Glenn Miller
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Glenn Miller
Major Glenn Miller
Background information
Birth name	Alton Glenn Miller
Born	March 1, 1904(1904-03-01) Clarinda, Iowa, U.S.
Died	circa December 15, 1944 (aged 40) English Channel(presumably)
Genre(s)	Swing music Big band
Occupation(s)	Bandleader
Instrument(s)	Trombone
Years active	1923–1944
Associated acts	Glenn Miller Orchestra

Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904–presumably December 15, 1944), was an American jazz musician and band leader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big Bands". Miller's signature recordings include, "In the Mood", "Tuxedo Junction", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Moonlight Serenade", "Little Brown Jug", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000".¹ While travelling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's plane disappeared in bad weather. His body was never found.

Early life and career

Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa on March 1, 1904, the son of Mattie Lou (née Cavender) and Lewis Elmer Miller.²³ He went to grade school in North Platte, Nebraska. In 1915, Miller's family moved to Grant City, Missouri. Around this time, Miller was given his first trombone and then played in the town orchestra. In 1918, the Miller family moved again, this time to Fort Morgan, Colorado where Glenn went to high school. During his senior year, Miller became very interested in a new style of music called "dance band music". Miller enjoyed this music so much that he and some classmates decided to start their own band. By the time Miller graduated from high school in 1921, he had decided he wanted to become a professional musician.⁴

In 1923, Miller entered the University of Colorado where he joined Sigma Nu Fraternity,⁵ but spent most of his time away from school, attending auditions and playing any gigs he could get, most notably with Boyd Senter's band in Denver. 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,⁶ who is credited with helping Miller create the "Miller sound", and under whose tutelage he himself composed what became his signature theme, "Moonlight Serenade."⁷

In 1926, Miller toured with several groups and landed a good spot in Ben Pollack's group in Los Angeles. 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. He was a member of Red Nichols’s orchestra in 1930, and because of Nichols, played in the pit bands of two Broadway shows, Strike Up the Band and Girl Crazy, his bandmates included Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. "The consensus there was that Miller was no more than an average trombonist."⁸ Despite this, during the late 1920s and early 1930s, Miller managed to earn a living working as a freelance trombonist in several bands. However, on occasion, he did place his trombone for sale in various pawn shops while he earned money elsewhere in a race to repurchase it. In November of 1929, an original vocalist named Red McKenzie hired Glenn to play on two records that are now considered to be jazz classics: "Hello, Lola" and "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight". "Not only were [the two songs Miller recorded] considered major musical items, but they also represented one of the major breakthroughs in blacks and whites playing together." Besides Glenn were clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, guitarist Eddie Condon, drummer Gene Krupa and Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone.⁹

In the mid-1930s, Miller also worked as a trombonist and arranger in The Dorsey Brothers ill-fated co-led orchestra.¹⁰ Miller composed the song "Annie's Cousin Fanny"[Simon 9] and "Dese Dem Dose"[Simon 65] for the Dorsey Brothers Band in 1934 and 1935. In 1935, he assembled an American orchestra for British bandleader Ray Noble,¹¹ developing the arrangement of lead clarinet over four saxophones that eventually became the sonic keynote of his own big band. Members of the Noble band included future bandleaders Claude Thornhill, Bud Freeman and Charlie Spivak.¹² Ray Noble and his American Dance Orchestra recorded and performed a live version of the Glenn Miller composition "Dese Dem Dose" as part of a medley in April, 1935 at the Rainbow Room in New York.

Glenn Miller compiled several musical arrangements before forming his first band in 1937. The band failed to distinguish itself from the many others of the era, and eventually broke up. Benny Goodman said in 1976, "In late 1937, before his band became popular, we were both playing in Dallas. Glenn was pretty dejected and came to see me. He asked, 'What do you do? How do you make it?' I said, 'I don't know, Glenn. You just stay with it."¹³

Success from 1938 to 1942: public and critical reaction

Discouraged, Miller returned to New York. He realized that he needed to develop a unique sound, and decided to make the clarinet play a melodic line with a tenor saxophone holding the same note, while three other saxophones harmonized within a single octave. George Simon discovered a saxophonist named Wilbur Schwartz for Glenn Miller. Miller hired Schwartz, but instead had him play the lead clarinet. According to Simon, "Willie's tone and way of playing provided a fullness and richness so distinctive that none of the later Miller imitators could ever accurately reproduce the Miller sound." ¹⁴ With this new sound combination, the Miller band found success. Miller was not the first to try this style, but he was the most successful at refining it and making it key to almost his entire repertoire.

In September 1938, the Miller band began making recordings for the RCA Victor Bluebird Records subsidiary.¹⁵ In the spring of 1939, the band's fortunes improved with a date at the Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, and more dramatically at the Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, New York. With the Glen Island date, the band began a huge rise in popularity.¹⁶ In 1939, Time magazine noted: "Of the twelve to 24 discs in each of today's 300,000 U.S. jukeboxes, from two to six are usually Glenn Miller's."¹⁷ There were record-breaking recordings such as "Tuxedo Junction", which sold 115,000 copies in the first week.¹⁸ 1939's huge success culminated with the Miller band in concert at Carnegie Hall on October 6, with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, and Fred Waring also the main attractions.¹⁹

From 1939 to 1942, Miller's band was featured three times a week during a broadcast for Chesterfield cigarettes, originally with the Andrews Sisters and then on its own.²⁰ On February 10, 1942, RCA Victor presented Miller with the first gold record for "Chattanooga Choo-Choo".²¹ "Chattanooga Choo Choo" was performed by the Miller orchestra with his singers Gordon "Tex" Beneke, Paula Kelly and the vocal group, the Modernaires.²² Other singers with this orchestra included Marion Hutton,²³ Skip Nelson,²⁴ Ray Eberle²⁵ and to a smaller extent, Kay Starr,²⁶ Ernie Caceres,²⁷ Dorothy Claire²⁸ and Jack Lathrop.²⁹Pat Friday ghost sang with the Miller band in Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives with Lynn Bari lip synching.[18]

