Music Mondays: A String of Pearls, performed by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

May 2
"A String of Pearls," Composed by Jerry Gray and Eddie deLange, Performed by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (1941)

With a new month, we’re swinging right into the era of Big Band and swing with the 1940s. One can hardly talk about the Big Band era without talking about Glenn Miller and his orchestra, a sound and style which defines the genre for many. Miller created his own unique sound by having a clarinet play the melodies, with a tenor sax playing the same melody an octave lower and other saxophones playing harmonies. This instrumentation gave his band a unique sound that is still identifiable today. Some criticize him for “watering down” jazz music, but he ignored his critics, focusing on creating music that listeners would enjoy. In late 1942, Miller decided to join the US army as a band leader to help the war effort and helped boost troop morale through 1944. Sadly, his plane was lost at sea in 1944 (when Miller was only 40 years old), so we will never know what other musical treasures he could have created with his musicians. War is a terrible thing. 

This particular song made it to number 1 in the charts, knocking off another Glenn Miller hit, “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

Here's the top 80 list for 1942: https://playback.fm/year/1942

The song:

Resources
About Glenn Miller:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Glenn-Miller
http://glennmiller.com/biography/
About the song:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_String_of_Pearls_(song)
https://www.colorado.edu/amrc/glenn-miller-archives/gma-studies/string-pearls