Information AboutGlenn Miller |
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Glenn Miller ( March 1 , 1904 –probably December 15 , 1944 ) started life as '''Alton Glenn Miller''' in Clarinda, Iowa . Miller was an American Jazz Musician and Bandleader in the Swing era who was probably the genre's best-selling performer from 1939–1942. After a very successful career, including many famous recordings, he disappeared under mysterious circumstances during World War II , while on a flight to entertain U.S. troops in France. Whether or not the crash abetted it, Miller's signature recordings — including, among others, " In The Mood ", "Tuxedo Junction", " Chattanooga Choo Choo ", "Moonlight Serenade", "Sun Valley Jump", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000" (named for the exchange of his New York hotel residence) — have remained familiar, even to generations born decades after their creator disappeared. LIFE AND CAREER Miller's family moved to North Platte, Nebraska during his boyhood, and he started his musical career when his father brought home a Mandolin . As soon as possible, he traded the instrument for an old horn, which he practiced diligently. In 1923, Miller entered the University Of Colorado where he joined Sigma Nu Fraternity, but spent most of his time there away from school, attending auditions and playing any gigs he could get. He dropped out of school after failing three out of five classes one semester, and decided to concentrate on making a career as a professional musician. He later studied the Schillinger Technique with Joseph Schillinger, who is credited with helping Miller create the "Miller sound" and under whose tutelage he himself composed what became his longtime theme, " Moonlight Serenade ." Miller toured with several groups, small and large, playing Trombone and contributing arrangements (perhaps his first passion), landing a good spot in Ben Pollack 's group in Los Angeles . Among the members of that band was Benny Goodman , who played the Clarinet . During his stint with Pollack, Miller had the opportunity to write several musical arrangements of his own. In 1928 , when the band arrived in New York City , he sent for and married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger . During the 1930s, Miller earned a living working as a Freelance Trombonist in several bands, and compiling several Musical Arrangement s before forming his first band in 1937. Jerry Jerome , Hal McIntyre , Charlie Spivak , Sterling Bose , and Irving Fazola were some of the musicians in the band. Kathleen Lane was the singer. The band failed to distinguish itself from the many others of the era, and broke up. “Peg O’ My Heart,” “Anytime, Any Day, Anywhere,” “Moonlight, Bay,” “I’m Sitting on Top The World,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Sleepy Time Gal,” “Community Swing,” “Time On My Hands” and “Silhouetted In The Moonlight” were some of their best recordings. Discouraged, he returned to New York . Realizing that he needed a unique sound, he dedicated himself to finding it. After a lot of work, he decided to make the clarinet play a melodic line with a Tenor Saxophone on the same note, while three saxophones Harmonize d. With this sound, the Miller band that became the most popular was born in 1938. He wasn't the first to try that style, but he was the most successful at refining it and making it key to just about his entire repertoire, and it made his new band a hit and, in short enough order, the top selling big band in the country. Tex Beneke , Al Klink , Chummy MacGregor , Billy May , Johnny Best , Maurice Purtill , Wilbur Schwartz , Ernie Caceres , Ray Anthony , Clyde Hurley and Hal McIntyre , among others, were some of the musicians in the band. Ray Eberle , Marion Hutton and The Modernaires were the singers. The new Miller band immediately attracted large audiences to their concerts and their records. Beginning in June 1938, Miller dominated the top spot on the various popular music charts for more than a year, with "In the Mood" holding the top spot for more than fifteen weeks at the beginning of 1940 and Tuxedo Junction taking over and keeping Miller at number one into the summer. On February 10, 1942, Miller was presented with the first ever Gold record for Chattanooga Choo Choo. His other popular hits included "A String Of Pearls", "Moonlight Serenade", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000" (which was, and still is, the real telephone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania ) in Manhattan. Many jazz critics of that time felt that Miller's rise shifted popular music away from the "hot" bands of Benny Goodman and Count Basie . Miller himself emphasized orchestrated arrangements over improvisation, but he did leave a little room for his best musicians to improvise. " Miller’s arrangements are inventive and refreshing. He never forgets the melodic line. He lets you recognize the tune." — ''New York Times'', January 1940. Miller and his band also appeared in two Hollywood films, " Sun Valley Serenade " (1941) and " Orchestra Wives " (1942), the latter featuring future television legend Jackie Gleason as the group's fictitious bassist. MILITARY SERVICE, DISAPPEARANCE, AND PERSONALITY In 1942, Miller joined the United States Army Air Forces and was commissioned as a Captain as well as being appointed Director of Bands. He initially formed a large marching band that was to be the core of a network of service orchestras, but his attempts at modernizing military music were met with resistance from tradition-minded career officers. He instead formed what was first known as the Band of the Training Command, an orchestra consisting of a large (24 musicians) dance band augmented by 21 string players chosen from a number of symphony orchestras. The dance band included several members of his civilian orchestra, including chief arranger Jerry Gray as well as stars from other bands such as Ray McKinley , Bobby Nichols , Hank Freeman , Peanuts Hucko and Mel Powell . Johnny Desmond and the Crew Chiefs were the singers, although recordings were also made with guest stars such as Bing Crosby , Irene Manning , and Dinah Shore . The Dinah Shore sessions include a charming version of ''Stardust'' and are of special musical interest as they were recorded in High Fidelity and were intended as the band's first commercial releases, although they were not made public until the early 1990s. The orchestra was first based at Yale University in New Haven , Connecticut . From mid-1943 to mid-1944 they made hundreds of live appearances, transcriptions, and "I Sustain the Wings" radio broadcasts. Miller felt it was important that the band be as close as possible to the fighting