In 2004, Glenn Miller orchestra bassist Herman "Trigger" Alpert explained the band's success: "Miller had America's music pulse[...]. He knew what would please the listeners."³⁰ Although Miller had massive popularity, many jazz critics of the time had their misgivings, believing that the band's endless rehearsals and "letter-perfect playing" diminished excitement and feeling from performances.³¹ They also felt that Miller's brand of swing shifted popular music away from the "hot" jazz bands of Benny Goodman and Count Basie towards commercial novelty instrumentals and vocal numbers. Miller was often criticized for being too commercial. His answer to the criticism was, "I don't want a jazz band".¹² Many modern jazz critics still harbour similar antipathy toward Miller.³² In an article written by Gary Giddins for The New Yorker in 2004, Giddins felt that these early critics erred in denigrating Glenn Miller's music, and that the popular opinion of the time should hold greater sway. The article states: "Miller exuded little warmth on or off the bandstand, but once the band struck up its theme, audiences were done for: throats clutched, eyes softened. Can any other record match "Moonlight Serenade" for its ability to induce a Pavlovian slaver in so many for so long?"³²

Louis Armstrong thought enough of Miller to carry around his recordings transferred to seven inch tape reels when he went on tour. "[Armstrong] liked musicians who prized melody, and his selections ranged from Glenn Miller to Jelly Roll Morton to Tchaikovsky." ³³ George Shearing's quintet was influenced by Glenn Miller: "with Shearing's 'locked hand' piano (influenced by the voicing of Glenn Miller's saxophone section) in the middle [of the quintet's harmonies]."[19] Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme held the orchestra in high regard. Torme credited Miller with giving him helpful advice when he first started his singing and song writing career in the 1940s. Mel Torme met Glenn Miller in 1942, the meeting facilitated by Torme's father and Ben Pollack. Torme and Miller discussed "That Old Black Magic" which was just emerging as a new song by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. Miller told Torme to pick up every song by Mercer and study it and to become a voracious reader of anything he could find, because "all good lyric writers are great readers". ³⁴ In an interview with George T. Simon in 1948, Frank Sinatra lamented the inferior quality of music he was recording in the late forties and in comparison, "those great Glenn Miller things like 'Polka Dots and Moonbeams'" from eight years earlier. With the opposite opinion, fellow bandleader Artie Shaw frequently disparaged the band after Miller's death: "All I can say is that Glenn should have lived, and 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' should have died."³⁵

Miller and his band appeared in two Twentieth Century Fox films, 1941's, Sun Valley Serenade[20] and 1942's Orchestra Wives,[21] the latter featuring Jackie Gleason playing a part as the group's bassist[22]. Miller was contracted to do a third movie for Fox, but as he entered the army, this never panned out. "Glenn Miller's sudden entry into the Army caused the cancellation of his third picture deal with 20th Century-Fox [...]. Company is dickering for another band for the first picture 'Blind Date' slated for autumn production." ³⁶

The Army Air Force Band 1942-1944

Bust outside the Corn Exchange in Bedford, where Miller played in World War II.

In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Miller decided he could better serve those in uniform by joining the war effort. At 38 years old, Miller was too old to be drafted, and first volunteered for the Navy but was told that they did not need his services. [Simon 309-310] Miller then wrote to Army Brigadier General Charles Young on August 12 1942. Miller persuaded the United States Army Air Forces to accept him so he could in his own words, "be placed in charge of a modernized army band." After being accepted in the Army, Glenn’s civilian band played their last concert in Passaic, New Jersey on September 27, 1942.⁴

Captain Glenn Miller served initially as assistant special services officer for the Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1942. He played trombone with the Rhythmaires, a 15-piece dance band, in both Mongtomery and in service clubs and recreation halls on Maxwell. Miller also appeared on both WAPI (Birmingham, Alabama) and WSFA radio (Montgomery), promoting the activities of civil service women aircraft mechanics employed at Maxwell.³⁷

Glenn Miller was transferred. The band he was most noted for while in the military, was stationed at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut March 27, 1943 to June 19, 1944.[23] "Through Miller, band members and vocalists like Tony Martin, Johnny Desmond and Ray McKinley became familiar names."[24] Miller initially formed a large marching band that was to be the core of a network of service orchestras. Miller's attempts at modernizing military music were met with some resistance from tradition-minded career officers. An example is the arrangement of "St. Louis Blues March", combining blues and jazz with the traditional military march. This was recorded on October 29, 1943 at the Victor studios in New York City.³⁸ "Miller's striking innovations and his adaptations of Sousa marches for the AAF band prompted Time magazine to claim that he had rankled traditionalists in the field of Army music and had desecrated the March King. The magazine also criticized Miller's injection of casual enjoyment into the disciplined cadences of military music, stating that the Army was 'swinging its hips instead of its feet.'"³⁹Miller's weekly radio broadcast "I Sustain the Wings" moved from New Haven to New York City and was very popular. This led to permission for Miller to form his 50-piece Army Air Force Band and take it to England in the summer of 1944, where he gave 800 performances.⁴⁰ While in England, now Major Glenn Miller recorded a series of records at HMV (now EMI) owned Abbey Road studios. HMV at this time was the British and sometime European distributor for the American record company that handled and originated Glenn Miller's recordings, RCA Victor.⁴¹ The recordings the AAF band made in 1944 at Abbey Road were propaganda broadcasts for the Office of War Information. Many songs were sung in German by Johnny Desmond and Glenn Miller spoke in German about the war effort.⁴²⁴³ Also, "[...] Glenn Miller recorded a number of titles with Dinah Shore [at Abbey Road] on September 16 1944. These were the last recordings he made. Extraordinarily the recordings remained unreleased and unheard by millions of Glenn Miller fans around the world until the expiry of their copyright in 1994."⁴⁴

Disappearance

Miller's monument in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut

On December 15, 1944, Miller, now a major, was to fly from the United Kingdom to Paris, France, to play for the soldiers who recently had liberated Paris. His plane departed from RAF Twinwood Farm, in Clapham, Bedfordshire, but disappeared over the English Channel.⁴⁵ Miller's remains and the wreckage of the plane (a single-engine UC-64 Norseman, USAAF serial 44-70285) have never been found.

