Harold Eugene Gifford (May 31, 1908 – November 12, 1970) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and arranger.
He formed his own group to tour Texas and then switched to guitar to play with Blue Steele and Henry Cato's Vanities Orchestra in 1928.
He remained with Casa Loma until 1939, when he was bought out of his contract due to alcohol-related infractions of the band's strict rules, but he returned to play with them in 1948-49.
[1] [Gifford] approached his task as an "engineer" creating intricate staccato passages which hurtled along as if on well oiled rollers from which the soloists were suddenly launched.
His originals were like demonic steam trains where every moving part flashed and meshed in impossible displays of kinetic energy.