Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
The Casa Loma Orchestra play "Little Did I Know", featuring a great trumpet solo by Dub Schoefner (or Schoffner), a devotee of Bix Beiderbecke. (He could have been a bit closer to the microphone!)
This side comes from the band's final recording session for OKeh, before they moved to Brunswick, subsequently becoming one the best known bands of the period, playing a close-knit proto-swing style that relied on punchy but precise riffs. In this earlier period, though, arranger Gene Gifford seems to be more influenced by Bill Challis, the arranger who worked so closely with Bix in Jean Goldkette's and then Paul Whiteman's orchestras. Gifford scores organ-like figures for the saxes behind Schoefner when he solos, reminiscent of the Challis-style.
CASA LOMA ORCHESTRA
Henry Biagini directing: Joe Hostetter, Bobby Jones and Dub Schoefner - trumpets / Pee Wee Hunt and Billy Rauch - trombones / Glen Gray and Ray Eberle - alto sax, baritone sax / Pat Davis - tenor sax, clarinet / Mel Jenssen - violin / Joe Hall - piano / Gene Gifford - guitar, arranger / Stanley Dennis - brass bass / Tony Briglia - drums, xylophone / Jack Richmond - vocals
Recorded in New York, December 6th, 1930
404572-A…….Little Did I Know…….OKeh 41477
The Casa Loma Orchestra play "Little Did I Know", featuring a great trumpet solo by Dub Schoefner (or Schoffner), a devotee of Bix Beiderbecke. (He could have been a bit closer to the microphone!)
This side comes from the band's final recording session for OKeh, before they moved to Brunswick, subsequently becoming one the best known bands of the period, playing a close-knit proto-swing style that relied on punchy but precise riffs. In this earlier period, though, arranger Gene Gifford seems to be more influenced by Bill Challis, the arranger who worked so closely with Bix in Jean Goldkette's and then Paul Whiteman's orchestras. Gifford scores organ-like figures for the saxes behind Schoefner when he solos, reminiscent of the Challis-style.
CASA LOMA ORCHESTRA
Henry Biagini directing: Joe Hostetter, Bobby Jones and Dub Schoefner - trumpets / Pee Wee Hunt and Billy Rauch - trombones / Glen Gray and Ray Eberle - alto sax, baritone sax / Pat Davis - tenor sax, clarinet / Mel Jenssen - violin / Joe Hall - piano / Gene Gifford - guitar, arranger / Stanley Dennis - brass bass / Tony Briglia - drums, xylophone / Jack Richmond - vocals
Recorded in New York, December 6th, 1930
404572-A…….Little Did I Know…….OKeh 41477