Since Miller's disappearance more than sixty years ago, there have been many theories about what happened. Buddy DeFranco, one of the leaders of the post-war Glenn Miller orchestra, told biographer George T. Simon of the many theories of Miller's disappearance that were told to him while he was leading the band in the 1970s. DeFranco said "If I were to believe all those stories, there would have been about twelve thousand four hundred and fifty eight people there at the field in England seeing him off on that last flight!"⁴⁶

Miller's plane may have been bombed accidentally by Royal Air Force aircraft over the English Channel after an abortive air raid on Siegen, Germany. One hundred and thirty-eight Lancaster bombers, short on fuel, jettisoned approximately 100,000 incendiaries in a designated area before landing, per standing orders.⁴⁷ The logbooks of Royal Air Force navigator Fred Shaw recorded that he saw a small single-engined monoplane spiraling out of control and crashing into the water. If this was indeed Miller's plane, the RAF crews were not culpable for the plane carrying Miller straying off course into their designated drop area. However, a second source, while acknowledging the possibility, casts doubt on the version, citing other RAF crew members flying the same mission who state the drop area was in the North Sea, a more likely location.⁴⁸⁴⁹

Miller's surname resides on the 'Wall of Missing' at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. A monument stone was also placed in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut next to the campus of Yale University.[25] General Jimmy Doolittle⁵⁰ said, “[...]next to a letter from home, that organization was the greatest morale builder in the European Theater of Operations.”⁵¹

Civilian Band Legacy

The Miller estate authorized an official Glenn Miller "ghost band" in 1946. This band was led by Tex Beneke, former lead saxophonist and singer for the civilian band. It had a make up similar to the Army Air Force Band: it had a large string section.⁵² The orchestra's official public début was at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway where it opened for a three week engagement on January 24, 1946.⁵³ Henry Mancini was the band's pianist and one of the arrangers.⁵⁴ This ghost band played to very large audiences all across the United States, including a few dates at the Hollywood Palladium in 1947, where the original Miller band played in 1941.⁵⁵ In a website concerning the history of the Hollywood Palladium, it is noted "[e]ven as the big band era faded, the Tex Beneke and Glenn Miller Orchestra concert at the Palladium resulted in a record-breaking crowd of 6,750 dancers."⁵⁶ By 1949, economics dictated that the string section be dropped.⁵⁷

This band recorded for RCA Victor, just as the original Miller band did.⁵⁷ 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". By 1950, Beneke and the Miller estate parted ways.⁵⁸ The break was acrimonious and Beneke is not currently listed by the Miller estate as a former leader of the Glenn Miller orchestra.⁵⁹

When Glenn Miller was alive, various bandleaders like Bob Chester imitated his style.⁶⁰ By the early 1950s, various bands were again copying the Miller style of clarinet led reeds and muted trumpets, notably Ralph Flanagan,⁶¹ Jerry Gray,⁶² and Ray Anthony.⁶³ This, coupled with the success of The Glenn Miller Story (1953),⁶⁴ led the Miller estate to ask Ray McKinley to lead a new ghost band.⁵⁷ This 1956 band which included musicians such as pianist Don Wilhite among others, is the original version of the current ghost band that still tours the United States today.⁶⁵ The official Glenn Miller orchestra for the United States is currently under the direction of Larry O'Brien.⁶⁶ The officially sanctioned Glenn Miller Orchestra for the United Kingdom has toured and recorded with great success under the leadership of Ray McVay.⁶⁷ The official Glenn Miller Orchestra for Europe has been led by Wil Salden since 1990.⁶⁸

Air Force Band legacy

In the mid-1940s, after Miller's death, the Miller led Army Air Force band was decommissioned and sent back to the United States. "[T]he chief of the European theater asked [Warrant Officer Harold Lindsay] Lin [Arinson] to put together another band to take its place, and that's when the 314 was formed." According to singer Tony Bennett, the 314 was the immediate successor to the Glenn Miller led AAF orchestra. ⁶⁹ The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band's legacy has carried on with the Airmen of Note, a band within the United States Air Force. This band was created in 1950 from smaller groups within the Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. and continues to play jazz music for the Air Force community and the general public.⁵¹

Postscript

Even after Miller broke up his civilian orchestra in 1942, the band had two hits in 1943 for RCA Victor.⁷⁰ (These were recorded before the band broke up and before the recording ban imposed by the musicians union in the fall of 1942. One of the hits was "That Old Black Magic"[26] which was one recording from three sessions that happened between July 14 and July 16, 1942. The musicians union ban on new recordings went into effect August 1, 1942. ⁷¹ Two years later, "Glenn Miller, an album of 78 rpm records, topped the newly instituted album charts in May 1945 and became the most successful album of the year."⁷² In 1953, Anthony Mann directed The Glenn Miller Story for Universal-International Pictures starring James Stewart and June Allyson.⁶⁴ The fictionalized biographical film was a popular success. Miller's mother said of the movie that actor James Stewart "wasn't as good looking as my son".⁷³ "In 1959, RCA Victor released a triple LP of previously unissued performances, For the First Time ..., which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Dance Band."[27] The number one 1967 single "All You Need is Love" by The Beatles quotes the Glenn Miller associated song "In the Mood" in the closing fade-out[28]. Harpers Bizarre, a 1960s rock band with a penchant for camp recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo", making it a minor "easy listening" hit in the late 1960s.⁷⁴ In the late 1970s, taking advantage of the popularity of disco, "Tuxedo Junction" released disco versions of "Moonlight Serenade" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo". "Chattanooga Choo Choo" actually placed as a best selling record.[29] "In the Mood" was also the main theme in the novelty record "Swing the Mood" by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, which averaged number nineteen on the charts for nineteen weeks in 1989.[30]

Glenn Miller's widow, Helen, died in 1966.⁷⁵ Herb Miller, Glenn Miller's brother, led his own band in the United States and England until the late 1980s.⁷⁶ Herb's son, John continues the tradition leading a band playing mainly Glenn Miller style music.⁷⁷

In the United States and England, there are a few archives that are devoted to Glenn Miller. The Glenn Miller archive, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, includes the original manuscript to Miller's theme song, "Moonlight Serenade", among other items of interest.⁷⁸ In 2002, the Glenn Miller Museum opened to the public at the former RAF Twinwood Farm, in Clapham, Bedfordshire, England.⁷⁹

In 2003, Miller posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.⁸⁰

The entire output of cigarette sponsored radio programs Glenn Miller did between 1939 and 1942 were recorded by the Glenn Miller organization on acetate discs.⁸¹ In the 1950s and afterwards, RCA-Victor distributed many of these on long playing albums and compact discs. A sizeable representation of the recording output by the various Glenn Miller led bands are almost always in circulation by Sony Music Entertainment and the Universal Music Group, the successor conglomerates to RCA-Victor, Brunswick, Bluebird, Columbia and Decca. Glenn Miller remains one of the most famous and recognizable names of the big band era of 1935 to 1945.

