Miller, (Alton) Glenn

Miller, (Alton) Glenn, disciplined American bandleader, arranger, and trombonist; b. Clarinda, Iowa, March 1, 1904; d. en route from England to France, Dec. 15, 1944. Though Miller succeeded relatively late as a swing bandleader, he succeeded spectacularly: For three years, 1939–42, his Orch. outstripped all competitors as the most popular recording and performing act in the U.S. Developing a signature sound in which the melody was carried by a high-pitched clarinet doubled by a saxophone section playing an octave lower, he scored 17 #1 hits and at least seven million-sellers, his most popular recordings being “In the Mood” “Moonlight Cocktail,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” and “Tuxedo Junction.” His progress was stopped only by World War II; he disbanded to join the military, where he organized a service band. After his death, imitators and a ghost band continued to play in his style, and unlike other stars of the Swing Era, he remained consistently popular, with his recordings continuing to chart more than 50 years later.

The son of Lewis Elmer and Mattie Lou Cavender, Miller moved with his family to Tryon, Nebr., in 1909, then to Grant City, Mo., in 1915. Music was played at home, and his first instrument was a mandolin, which he traded for a horn. He joined the town band and was given a trombone by the bandleader, paying for it by shining shoes. The family moved to Fort Morgan, Colo., by 1918, and he played in the high school band there. After graduating in May 1921, he played with Boy d Senter’s Orch., then entered the Univ. of Colo, in January 1923, leaving after a year to concentrate on music. He moved to Los Angeles and joined Ben Pollack’s band. He left Pollack in the summer of 1928 and spent the next several years playing and arranging in N.Y. On Oct. 6, 1928, he married Helen Burger, with whom he later adopted two children.

In the spring of 1934, Miller joined The Dorsey Brothers Orch. as trombonist and arranger, staying with them nearly a year. He then organized an American band for British bandleader Ray Noble to take into the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center in N.Y. in 1935. During this period he studied theory and composition with Joseph Schillinger. He recorded a session for Columbia Records under his own name on April 25, 1935, marking his debut as a leader, but he did not organize a permanent Orch. until 1937. The group played around the country during the year but was not successful, and Miller disbanded it at the start of 1938, only to re-form with mostly new players two months later. This group continued to struggle for another year until it landed a prestigious engagement at the Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, N.Y., for the summer of 1939. Meanwhile, Miller had signed to the discountpriced Bluebird label of RCA Victor Records.

The attention paid to the Glen Island Casino residency and regular radio broadcasts led to rapid success for the band. In June, “Wishing (Will Make It So)” (music and lyrics by B. G. De Sylva) became Miller’s first record to top the hit parade. It was succeeded by “Stairway to the Stars” (music by Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli, lyrics by Mitchell Parish) in July, which gave way to “Moon Love” (music and lyrics by Mack David, Mack Davis, and André Kostalanetz) in August, and then “Over the Rainbow” (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E. Y. Harburg) in September—18 straight weeks at #1. “Blue Orchids” (music and lyrics by Hoagy Carmichael) became Miller’s fifth chart-topper of the year in November. But his best-selling record of 1939 and first million-seller was his own composition and theme song, “Moonlight Serenade” (lyrics by Mitchell Parish), which he had written as an exercise for Joseph Schillinger.

In December 1939, Miller took over the Chesterfield Supper Club radio show, which broadcast three times a week. In January 1940 he opened at the Café Rouge in the Hotel Pennsylvania in N.Y., the first of several lengthy engagements there. Simultaneously, he also appeared at the Paramount Theatre, another important venue. “Careless” (music and lyrics by Lew Quadling, Eddy Howard, and Dick Jürgens) topped the hit parade in February; that same month marked the sales peak of Miller’s second million-seller and one of the definitive songs of the Swing Era, “In the Mood” (music by Joe Garland, lyrics by Andy Razaf). “When You Wish Upon a Star” (music by Leigh Harline, lyrics by Ned Washington) topped the chart in March, superseded by “The Woodpecker Song” (music by Eldo di Lazzaro, English lyrics by Harold Adamson) in May, “Imagination” (music by James Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke) in June, and “Fools Rush In” (music and lyrics by Rube Bloom, lyrics by Johnny Mercer) in July.

But Miller’s biggest success of the spring of 1940 was his third million-seller, “Tuxedo Junction” (music by Erskine Hawkins, William Johnson, and Julian Dash, lyrics by Buddy Feyne). His fourth million-seller, which peaked in the Top Ten in August, was “Pennsylvania 6-5000” (music by Jerry Gray, lyrics by Carl Sigman), the phone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania. Miller continued to score numerous hits through the rest of 1940, but he did not top the charts again until March 1941 with his adaptation of the Russian folk song “Song of the Volga Boatmen.”

