A String of Pearls/Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

Jerry Gray (July 3, 1915 -- August 10, 1976) was an American violinist, arranger, composer, and leader of swing dance orchestras (big bands) bearing his name. He is widely known for his work with popular music during the Swing Era. His name is inextricably linked to two of the most famous bandleaders of the time, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller. Grey, along with Bill Finegan, wrote many of Glenn Miller's arrangements during the late 1930s and early 1940s. In the latter part of his Grey's career, his orchestra served as the house band at the Venetian Room of the Fairmont Hotel, Dallas.

Jerry Gray was born Generoso Graziano in Boston, Massachusetts. His father Albert Graziano was a music teacher who began training his son on the violin at age seven. As a teenager he studied with Emanuel Ondricek and was a soloist with the Boston Junior Symphony. By age eighteen he had already formed his own jazz band and was performing in Boston-area clubs.

In 1936 Gray joined Artie Shaw, who was calling himself Art Shaw, and his "New Music" orchestra as lead violinist. He studied musical arrangement under Shaw and became a staff arranger a year later. During the next two years he penned some of the band's most popular arrangements, including "Carioca", "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise", "Any Old Time", and the classic "Begin the Beguine." Many of his up-tempo arrangements show early evidence of the style that would eventually become his trademark: a melody broken into two- to four-measure phrases, usually carried by brass section, repeated with increasing intensity until the climax.

n November 1939, Artie Shaw suddenly broke up his band and moved to Mexico. The next day, Glenn Miller called Gray and offered him a job arranging for his band. It was initially a difficult move because Shaw had generally allowed his arrangers great musical latitude, while Miller's commercial orientation often led him to second-guess his staff. Gray gradually found himself more in line with Miller's less--mercurial personality and was allowed more of the freedom that he appreciated. As Gray later told author George T. Simon, "To me, Glenn's band didn't swing like Artie's. ... But after I made up my mind to accept things as they were, things started to click. ... He was a businessman who appreciated music. ... I may have been happier musically with Artie, but I was happier personally with Glenn."

Gray's time with the Glenn Miller Orchestra produced many of the most recognizable and memorable recordings of the era. He arranged "Elmer's Tune", "Moonlight Cocktails", and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" among others, while his compositions included "Sun Valley Jump", "The Man in the Moon", "Caribbean Clipper", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem", "Introduction to a Waltz" with Glenn Miller, "Flagwaver", "Solid As a Stonewall Jackson" with Chummy MacGregor, "Passage Interdit", "Snafu Jump", "A Love Song Hasn't Been Sung" with Bill Conway and Harold Dickinson, "Are You Rusty, Gate?", "Here We Go Again", and his most famous song, "A String of Pearls." So many of Gray's pieces became best-sellers that he has been described as more responsible for the band's success than Miller himself, although publicly, Gray always described the relationship as mutually beneficial.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• big
• band
• swing
• instrumental
• Glenn
• Miller
• Orchestra
• Jerry
• Gray

[glevito]

Thank you for this post...wonderful

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[jangraceland]

Beautiful song thank you so much Dear Bob for sharin it with me. God Bless, Hugs & Smiles, Love, Jan

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Hi Jan -

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Rey

[MrRusscub]

These are the lyrincs to the song a Sting of Pearls. Baby heres a five and dime Baby nows about time For that string of pearls ala Woolworths Each pearl is a star above wrapped in dreams and filled with love That old string of pearls a la Woolworths Till that happy day in June when we buy those wedding rings Heres a string of pearls a la woolworths.

[mind27901]

Time for the radio to be taken over by this. Best music ever.

[TheTigress1000]

Excellent! Thank you!

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Happy you enjoyed.

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I'm happy you enjoyed this post. Thank you.

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Thank you for watching and for your wonderful comment.