Glenn Miller Arranging Staff and Compositions

Miller had a staff of arrangers who wrote originals like "String of Pearls" (written and arranged by Jerry Gray)[31] or took originals like "In The Mood" (writing credit given to Joe Garland and arranged by Eddie Durham[32]) and "Tuxedo Junction" (written by bandleader Erskine Hawkins and arranged by Jerry Gray) and arranged them for the Miller band to either record or broadcast. Glenn Miller's staff of arrangers in his civilian band, that handled the bulk of the work were Jerry Gray, Bill Finegan[33], Billy May and to a much smaller extent, George Williams[34], who worked very briefly with the band. According to Norman Leyden, "[s]everal others [besides Leyden] arranged for Miller in the service, including Jerry Gray, Ralph Wilkinson, Mel Powell, and Steve Steck."[35]

Glenn Miller composed individually or in collaboration, at least twelve songs that are available on recordings and added lyrics to another song.

The thirteen songs that Glenn Miller composed or added lyrics to are the following:

1. "Moonlight Serenade". Glenn Miller composed the music in 1935, with official lyrics added later by Mitchell Parish after two other sets of lyrics were written.[36] "Moonlight Serenade" was Glenn Miller's theme for his radio programs between 1939 and 1942 (except for a brief period in 1941). ⁸² This song has been covered by Frank Sinatra[37], Barry Manilow[38] and Ella Fitzgerald[39].^{nb 1} Initially it was released as a B side to the song bandleader Frankie Carle composed[40] and the Miller band covered called "Sunrise Serenade" ⁸³ in May, 1939 by Bluebird. The record eventually made the Top Ten charts and was the number five record of 1939 in the year-end chart by Billboard.

2. "Room 1411 (Goin' to Town)" was composed with Benny Goodman⁸⁴ in 1928 when Glenn Miller was part of "Benny Goodman's Boys", the instrumental was recorded on June 23, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois and was released as a 78, as Brunswick 4013 with "Jungle Blues". "Benny Goodman's Boys" consisted of an all-star ensemble of future Big Band legends that featured Glenn Miller on trombone, Tommy Dorsey on trombone, who is not on the "Room 1411" recording, Dick "Icky" Morgan on guitar, Bud Freeman on tenor saxophone, Harry Goodman on bass and tuba, Fud Livingston on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Wingy Manone on trumpet, Jimmy McPartland on cornet, Ben Pollack on drums, and Benny Goodman on clarinet, saxophone, and cornet. On the January, 1928 recording sessions, the band was referred to as "Benny Goodman's Boys with Jim and Glenn". The band continued to record in 1928 and 1929. Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman lived in the same suite at the time in an apartment in Whitby whose number was 1411. The title of the composition derives from the apartment number. Goodman played baritone saxophone "on the more straight-ahead Chicago-style 'Room 1411'"⁸⁵. "Room 1411 (Goin' to Town)" is Glenn Miller's first known composition. The recording is available on the Red Hot Jazz website: http://www.redhotjazz.com/bgb.html. ^{nb 2}

3. "Sold American" was composed in 1938 by Glenn Miller and John Chalmers "Chummy" MacGregor, the pianist in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The title was recorded on May 23, 1938 on Brunswick and again on June 27, 1939 for RCA Victor. A 78 was released in 1938 as Brunswick 8173 with "Dipper Mouth Blues".⁸⁶ In 1939, a new recording was released as a Bluebird 78, 10352A, with "Pagan Love Song". The title is based on a radio ad jingle for Lucky Strike which ended with the phrase, "Sold, American". "Sold American" was released as a single in the UK paired with "Moon Love" on the HMV label.⁸⁷

4. "Solo Hop"⁸⁸ was a Top Ten hit from the summer of 1935 according to the official Glenn Miller Orchestra webpage. Glenn Miller composed this for a pick-up band when he started recording for Columbia Records. "Solo Hop" featured Bunny Berigan on trumpet, future bandleader Claude Thornhill on piano and future bandleader Charlie Spivak on trumpet. It was released by Columbia as a single backed with "In a Little Spanish Town", label number CO-3058-D. ⁸⁹ George Simon, a friend of Glenn Miller's, contradicts sources that say it was a top ten hit and says it was barely noticed by record buyers. ⁹⁰

5. "Introduction to a Waltz" was an instrumental composition written with Jerry Gray and Hal Dickinson in 1941 that was never commercially recorded for Bluebird. Two airchecks were issued, one from December 11, 1941 on LPT-6700 from a Chesterfield Broadcast⁹¹ The other is from March 20, 1942, also from a Chesterfield Broadcast issued on LPT-3001⁹². "'Introduction to a Waltz' has quite an introduction--187 bars to be exact, with 8 bars of 'waltz' near the end of the tune." ⁹³ The Jack Million Band recorded "Introduction to a Waltz" on the In The Mood For Glenn Miller[41] album.

6. "Annie's Cousin Fanny"[42] or as "Annie's Cousin Fannie is a Sweetie of Mine" from 1935, was written for the Dorsey Brothers Band, which featured lyrics, was recorded three times, first on June 4, 1934 in New York when Glenn Miller was part of the band and released on Brunswick as 6938 b/w "Judy" and on Decca as the A side to the Decca 117 78 that featured "Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe" as the B side. The record also appears as "Annie's Cousin Fannie is a Sweetie of Mine" sung by Kay Weber, one of the first female singers of the Big Band Era, and Glenn Miller, who had discovered her. The Dorsey Band recorded three diffferent versions of the song in June and August, 1934, released on Brunswick and later on Decca. Weber explained the origins of the song: "There was a very popular song at the time called 'Annie Doesn't Live Here Any More' and Glenn wrote a spin-off of this song called 'Annie's Cousin Fannie Is A Sweetie Of Mine'. I don't know why Tommy and Jimmy recorded it so much. I can only guess they were looking for the 'right' combination for the song."

