Recording the Alto Bands | American Dance Bands

Commencing in about 1928, Columbia started releasing records by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians.

This was an innovation, for Lombardo’s style of arrangement – separated horn sections, with the saxophones led by a strong alto-played melody, which I call the “alto” sound – had rarely been heard on any previous recordings. Columbia and Lombardo had many popular issues until they parted company in 1932.

Lombardo signed on with Brunswick, a major competitor. It appears that Columbia – dedicated to the Lombardo style – then started to record Art Kassel, a Midwestern unit with a similar sound. The other major record producer, Victor, had at this time no competing alto band until it signed Kassel in 1934 for the Bluebird label and Jan Garber in 1933 for the Victor label. At this point all three major labels were committed to propagate the alto sound. Kassel remained with Bluebird until 1942.

Then, in 1934, Lombardo jumped to the newly-formed Decca label.

This left Brunswick without an alto band. They started recording Kay Kyser in 1935. In 1936, Lombardo and Garber changed sides, with Garber going to Decca and Lombardo to Victor.

In 1937, Vocalion – Brunswick’s “budget label”- released Sammy Kaye’s first offerings. And Bluebird fielded an array of territory bands, such as Jimmy Livingston and his Hotel Charlotte Orchestra, which made a dozen sides in 1937-38.

In 1938, Garber left Decca for Brunswick and Lombardo returned to Decca. a relationship which would last well into the 1950s. In the same year, Kaye, who had several hits on Vocalion, jumped to Victor and, like Lombardo, stayed into the 1950s. And what about Bluebird? They recorded Blue Barron from 1938-through 1940,

In 1939, with Brunswick defunct, Kyser switched to Columbia, which also absorbed the Vocalion label, with its alto bands, Ray Herbeck and Dick Barrie. Kyser’s recording for Columbia was continuous until he retired about 1951.

Thus, by 1939, things had stabilized between the alto bands and the major labels.

In 1940, disruption occurred again when Garber, Barron, and Kaye signed on with the new U.S. Record Co. (Varsity, Elite, Hit, etc. labels) Kaye, however, released about a dozen sides and then returned to Victor.

By 1942, the war had disrupted the bands, and the recording industry was greatly affected by the long recording ban imposed by the Musician’s Union. At war’s end all of the major alto bands were able to record – some on new labels such as M-G-M and Mercury – but only Lombardo and Kaye could sustain through the 1950s. Again, Lombardo and Kaye were popular enough to foster “ghost” bands which were still playing in the late 20th Century.

It should be noted that this straightforward way of playing the melody sustained these units as “dance” bands long after the swing organizations had left the ballroom.