By Chris M. Slawecki
Alton Glenn Miller
Trombonist, Composer, Arranger, Bandleader
Born 1 March 1904; Declared dead 15 December 1944
From 1939 until the plane carrying him to Paris disappeared over the English Channel in late 1944, Glenn Miller led the most accomplished and popular band, and played the most popular music, of his time. His trademark sound lead clarinet doubling the melody one octave above the reed section and reliably precise ensemble playing helped define the melancholic, determined sound of World War II.
Alton Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa. His family moved several times, settling by 1918 in Colorado. Miller completed nearly two years at the University of Colorado then quit to pursue music. Ben Pollack hired Miller as arranger and trombonist in 1926 (around this same time Pollack also hired clarinetist Benny Goodman), and in 1928 Miller moved with Pollack to New York City. When Pollack hired trombonist Jack Teagarden, Miller left the band; he freelanced as arranger for The Dorsey Brothers and Red Nichols Five Pennies and in Nichols orchestras for Broadway musicals (including the Gershwins Girl Crazy and Strike Up The Band), then in 1935 helped assemble an American orchestra for a series of stateside radio broadcasts by Ray Noble.
By 1937, Miller was so respected that he gravitated to leading his own ensemble. Miller persisted even though its first few configurations werent successful, and recorded sides for several companies until RCA signed him to its Bluebird label in 1938. By then he had developed his own trademark sound of clarinet doubling the melody of the saxophones an octave higher and thanks to a series of national radio broadcasts from prestigious clubs and hotels in New York and New Jersey (especially radio broadcasts sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes) he inexorably gained the publics affection.
From 1939 to 1942, Glenn Miller dominated pop with reliable, robust ensemble playing of precise arrangements which retained genuine swing. His band, unlike those led by Benny Goodman (Gene Krupa, Harry James, Lionel Hampton) and Fletcher Henderson (Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster), was never renown for great soloists the arrangements of songs with such titles as "Moonlight Serenade" (Millers composition and theme song), "Sunrise Serenade," and "In The Mood," were the true stars. During his heyday, he scored the industrys first million-selling record since 1927 ("Chatanooga Choo-Choo") and was featured in two films (Sun Valley Serenade in 1940 and Orchestra Wives in 1941).
In 1941, Miller began losing members of his band to military conscription, and in October 1942 he disbanded his group to enlist. He was made captain in the Army Air Force Band and, for the second time in five years, assembled perhaps the most accomplished and popular band of its time. Miller and his band trained, performed and were broadcast throughout the U.S. until he took the band to England in 1944 in preparation to tour Allied Europe. That December, Miller left London in a plane for Paris to make arrangements for the bands performance there days later. His plane never landed. It was never found, and Miller was declared dead.
Miller and his bands played just about every Pop music form (dance music, vocal ballads, novelty numbers, period pop pieces) and played them well. They were simultaneously loved by millions and were perhaps the most skilled band of their time, a feat rarely accomplished.
MAJOR WORKS:
Moonlight Serenade, RCA 1992
The Secret Broadcasts, RCA 1996
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
A Memorial 1944 - 1969, RCA 1992
The Carnegie Hall Concert, RCA 1993
FURTHER READING:
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, George T. Simon, Da Capo Press, 1988
The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band, Edward Polic, Scarecrow Press, 1989
Published courtesy of Brown Partworks. Taken from the "Music in the 20th Century" encyclopedia, published by M. E. Sharpe Inc.