7. "Dese Dem Dose"⁹⁴ was composed by Glenn Miller in 1935 for the Dorsey Brothers Band, was recorded in New York on February 6, 1935, and was released as a 78 on Decca paired with "Weary Blues" as Decca 469. Ray Noble and his American Dance Orchestra performed "Dese Dem Dose" as part of a medley on April 17, 1935 live at the Rainbow Room in New York which was recorded and broadcast. Glenn Miller was in the Ray Noble orchestra at the time on trombone. Jazz trumpeter Billy Butterfield and Andy Bartha later covered "Dese Dem Dose".

8. "When Icky Morgan Plays the Organ" was a novelty song composed with lyrics and recorded by Glenn Miller in 1935 when he was a member of the Clark Randall Orchestra. The unique title of the song comes from the "icky" slang expression that Dick Morgan, an eccentric member of the Ben Pollack orchestra used. Dick Morgan was the banjo and guitar player in the Ben Pollack band, who also used a realistic replica of a python in his act with the Pollack band.[43] "Icky Morgan" was released as a Brunswick 10 inch single in 1935 as Brunswick 7415 backed with "Troublesome Trumpet". In 1936, Bob Crosby and his Orchestra, most of whose members played on the Randall version, performed this composition on the Ford V-8 Revue.

9. "Doin' the Jive" was composed by Glenn Miller and Chummy MacGregor in 1937 and recorded for Brunswick on November 29, 1937, and released as Brunswick 8063 with "Humoresque" and as Vocalion 5131 with "Dipper Mouth Blues", was a song with lyrics that introduced a new dance, "the Jive": "You clap your hands/And you swing out wide/Do the Suzie Q/ Mix in a step or two/Put 'em all together/And you're doin' the jive". George Simon reviewed the song in March, 1938, describing it as "much swing, fun, and good Kitty Lane singing." The band contributes vocals along with Glenn Miller and Chummy MacGregor. <citation needed>

10. "Community Swing" was composed by Glenn Miller in 1937 and recorded on June 9, 1937 on Brunswick and released as a 78 with "Sleepy Time Gal". Paul Eduard Smith reviewed the composition in the August,1937 issue of Down Beat: "Miller’s own tune, is a snappy arrangement, ensemble for the most part." <citation needed>

11. "Seven-O-Five" or "705" was an instrumental composed by Glenn Miller and performed with the Army Air Force Band. <citation needed>

12. "I Sustain the Wings" was composed by Glenn Miller, Chummy MacGregor, Norman Leyden and Bill Meyers. This was the theme music for the NBC radio program that was broadcast weekly from June, 1943 to June, 1944, during World War II. This was when Glenn Miller was in the U.S. Air Force. Major Glenn Miller and the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Force also made recordings for the BBC and the Office of War Information (OWI) in 1944 that were broadcast over the American Broadcasting Station in Europe to Germany in a program called The Wehrmacht Hour.<citation needed>

13. Glenn Miller is also credited with writing an additional, new verse for the song "Beale Street Blues",⁹⁵ written in 1928 by Spencer Williams. Miller arranged the song for a Benny Goodman recording and wrote the following additional verse to the song in collaboration with Jack Teagarden, which subsequently was incorporated in later recordings of the song:

"Won't you come along with me, To the Mississippi, We'll take a boat to the land of dreams, steam down the river to New Orleans. The band's there to greet us, Old friends there to meet us. Where the rich and the poor folks meet, let me take you down to Basin Street."

Selected Discography and Annotation

Before 1938:

• When I First Met Mary - recorded on December 9, 1926 in Chicago as part of Ben Pollack and his Californians which featured Benny Goodman on clarinet. The recording was released as Victor 20394.
• He's the Last Word - recorded on December 12, 1926 with Ben Pollack and featuring a solo by Benny Goodman
• Room 1411 (Goin' to Town) - Glenn Miller's first known composition, written with Benny Goodman in 1928 and recorded with a Who's Who of Big Band legendary greats, was released as a Brunswick 78, Brunswick 4013
• Solo Hop - composed by Glenn Miller in 1935 when he began recording under his own name which features a trumpet solo by Bunny Berigan
• Dese Dem Dose - with the Dorsey Brothers and Ray Noble
• When Icky Morgan Plays the Organ - recorded with the Clark Randall Orchestra in 1935. Clark Randall was the pseudonym of Frank Tennille, the father of Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille. Most of the band members in the Clark Randall Orchestra were part of the Bob Crosby Orchestra.
• Doin' the Jive
• Community Swing
• Annie's Cousin Fanny - with the Dorsey Brothers in 1934, vocal by Kay Weber and orchestra. This song was covered by Dick Pierce, Russ Carlton and his Orchestra, Marshall Royal and Maxwell Davis on the album Studio Cuts[44], which features two takes of the song, and in 2000, by Mora's Modern Rhythmists Dance Orchestra, a ten-piece ensemble that plays jazz and swing from the 1920s and 1930s. The record was reportedly banned by radio stations in 1934 because of the suggestive lyrics relying on double entendre[45]

