piano Boogie	Dorothy Donegan	Comm Rec Chicago 1942
What's His Story?	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson	Radio Transcription 8 Feb 1946
Set 7	Eddie Condon
Blues + Riverboat Shuffle	Eddie Condon Group	'Eddie Condon's Floorshow' WPIX TV NYC 1948
St Louis Blues	Eddie Condon Group	'Eddie Condon Jazz Concert' WJZ Blue NYC 27 Jan 1945
Davenport Blues	Carl Kress and Tony Mottola guitar duet	'Eddie Condon Jazz Concert' WJZ Blue NYC 22 Jul 1944
Blues	Eddie Condon Group with Charlie Barnet and Charlie Shavers	'Eddie Condon's Floorshow' WPIX TV NYC 13 Dec 1948
Set 8	1940s Swing Radio
Let's Dance (theme) + Darktown Strutters' Ball	Benny Goodman Orchestra	'Jubilee' AFRS NYC 21 Jul 1944
Loose Wig	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	'Jubilee' AFRS Hollywood 16 Oct 1944
Honeydripper	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (voc) Quartet	'Spotlight Bands' Jefferson Barracks, Missouri Blue Network 23 Nov 1945
Wham + Close	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	'Spotlight Bands' Jefferson Barracks, Missouri Blue Network 23 Nov 1945