LARGE PHOTOGRAPH OF BIG BAND LEADER GLEN GRAY

LEWIS, Reuben. Large photograph. Chicago: circa 1942. Photographic print (10-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches), mounted, entire piece measures 16 by 20 inches. $100.

Large photograph of Glen Gray, leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra, the original “Swing” band.

Originally an offshoot of Jean Goldkette’s orchestra in Detroit, the Casa Loma Orchestra took their name from a club in Toronto that never actually opened. As early as 1929 they were developing their unique sound and becoming quite popular; by the forties their popularity was on the wane, as their Swing sound was no longer a novelty. The photograph was taken at the Hotel Sherman’s Panther Room in Chicago by Reuben Lewis, probably the hotel’s photographer. The Hotel Sherman was an important location for big band and jazz music in Chicago from the twenties to the forties, one of the first places in “respectable” white Chicago to hear the extraordinary music coming out of places like New Orleans and Chicago’s own south side.

Photograph fine; light dampstaining to edges of cardboard mount. A wonderful image, suitable for framing.