After 1938

• Little Brown Jug, traditional, although the songwriting credit is sometimes assigned to Joseph Eastburn Winner ⁹⁶, who published a version in 1869⁹⁷. This traditional standard was arranged by Bill Finegan. It was recorded April 10, 1939. ⁹⁸ The Glenn Miller Story takes dramatic license and gives the date of the arrangement as 1944. In the movie it is explained that it was arranged as a surprise for Helen Miller for a Christmas Day, 1944 broadcast by the Army Air Force band from Europe.⁹⁹
• The Nearness of You, written by Hoagy Carmicheal, lyrics by Ned Washington-vocal Ray Eberle "The Bluebird label recording was a moderate success, appearing on the pop charts at the end of June [1940] and remaining there for eleven weeks, peaking at number five."[46] Contemporary audiences know it from the 2002 Norah Jones version of it for Blue Note records.¹⁰⁰
• Sold American - written by Glenn Miller and Chummy MacGregor, was first recorded on May 23, 1938, as part of the first session for the new, reformed Glenn Miller Orchestra on Brunswick ¹⁰¹. When Miller signed with RCA he recorded "Sold American" again on June 27, 1939. ¹⁰²
• My Reverie - recorded on September 27, 1938 with vocals by Ray Eberle, was the first release by the reformed Glenn Miller Orchestra on RCA. Larry Clinton released a popular version of it the same year with Bea Wain on vocals, writing lyrics to Claude DeBussy's Reverie ¹⁰³. According to George Simon, the original arrangement was to be an instrumental, but the producer at RCA Victor wanted Glenn Miller to play a solo trombone a'la Tommy Dorsey, with Ray Eberle singing the lyrics. ¹⁰⁴ The B side was "King Porter Stomp".
• Moonlight Serenade -Glenn Miller, arranger, composer / Recorded April 4, 1939 Released as Bluebird BB-102114-B ¹⁰⁵
• Sunrise Serenade Frankie Carle composer, also his band's theme song
• Moonlight Cocktail - vocal Ray Eberle and the Modernaires, written by James Kimball "Kim" Gannon and Charles Luckey Roberts ¹⁰⁶. It was number one for ten weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart in 1942.
• Yester Thoughts - vocal Ray Eberle
• Are You Rusty, Gate? - written by Jerry Gray
• Wishing (Will Make It So)-vocal Ray Eberle, from the movie Love Affair. ¹⁰⁷
• The Woodpecker Song - vocal Marion Hutton, written by Eldo di Lazzaro and Harold Adamson ¹⁰⁸. It was number one for five weeks on the Billboard Juke Box chart in 1940
• Runnin' Wild- arranged by Bill Finegan. Recorded by Miller in 1939 ^{109 nb 3}
• Introduction to a Waltz - instrumental composed by Glenn Miller, Jerry Gray, and Hal Dickinson and performed for radio broadcast only, not being released as an RCA Bluebird 78. ^{nb 4}
• The Man in the Moon - written by Jerry Gray, Jerry Lawrence, and John Benson Brooks and recorded on September 3, 1941 with vocals by Ray Eberle. An unreleased instrumental version was recorded for the Orchestra Wives soundtrack and never used in the release print.
• Caribbean Clipper - written by Jerry Gray
• Stairway to the Stars-vocal Ray Eberle
• I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem - music written by Jerry Gray, Ben Smith and Leonard B. Ware, lyrics by Robert B. Wright in 1941, the single reached number three on the Billboard Best Sellers charts on April 5, 1941. This song was also recorded by the Delta Rhythm Boys and the King Sisters
• Moon Love vocal-Ray Eberle, based on music by Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky
• Pennsylvania 6-5000 Chant by the band, written by Jerry Gray and Carl Sigman, reached number five on the Billboard Best Sellers chart on August 31, 1940
• Tuxedo Junction - was number one for nine weeks on Billboard's Juke Box chart in 1940
• Stardust
• Crosstown - vocal by Jack Lathrop, written by James Cavanaugh, John Redmond, and Nat Simon ¹¹⁰, reached number nine on the Billboard Best Sellers chart on October 5, 1940
• Delilah-vocal Vocal Tex Beneke and the Modernaires
• Perfidia-vocal Written by Milton Leeds and Alberto Dominguez, recorded February 1941. arranged by ? Vocal Dorothy Claire and the Modernaires¹¹¹
• Sentimental Me-vocal Dorothy Claire
• Back to Back-vocal Marion Hutton
• Ida-vocal Tex Beneke
• Sweet Eloise-vocal Ray Eberle and the Modernaires
• That Old Black Magic-vocal Skip Nelson and the Modernaires, written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. It was number one for one week in 1943 on Billboard's Best Sellers chart, the last Glenn Miller single to reach number one.
• String of Pearls - music written by Jerry Gray, lyrics by Eddie DeLange, was number one for two weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart in 1941
• Over the Rainbow-Vocal Ray Eberle
• My Isle of Golden Dreams
• In the Mood-was number one for thirteen weeks on the Billboard Juke Box chart in 1940. "In The Mood" had a long history, even before Glenn Miller recorded it.[47]
• Indian Summer
• Gaucho Serenade
• Slumber Song - written by Chummy MacGregor and Saul Tepper. ¹¹² It was used as Glenn Miller's theme song in 1941 when contractual problems with ASCAP forbade him from using "Moonlight Serenade".
• When You Wish Upon a Star vocal Ray Eberle, written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline for Pinocchio in 1940.
• The Spirit is Willing - written by Jerry Gray. Recorded for the soundtrack, but not used for Sun Valley Serenade. Audio still survives and has been reissued many times. ¹¹³. Bluebird 78 recording also exists ¹¹⁴.
• Say "Si Si" (Para Vigo Me Voy) vocal by Marion Hutton
• Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread) - vocal Ray Eberle, written by Johnny Mercer and Rube Bloom
• Helpless - written by Glenn Miller Orchestra guitarist and vocalist Jack Lathrop
• Long Time No See, Baby - vocalist Marion Hutton-written by Jack Lathrop
• Danny Boy
• Keep 'Em Flying - written by Jerry Gray. Glenn Miller changed the song title from "That's Where I Came in" to "Keep 'Em Flying". Recorded December 8, 1941. ¹¹⁵
• Imagination- vocal Ray Eberle.
• Elmer's Tune - vocal Ray Eberle and the Modernaires, music written by Elmer Albrecht. It was number one for one week on Billboard's Best Sellers chart in 1941
• Song of the Volga Boatmen - based on a Russian folk song, was number one for one week on the Billboard Best Sellers chart in 1941
• Here We Go Again - written by Jerry Gray
• Oh! So Good - written by Jerry Gray
• Soldier, Let Me Read Your Letter - written by arranger/trumpeter Billy May, Sidney Lippman, Pvt. Pat Fallon, Pvt. Tim Pasma
• I Got Rhythm - Billy May, arranger /January 1, 1942 broadcast ¹¹⁶
• Take the "A" Train - Billy May arranger, ballad arrangement released as a Bluebird 78. Written by Billy Strayhorn. ¹¹⁷.

Harry Warren and Mack Gordon songs for Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives: (Harry Warren and Mack Gordon were songwriters under contract with Twentieth Century Fox from 1940 to 1943.[48]During that time period they composed the songs for Miller's movies for Fox.)