troops so in mid-1944 he had the group transferred to London , where they were renamed the American Band Of The Allied Expeditionary Force . While in England the band gave more than 800 performances to an estimated one million Allied servicemen. For many years, the only available recordings of this band were on a five-record set issued by RCA in the mid-fifties. Since the nineties however, RCA and various companies have issued high fidelity compact discs of music previously thought lost. On . This theory also holds that he landed safely, but died of his illnesses on December 16th. After Miller's disappearance the band was co-led by Jerry Gray and Ray McKinley . They continued to play for troops until August 1945, when the members were discharged and returned to New York City . Many of the musicians continued to perform together under Jerry Gray 's direction until their farewell concert on November 17, 1945. According to Leo Walker in his book ''The Big Band Almanac'', few people knew Glenn Miller well. Two people who did were Don Haynes, Miller's manager, and George T. Simon, jazz critic and author of ''Glenn Miller & His Orchestra''. Don Haynes told Walker that Miller was a reserved person, but extremely warm towards those near him. But other musicians who were associated with Miller thought differently. They all respected Miller, but they described him as all business, generally cold, perhaps insecure and a person who had a driving ambition to be successful. They agreed that Miller was a musical perfectionist. "Glenn had guts," said George T. Simon in his book ''The Big Bands''. "He could also spot phonies, whom he truly detested. If you were straight with Glenn, he'd give you at least the time of day. But if you weren't, he wouldn't even give you the time of night." LEGACY Miller's music is familiar to many born long after his death, especially from its use in a number of movies. James Stewart starred as Glenn Miller in 1953's '' The Glenn Miller Story '', which portrayed many of his compositions and also took many liberties with his life story. ( Benny Goodman and the Dorsey brothers, to be fair, suffered similar fates when films of their lives were made in the same decade.) Many of the Miller musicians went on to studio careers in Hollywood and New York after World War II. For example, Billy May, who became a much-coveted arranger and studio orchestra leader — and backed up singers like Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Anita O'Day and Bing Crosby. Also George Siravo from Miller's first band was a noted arranger who worked for Columbia in the late forties and early fifties and arranged songs for Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. Wilbur Schwartz, Herman "Trigger" Alpert and Ernie Caceres backed up many singers in the fifties. Ray Anthony led his own extremely popular band during that same time period. Norman Leyden from the Army Air Force Band was a noted arranger in New York, who arranged for Sarah Vaughan, among other people. Johnny Desmond from the Army Air Force Band became a popular singer in the nineteen fifties and starred on Broadway in the nineteen sixties in "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand. The Glenn Miller estate authorized an official Glenn Miller "ghost band" in 1946. This band was led by Tex Beneke and had a make up similiar to the Army Air Force Band, it had a large string section. By 1948, economics dictated that the string section be dropped. This ghost band played to very large audiences all across the United States, including a few dates at the Hollywood Palladium, where the original Miller band played in 1941. " Even after the war, when big bands began to lose their popularity, the Palladium still drew in a record 6,750 eager dancers to the 1947 opening night performance of Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra – an event enthusiastically covered by Life Magazine." {Link without Title} Beneke was struggling with how to expand the Miller sound and also how to achieve success under his own name. What began as the "Glenn Miller Orchestra Under the Direction of Tex Beneke" finally became "The Tex Beneke Orchestra". This band recorded for RCA Victor, just as the original Miller band did. The post-war Miller/Beneke band was heavily influenced by R&B as evidenced by hits like "Hey Ba-Ba-Re-bop". By 1950, Beneke and the Miller estate parted ways. Six years later, after the success of "The Glenn Miller Story", Ray McKinley was asked to lead a new ghost band; this is the original version of the current ghost band that still tours today. "Moonlight Serenade" was used in Tom Hanks ' '' Big '' and ABC's '' Lost ''. ''In The Mood'' was used in Disney's remake of '' The Parent Trap '', and in 1989 as the instrumental theme for Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers "Swing the Mood", a compilation mix that also included many early rock and roll tunes and was a number one single in the U.K. , Australia , and several other countries. In 2005, it made an appearance at the end of an Episode of the recently-revived British sci-fi TV series, '' Doctor Who ''. "Moonlight Serenade" seems to be undergoing a small revival. Carly Simon, George Simon's niece, revived it for her 2005 cd of the same name. Also, Martin Scorcese placed it in the soundtrack for his movie about Howard Hughes, 2004's "The Aviator". The Glenn Miller Ballroom on the University of Colorado campus is named in his honor. In April 1992, at his daughter's request, a stone was placed in Memorial Section H, Number 464-A on Wilson Drive in Arlington National Cemetery . NEW SOUND? Miller himself may have been pondering a change to his music before his death. Adding a string section to his military band was one hint; other writings have cited Miller himself suggesting he had taken his trademark sound as far as he could take it without becoming completely sterile. In particular the aforementioned Dinah Shore recordings display a very different arranging style with only a slight hint of the famous reed blend. His death left forever unanswered the question of where he might have taken his music after the war, particularly when postwar economics made most bands the size of Miller's nearly impossible to sustain. On the other hand, a soundtrack album of his two films showed the pre-Army Miller band playing with a more full-blooded attack (abetted by the broad reverberation of the sound stages where they cut the soundtracks, including new and meatier versions of some of their most familiar material) than they were known to do on their original recordings; perhaps Miller might have developed a new sound from that vantage point. QUOTATIONS
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