Klarinet Archive - Posting 000519.txt from 1997/03

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Glenn Miller Band (was No Subject)
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 09:32:11 -0500

On Fri, 14 Mar 1997, Gary Van Cott wrote:

> Always ? I don't think so. I know they made a big (and apparently
> fictitious) deal over this in the movie the Glenn Miller Story. Of course,
> there is a clarinet lead in Moonlight Serenade. But in years past I
> listened to a lot of Miller recordings (when I should have been listening
> to Kell, I suppose) and I don't think the clarinet lead is all that common,
> probably less than 25 percent of his charts. Maybe a lot less.

Probably it would be better to say "often" rather than "always." For many
years, people have been talking about "Miller voicing," meaning the
particular kind of arrangement used in the Glenn Miller band for the
reeds. However, there were several arrangers writing for the band,
including Miller, Glen Gray, Tex Beneke, and others, and there were
several different kinds of voicing used.

What is generally referred to as Miller voicing requires one of the
alto players to pick up the clarinet and play the highest or lead part.
Then, the baritone sax player switches to alto, so the distribution is
clarinet, two alto saxes and two tenor saxes. The 2nd tenor sometimes
plays the exact written notes as the clarinet, which sound an octave lower
on the tenor, and the other three saxes are voiced between those two.
Then, all the woodwinds are voiced fairly high, and employ a very fast and
wide vibrato.

But, that is only one way in which Miller's woodwinds were handled, and I
don't know what percentage of the band's output would have been arranged
in that way. Most often, the woodwinds were used in this manner in slower
tunes, and in faster ones, they went back to a more traditional
arrangement.

Now, for the trivia question of the day. Who played the lead clarinet
parts during the years when Miller was achieving his greatest success?
Answer: Wilbur Schwartz. Among the other woodwind players: Al Klink,
who played one of the very brief improvised saxophone solos (tenor) on the
original recording of "In the Mood," and who continued playing in the Los
Angeles area for many years. He was in the "Tonight Show" band until
nearly the time when Johnny Carson retired. Another player was Tex
Beneke, who played tenor sax and sang (his most famous recording probably
was "Chatanooga Choo-Choo.). Later, he led his own band, and can still
occasionally be seen on television. Just last week, our local PBS station
showed a special featuring the current edition of the Tex Beneke band, now
operating occasionally in Florida.

Sorry, that message got a little far afield.

Ed Lacy
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Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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