• Chattanooga Choo Choo vocal Tex Beneke, Paula Kelly and the Modernaires. Recorded for the soundtrack of Sun Valley Serenade and then recorded on May 7, 1941 for RCA in Hollywood, California¹¹⁸. "Chattanooga Choo Choo" was number one for nine weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart in 1941.
• The Kiss Polka used in Sun Valley Serenade and also appeared as a Bluebird 78.
• I Know Why (And So Do You) was the B side to "Chattanooga Choo Choo", recorded May 7, 1941, in addition to appearing in Sun Valley Serenade. Sung by Paula Kelly and the Modernaires on the Bluebird release. ¹¹⁹ Sung by Pat Friday[49] and John Payne [50] with the Modernaires in Sun Valley Serenade¹²⁰.
• I've Got a Gal In Kalamazoo vocal Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and the Modernaires. Used in Orchestra Wives ¹²¹ and recorded at RCA's studios in Hollywood ¹²² and released as a Bluebird 78. "Kalamazoo" was number one for seven weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart in 1942. Benny Goodman and his Orchestra recorded a cover version in 1942 which was released as a 78, Columbia 36622
• At Last - "At Last" originally was going to be a major song on the soundtrack of Sun Valley Serenade with an arrangement by Jerry Gray and Bill Finegan. It was sung by Pat Friday[51] with actor John Payne. However the song was mostly deleted from the release print. The audio portion survives and has been reissued many times. ¹²³ It was sung the next year, by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday[52] in Orchestra Wives. The "At Last" musical motif was played throughout the movie during dramatic and romantic scenes. Eberle sung it solo for a RCA 78 with the backing of the Miller orchestra. ¹²⁴.^{nb 5}
• Serenade in Blue vocal Ray Eberle and the Modernaires on an RCA Victor 78 and also in Orchestra Wives with Pat Friday[53].
• That's Sabotage - vocal by Marion Hutton but not used in the release print of Orchestra Wives. Supposedly this was due to pressure from the United States government and how the war effort was being presented in the song.[54] The audio portion survives and has been released many times. ¹²⁵ Also recorded with Marion Hutton for RCA. ¹²⁶
• People Like You and Me - sung by Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, Ray Eberle, and the Modernaires in Orchestra Wives.¹²⁷ Not recorded commercially or performed for broadcast.
• It Happened in Sun Valley-vocal in Sun Valley Serenade by The Modernaires, and Six Hits and a Miss ¹²⁸. Pat Friday also contributed.[55] Also recorded separately by the band for RCA in New York City on August 11, 1941 and released as a Bluebird 78. ¹²⁹

^{nb 6}

• Army Air Force Band, 1943-1944:
• Moon Dreams - vocals by Johnny Desmond and the Crew Chiefs, was recorded with the Glenn Milller AAF Band and released as V-Disc 201A. The music was written by Chummy MacGregor and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was covered by Miles Davis in 1950 on his album Birth of the Cool and also appears on "The Complete Birth of the Cool", arranged by Gil Evans[56]. The Miles Davis Nonet recorded a live performance of "Moon Dreams" in 1948 in New York. Martha Tilton also recorded a version in 1942.[57]
• 705 or Seven-O-Five - written by Glenn Miller
• Snafu Jump - written by Jerry Gray
• Enlisted Men's Mess - written by Jerry Gray
• Tail-End Charlie - written by Bill Finegan
• Long Ago (And Far Away) vocal Johnny Desmond / Norman Leyden, arranger March 25, 1944, broadcast[58]
• People Will Say We're In Love vocal Johnny Desmond / Norman Leyden, arranger
• Flying Home Steve Steck, arranger April 8, 1944, broadcast[59]
• Mission to Moscow Mel Powell, composer and arranger
• I Sustain the Wings - a 1943 NBC radio program theme was also used to introduce some of the V-Disc releases
• St. Louis Blues March Ray McKinley, Perry Burgett, and Jerry Gray, arrangers /Recorded Oct. 29, 1943. Re-recorded by Tex Beneke leading the Miller band for RCA around 1947.<tex beneke citation needed, also what was the date of the recording>[60]
• Night In Tunisia<citation needed>

Songs that were in the civilian band and Army Air Force band libraries include:^{nb 7}

• Jeep Jockey Jump - written by Jerry Gray and one broadcast of the song was done by the civilian band. ¹³⁰
• Stardust The civilian band's arrangement was by Glenn Miller and Bill Finegan and recorded in 1940 for Bluebird. ¹³¹ The Army Air Force band uses a completely different arrangement making use of its string section and includes a French horn solo.
• It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That) - music written by Chummy MacGregor and George Williams and lyrics by Sunny Skylar[61]. George Williams, arranger /Mar. 11, 1944 Chant by the band. [62], broadcast. This version is from the Army Air Force band. The civilian band played the same arrangement that was performed at least twice, available on a Victor 78 recording, Vi-20-1546-A, recorded July 15, 1942 ¹³² or also taken from a radio remote broadcast from September 15, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts ¹³³ and later re-released by RCA Victor on LPT 6700 ¹³⁴. Woody Herman covered the song in 1944 and released it as a V-Disc and a Columbia 78 with lyrics by Sunny Skylar[63].
• Sun Valley Jump - written by Jerry Gray
• Rhapsody In Blue - written by George Gershwin. The civilian band version is noted because Bobby Hackett solos in the middle.¹³⁵ "Rhapsody in Blue" from the civilian band is not the entire work, but rather a section of the work edited to fit on a 10" 78 rpm record. It was released as Victor 20-1529-A. ¹³⁶
• Blue Rain-written by Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Van Heusen-¹³⁷ Civilian band-arrangement with Ray Eberle vocal. arranger ?? Army Air Force band: arrangement with strings, no vocal.
• Are You Jumpin' Jack? - written by Bill Finegan. First civilian band version, December 21, 1940 for a remote broadcast on NBC.¹³⁸

Addenda In sharing air time with the Andrews Sisters for the early Chesterfield Shows, the Miller band had nine minutes to present its music. Miller instituted medleys of "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue" into the band's broadcasts to enable it to play as much as possible. ¹³⁹ This medley tradition continued into the Army Air Force band's radio programming.

