December 8, 1941

GLENN MILLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA Bluebird Recording Session
Monday, December 8, 1941
Noon – 5:30 p.m.
Victor Studio #1
155 East 24th Street
New York

PERSONNEL

Trombones        
Glenn Miller (leader, arranger), Paul Tanner, Frank D’Annolfo, Jimmy Priddy
Trumpets           
Billy May (arranger), Dale McMickle, John Best, Zeke Zarchy
Reeds                   
Tex Beneke (tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet, vocalist), Al Klink (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), Skip Martin (alto sax, clarinet), Willy Schwartz (clarinet, alto sax), Ernie Caceres (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet, vocalist)
Rhythm               
Chummy MacGregor (piano), Bill Conway (guitar, vocalist [The Modernaires]), Doc Goldberg (string bass), Maurice Purtill (drums)
Vocalists             
Marion Hutton, Ray Eberle, The Modernaires: Hal Dickinson, Chuck Goldstein, Ralph Brewster
Not Present       
Bobby Hackett (cornet, guitar)
Arrangers            
Jerry Gray, Bill Finegan, Al Young

THE DAY AFTER PEARL HARBOR

Monday, December 8, 1941, was the day after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought America into World War II. Moreover, it was the day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a Joint Session of the Senate and House of Representatives to ask for a Declaration of War. However, it was also a day when Glenn Miller and his Orchestra had a scheduled recording session at RCA. From Glenn Miller Declassified, “Glenn Miller hurried through breakfast at his home in Tenafly, New Jersey. Like everyone else, America’s most popular bandleader was trying to understand the staggering news of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Glenn and Helen Miller were not unlike millions of their countrymen who were surprised, confused and anxious.”  

GLENN MILLER’S PERCEPTION

Meanwhile, Down Beat editor Dave Dexter, Jr. encountered a “contemplative” Glenn Miller the evening of December 8 at the Cafe Rouge of Hotel Pennsylvania. Furthermore, he recalled that Glenn said, “I wonder if any of us are aware of the enormity of the changes in our lives soon to come now that we’re at war … America will never again be the way it was at midnight last Saturday … I don’t know exactly what I can contribute to the war effort, but I am damn well going to find out …there must be something that a broken-down old trombone player can do to help.” Consequently, Dexter vividly remembered Miller’s sincerity years later. In conclusion, Dexter believed that Glenn Miller had the most profound perception about what had happened than any of the fifty or so entertainment industry figures that he interviewed following Pearl Harbor.

A SUBDUED SESSION

Against the backdrop of war, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra had earlier gone to work at the Victor New York Studios as FDR addressed Congress. Their first recording at the subdued session, Moonlight Cocktail, became one of Miller’s most successful. Firstly, as of December 8, Glenn’s record of Chattanooga Choo Choo, sat atop the Billboard charts at #1, a position it would only relinquish in early 1942 to Glenn’s A String of Pearls and then Moonlight Cocktail. Moreover, this was a record run of “all-Miller” #1 hits. Meanwhile, America’s top band held court at the Cafe Rouge, where they also broadcast Glenn’s weekly Sunset Serenade for the USO and numerous nightly broadcasts over NBC. Furthermore, they broadcast their popular three-weekly Moonlight Serenade programs for Chesterfield Cigarettes on CBS. But as Glenn surmised, Pearl Harbor had suddenly and permanently changed America.

MOOD OF THE MOMENT

Marion Hutton normally voiced swing and novelty tunes with Glenn Miller. The tone of her voice eloquently captures the mood of the moment with Happy in Love, an otherwise typically upbeat Jerry Gray arrangement. The band even performs the chart at a slower tempo than it would later present on broadcasts. No one in the music business was apparently fooled by Fooled, which Miller would only broadcast six times in early 1942. But Ray Eberle is backed by the robust and powerful Miller brass and reed sections. The band continues to display the audibly rich and resonant form that it had evolved into during 1941. Although not a hit, Fooled is an excellent great example of the depth, quality, and good taste of the Miller music library.

POWERHOUSE SWING

However, it may always be argued whether or not the Glenn Miller band could or would really swing. The November 3, 1941, recordings of A String of Pearls and Long Tall Mama argue that they certainly could and did. Furthermore, on December 8, the band produced dynamic sounds on contrasting charts, Keep ‘Em Flying and Chip Off the Old Block. Moreover, the former, featuring Billy May’s trumpet, Ernie Caceres’ clarinet and Moe Purtill’s drums, became one of Miller’s most frequently broadcast “flag wavers.” Likewise, the crisp Chip, originally carrying the wartime-inspired title Riff-Kreig, shows off the power of the Miller musicians. Freelancer Al Young penned Chip for Miller. One can only imagine how loud the band must have sounded to hotel patrons outside the Cafe Rouge. Consequently, it can be argued how soulful these swinging contrasts might be. But they most certainly make a very strong statement.

CLASSICAL INTERLUDE

Throughout late 1941 and into 1942, Glenn heavily featured Bill Finegan’s arrangement of Peter Ilyich Tscaikowsky’s Piano Concerto in B-Flat Minor on his broadcasts. On November 24, 1941, Miller recorded Finegan’s arrangement of Ludwig von Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor. Therefore, Bill Finegan’s adaptation of Tscaikowsky’s Pathetique (6th) Symphony also appears in the Miller repertoire. But The Story of a Starry Night takes several forms. Firstly, the December 8 recording with the Ray Eberle vocal, a medley score for broadcasts, a Jerry Gray treatment, and a Bill Finegan instrumental chart. Not to be outdone, the string section of Miller’s Army Air Forces Orchestra had their own version. Moreover, Miller’s interest in the classics is unsurprising. His 1936 exercises with Dr. Joseph Schillinger are classical, not jazz. Consequently, musicians from famed symphony orchestras found Capt. Glenn Miller fully prepared to capably conduct in 1943.   

Dennis M. Spragg of the Glenn Miller Collections at the American Music Research Center, University of Colorado Boulder is Glenn Miller’s authorized biographer, archivist and author of the critically praised Glenn Miller Declassified. He is also Historian of the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society. Discover Glenn Miller: