Klarinet Archive - Posting 000535.txt from 1997/03

From: "Frederick S. Sterns" <fssterns@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Glenn Miller Band [more...]
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 22:54:15 -0500

...for those interested in exploring further the "Miller sound," its
origin, history, etc...permit me to recommend the following sources:

[1] Gunther Schuller, in his thoroughly researched nine hundred page volume
"The Swing Era" [Oxford University Press, 1989] states in a footnote on
page 668 that Ellington and Gene Gifford, much earlier, had used the same
voicing [clarinet lead with a tenor doubling the lead an octave
lower]...thereby allowing, if not compelling the inference that Miller and
his other arrangers copied this style from those innovators.

[2] ...on the other hand, the side bar that begins on page 91, continuing
on page 93 of "The Big Band Years" [Crowther and Pinfold, 1988] recites
four anecdotes, all different, but with a common thread that suggests the
clarinet lead was a transition in the band from earlier Miller arrangements
that voiced four saxophones with a trumpet lead...the latter was shifted to
a clarinet and Miller liked the sound so much he stuck with it and added
another saxophone.

[3] A vintage volume from the World War II years, "Glenn Miller's Method
for Orchestral Arranging" [Mutual Music Society, 1943] gives many examples
of voicings in the saxophone section using clarinets. It also mentions a
number of recordings utilizing the "Moonlight Serenade" sound, which is
generally recognized as the "Miller sound." When Miller went to five
saxophones the instrumentation for this characteristic sound was Clarinet,
Alto, Alto, Tenor, Tenor. Another combination heard from time to time was
Clarinet, Clarinet, Alto, Tenor, Tenor. But all his reedmen doubled on
clarinet and there were many other combinations appearing in the band's
arrangments.

Arrangments from original Miller scores were readily available in the '40s
[a complete package in '43 and '44 cost $1.25] and I recall playing many
of them in dance bands. All the saxophone players had to double, and I even
remember borrowing a bari once [I played alto and clarinet] so we could do
the Miller tunes for a contract that specifically called for them.

If I can help anyone with an interest in this subject don't hesitate to
e-mail me. Fred S.