Sample "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue" medley:

June 19, 1940 Cincinnati, Ohio (Chesterfield Show)

Old: The Touch of Your Hand (arranged Jerry Gray)

New: Basket Weaver Man (written by Joe McCarthy and Walter Donaldson) (arranged Jerry Gray)

Borrowed: The Waltz You Saved For Me (arranged Jerry Gray) (Borrowed from bandleader Wayne King, written by Gus Kahn, Wayne King and Emil Flindt)

Blue: Blue Danube (arranged Jerry Gray) (written by Johann Strauss)

¹⁴⁰

Selected band alumni

For the most part, Glenn Miller worked with extremely talented men and women. Many of the Miller musicians went on to studio and touring careers in Hollywood and New York after World War II:

• Billy May, 1916-2004¹⁴¹ a trumpeter and an arranger for the civilian band[64], became a much-coveted arranger and studio orchestra leader after that band broke up, going on to work with Frank Sinatra,¹⁴² Rosemary Clooney,¹⁴³ Anita O'Day,¹⁴⁴ and Bing Crosby,¹⁴³ among other singers of the post-war era.

• Cornetist Bobby Hackett, 1915-1976 ¹⁴⁵ soloed on "A String of Pearls", with Miller in 1941.¹⁴⁶ His reputation only ascended in the years after.¹⁴⁷ Hackett went on to work with Jackie Gleason and Dizzy Gillespie.¹⁴⁸

• Johnny Desmond,1919-1985¹⁴⁹ a lead vocalist from the Army Air Force Band, became a popular singer in the 1950s, and appeared on Broadway in the 1960s in Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand.¹⁵⁰

• Kay Starr became one of the most popular singers of the post-war period; she got her start with Glenn Miller in 1939 recording two sides, "Baby Me" and "Love With a Capital You".¹⁵¹

• Artie Malvin, 1922-2006[65] Glenn Miller's AAF Band had a vocal group called "The Crew Chiefs". Artie Malvin was the baritone of the four men. After World War Two and Miller's death, Malvin became heavily immersed in the popular music of the forties and fifties, being involved in everything from children's music to the nascent beginnings of rock to jingles for commercials. [66] By the nineteen seventies Artie Malvin was involved with "The Carol Burnett Show" [67]doing special musical material. He won an Emmy for his musical material for the Burnett show parody of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies: "Hi-Hat".[68] The Burnett show does a tribute to The Glenn Miller Story which opens with Burnett singing "Moonlight Serenade". [no date available]

• Paul Tanner, trombonist for the civilian band, went on to create the electrotheremin and perform on songs such as Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys¹⁵²

Some of the Army Air Force members went on to notable careers in classical music. Two such are:

• Norman Leyden 1917- [69]an arranger from the Army Air Force Band¹⁵³ later became a noted arranger in New York, composing arrangements for Sarah Vaughan,¹⁵⁴ among other artists. His long career culminated with his highly regarded work for the Oregon Symphony, now as Laureate Associate Conductor.¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁶

• Mel Powell,1923-1998[70], was the pianist and one of the arrangers in the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. Gary Giddins comments on "[Miller's] splendid forty-two-piece Army Air Force Band’s startling performance of 'Mission to Moscow.'”¹⁵⁷ "Mission to Moscow" was arranged by Mel Powell, the former pianist for the Benny Goodman orchestra before he was drafted into the service and subsequently joined the Miller orchestra. "Pearls on Velvet" with the Air Force Band is also one of his compositions.¹⁵⁸"In 1949, he decided on a radical change of direction, setting aside jazz and enrolling as a pupil of the composer and teacher Paul Hindemith at Yale University."¹⁵⁹ Powell started teaching at the California Institute for the Arts in Los Angeles in 1969.¹⁶⁰

Notes

1. ^ Also include folk rock singer Carly Simon[1],jazz musician and Quartet West leader Charlie Haden[2], television and Broadway performer Carol Burnett (see the Artie Malvin reference at the end of the article), the doo-wop group The Rivieras[3], Toots Thielemans, Kurt Elling, jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli[4], Bobby Vinton[5], Deodato[6], Count Basie and his Orchestra, Gene Krupa and his Orchestra[7], the Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler[8], John Williams[9] and Keith Lockhart[10], each conducting during their tenures with the orchestra. Ray Conniff[11], Paul Mauriat[12], and the rock group Chicago[13] also have their own versions of "Moonlight Serenade". "Moonlight Serenade" appears in the films Rumor Has It (2005) and The Aviator[14] (2004).[15]. Also it appears in an episode of the American television show The Simpsons.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001895/filmoyear, retrieved November 12, 2008
2. ^ Three sources list Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman as the songwriters of "Room 1411". The Brunswick Collectors' Series 78, Brunswick 80029 A, a Brunswick re-issue series from the 1940s, lists the title and songwriting credit on the record label as follows: "Room 1411 (Glenn Miller-Benny Goodman)". The Brunswick 78 collection Chicago Jazz Classics, issued as album number B-1007, also lists Miller and Goodman as the composers of "Room 1411". The Jazz Online website lists the songwriters for "Room 1411" as : "G. Miller-B. Goodman" http://www.jazz-on-line.com/pageinterrogation.php
3. ^ Also a standard that ended up twenty years later in the United Artists movie Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe, directed by Billy Wilder
4. ^ The song was recorded by the Jack Million Band on the album In the Mood for Glenn Miller, Volume 1.
5. ^ Glenn Miller was the first to record "At Last", reaching number fourteen on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1942 and his version became the first in a long history of popular versions. "At Last" subsequently became a standard covered by Nat King Cole[16] and Etta James[17]in the 1950s and 1960s, the Etta James version reaching number forty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the R&B chart in 1961, Ray Anthony, who reached number two on Billboard in a remake in 1952, Lou Rawls, Celine Dion, Diana Krall, Eva Cassidy, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Bing Crosby, Aretha Franklin, the Oak Ridge Boys, Cyndi Lauper, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Michael Bolton, Dianne Reeves, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, and Beyonce Knowles in 2008.
6. ^ Recording and filming dates for Sun Valley Serenade: March 24-May 3, 1941 Flower 289 Recording and filming dates for Orchestra Wives: March 23-May 22, 1942 Flower 426
7. ^ Some songs were performed by the civilian band and the Army Air Force Band but might be better known by one band over the other. For example, the Army Air Force band and the civilian band both had "In The Mood", "String of Pearls", "Moonlight Serenade", "Jukebox Saturday Night", "Carribean Clipper", "Here We Go Again" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo" in their libraries.

References