Miller contracted with 20th Century-Fox and went to Hollywood to make Sun Valley Serenade, his first motion picture, with songs by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. Released in September 1941, the film contained his 12th chart- topper and fifth million-seller, “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” He returned to the top of the charts in December with “Elmer’s Tune” (music and lyrics by Elmer Albrecht, Sammy Gallop, and Dick Jürgens).

Miller continued to dominate popular music in 1942, going to #1 with “A String of Pearls” (music by Jerry Gray, lyrics by Eddie DeLange) and “Moonlight Cocktail” (music by C. Luckeyth Roberts, lyrics by Kim Gannon) in February and “(I’ve Got a Gal in) Kalama-zoo” (music by Warren, lyrics by Gordon), from his second motion picture, Orchestra Wives, in September, while “American Patrol” and “Kalamazoo” gave him his sixth and seventh million-sellers. On Sept. 10 he received his commission, and his civilian band played its final date on Sept. 27.

Assigned to the Army Air Force, Miller organized a service band in the spring of 1943 and played for the troops and at war-bond rallies while doing a weekly radio show, I Sustain the Wings; he scored a final #1 hit with “That Old Black Magic” (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer) in May In June 1944 he went to Great Britain, where he continued to give concerts and do radio broadcasts. He was preparing to perform in newly liberated Paris when his plane was lost over the English Channel.

In the wake of Miller’s death, his band played in Europe during the final months of World War II. Glenn Miller, an album of 78s, topped the charts in May 1945, becoming the best-selling album of the year. After the war the Miller band was fronted by saxophonist/ vocalist Tex Beneke for several years, while Miller’s original recordings continued to sell well. The album Glenn Miller Masterpieces —Vol. 2 reached #1 in October 1947.

The Glenn Miller Story, a fictionalized screen biography starring Jimmy Stewart, was released in February 1954 and became one of the top-grossing films of the year. The film’s soundtrack album, featuring Miller’s music but not Miller himself, topped the charts in March. RCA Victor released a ten-inch album of original Miller performances of the songs heard in the film, Selections from the Glenn Miller Story, and it went to #1 in May. In 1956 the album was reissued as a 12-inch LP with a slightly different track selection. It was certified gold in 1961. In 1962, RCA Victor released Glenn Miller Plays Selections from the Glenn Miller Story and Other Hits, with a track listing identical to the 1956 LP. This album was certified gold in 1968.

In 1956 the Glenn Miller estate established an official “ghost” version of the Glenn Miller Orch. under the direction of drummer/singer Ray McKinley, who had played with Miller. This band continued to exist under different leaders and to make recordings.

The continuing sales of Miller records inspired RCA Victor to unearth previously unissued airchecks and outtakes. The 1959 triple-LP set For the First Time ...earned a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Dance Band. (Though Miller never won a Grammy, “In the Mood” and “Tuxedo Junction” have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.)

The best sales, however, continued to be achieved by the original studio recordings: the double-LP A Memorial, 1944–69, containing 30 of Miller’s hits and released in October 1969, went gold in 1986; the ten- track single-LP Pure Gold, released in March 1975, went gold in 1984. RCA Victor reissued all of Miller’s recordings in a series of nine double-LPs released in the last half of the 1970s and subsequently reconfigured as a 13-CD boxed set. Miller’s music was heard on a gold-selling single in 1989, when “In the Mood” was sampled on the hit “Swing the Mood,” by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers. As late as 1996, RCA Victor was continuing to find unreleased Miller material for such albums as The Lost Recordings and The Secret Broadcasts, which sold well enough to reach the jazz charts.

Writings

G.M.’s Method for Orchestral Arranging (1943).

Bibliography

S. Bedwell, A G. M. Discography and Biography (London, 1955; 2nd ed., 1956); J. Flower, Moonlight Serenade: A Bio-Discography of the G. M. Civilian Band (New Rochelle, N.Y., 1972); G. Simon, G. M. and His Orchestra (N.Y., 1974); J. Green, G. M. and the Age of Swing (London, 1976); G. Butcher, Next to a Letter from Home: Major G. M/s Wartime Band (Edinburgh, 1986); E. Polic, The G. M. Army Air Force Band: Sustineo Alas/I Sustain the Wings (Metuchen, N.J., 1989).

—William Ruhlmann