Jerry Gray (Arranger)
Encyclopedia
Jerry Gray 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
. Gray, along with Bill Finegan
, wrote many of Glenn Miller
's arrangements during the late 1930s and early 1940s. In the latter part of Grey's career, his orchestra served as the house band at the Venetian Room of the Fairmont Hotel, Dallas.
", "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.
In November 1939, 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 Cocktail
", 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.
Gray was again without a job when Miller broke up his band in September, 1942 to enter the Army Air Forces. The now-Captain Miller used his connections to have Gray posted in his unit; and in early 1943, Gray rejoined his old boss. Entrenched military bureaucracy halted Miller's initial plans to establish a group of service bands with Gray as coordinator of the arranging staffs. Instead, Gray became chief arranger for the Miller's "Band of the Training Command", better known today as the Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra. Gray's training as both a violinist and swing arranger served him well in the massive AAF orchestra composed of an enlarged dance band and a 21–member string section. He created new arrangements of several of Miller's civilian–band hits, added strings to the version of "Begin the Beguine" that he had written for Artie Shaw, and wrote somewhat looser jazz pieces such as "Enlisted Men's Mess". He also co-wrote the famous march version of "St. Louis Blues" along with Perry Burgett and Ray McKinley
. Two arrangements in particular show the breadth of styles that he was able to contribute: a lush, string-heavy treatment of Fred Fisher's "Blue is the Night" gave that relatively obscure tune a semi–classical cast, while his punching brass arrangement of "Everybody Loves My Baby" was perhaps the culmination of the repetitive short-phrasing style he developed with the Shaw band.
Gray was also the full orchestra's assistant conductor, while Ray McKinley
and George Ockner served as seconds-in-command for the dance band and string section, respectively. It fell to Gray to conduct the orchestra's first concert in Paris
after Miller's airplane disappeared over the English Channel
. When the men returned to the U.S. in 1945 and McKinley left following his discharge, Gray assumed full leadership of the AAF Orchestra until its final performance on November 17 of that year.
Gray was passed over for the job of leading the postwar "ghost" Glenn Miller Orchestra, reportedly because the Miller Estate felt he did not have the pop-star qualities they wanted in a new leader. Instead they approached Ray McKinley
, who was not interested, and finally hired Tex Beneke
whose talents as vocalist and lead tenor sax player in Miller's civilian band provided a much more colorful front for the band. In 1945, Grey was an arranger for the Tex Beneke
-Glenn Miller
Orchestra Grey when Henry Mancini
was the pianist. In 1947, Grey served as Mancini's best man at his wedding.
For a while Gray, did radio and studio work in the Los Angeles
area, including leading the band on a radio show called Club 15 that featured Dick Haymes
. He expressed frustration with musicians who were cashing in on the Miller name even though their connections were tenuous (Ray Anthony
) or non-existent (Ralph Flanagan
), so in 1949 he accepted a request from Decca Records
to lead his own Miller-esque orchestra. The result was what he called "Jerry Gray and the Band of Today", an orchestra featuring his old Miller hits along with new compositions. For a number of years the Gray and Beneke bands co-existed, each staffed by many former Miller musicians plus other well-known performers. The Gray band included Al Klink
, Trigger Alpert
, Zeke Zarchy
, Jimmy Priddy, Ernie Caceres
, Bernie Privin, and John Best from the Miller dance bands plus George Ockner, David Sackson, and Harry Katzman from the AAF string section. Most importantly Gray hired clarinetist Wilbur Schwartz
whose unusual broad tone had been crucial to the civilian band's reed blend. Hits included the obligatory recreations of Miller classics, new compositions in the Miller style such as "Restringing the Pearls", and other distinctive tunes such as "Sound Off".
Listening to the Gray and Beneke orchestras provides an interesting contrast. Gray was arguably closer in spirit to the Miller legacy but never quite achieved the same level of popularity because he was less of a showman and Decca was no match for RCA
's marketing machinery. Beneke benefited from greater name recognition and stage presence but was hampered by restrictions placed on him by the Miller Estate both before and after his split with RCA
. Gray continued to tour with his band in various forms through the 1950s. In 1953 he and Henry Mancini
worked together on the biopic The Glenn Miller Story
, starring James Stewart
and June Allyson
. In addition to leading his dance band he wrote and arranged for singers such as Vic Damone
and released a very non-Miller-oriented LP featuring a full chorus and many of his own compositions.
By the 1960s he had settled in Dallas where he conducted the house band at the Fairmont Hotel. This later band generally featured more modern compositions by Gray and other contemporaries such as Sammy Nestico
and Billy Byers
. In 1968 he briefly returned to the Miller sound with swing
arrangements of contemporary songs for Billy Vaughan's orchestra, including "Spanish Eyes", "A Walk in the Black Forest", and an AAF-like treatment of "One of Those Songs".
From the Album, A Salute to Glenn Miller
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
. His name is inextricably linked to two of the most famous bandleaders of the time, Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
and Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
. Gray, along with Bill Finegan
Bill Finegan
William James Finegan was an American jazz bandleader, pianist, arranger, and composer. He was an arranger in the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the late 1930s and early 1940s.-Life and Career:...
, wrote many of Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
's arrangements during the late 1930s and early 1940s. In the latter part of Grey's career, his orchestra served as the house band at the Venetian Room of the Fairmont Hotel, Dallas.
Growing up
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.Early career
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 "CariocaCarioca (song)
" Carioca" is a 1933 popular song with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn, as well as the name of the dance choreographed to it for the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio...
", "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise
Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise
"Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" is a song with music by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II from the 1928 operetta The New Moon. One of the best-known numbers from the show, it is a song of bitterness and yearning for a lost love, sung in the show by Philippe , the best friend of the hero,...
", "Any Old Time", and the classic "Begin the Beguine
Begin the Beguine
"Begin the Beguine" is a song written by Cole Porter . Porter composed the song at the piano in the bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City.-Music:The beguine music and dance...
." 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.
In November 1939, Shaw suddenly broke up his band and moved to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. 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
George T. Simon
George Thomas Simon was an American jazz writer and occasional drummer. He began as a drummer and was an early drummer in Glenn Miller's orchestra...
, "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 Cocktail
Moonlight Cocktail
"Moonlight Cocktail" is a big band song popular during World War II. It was composed by Luckey Roberts with lyrics by Kim Gannon. The song was originally recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The song had its first public...
", and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" among others, while his compositions included "Sun Valley Jump", "The Man in the Moon", "Caribbean Clipper", "Pennsylvania 6-5000
PEnnsylvania 6-5000
PEnnsylvania 6-5000 is claimed by its owner, the Hotel Pennsylvania, to be the oldest continuing phone number in New York City. The telephone number is based on the old telephone exchange name system. The first two letters "PE" in PE6-5000 stand for the rotary dial numbers 7 and 3, making the...
", "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem", "Introduction to a Waltz" with Glenn Miller, "Flagwaver", "Solid As a Stonewall Jackson" with Chummy MacGregor
Chummy MacGregor
John Chalmers MacGregor , better known as Chummy MacGregor, a pianist and composer, was Glenn Miller’s pianist from 1936-1942. He composed the songs "Moon Dreams", "It Must Be Jelly ", and "Slumber Song"....
, "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"
A String of Pearls (song)
A String of Pearls is a 1942 #1 song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on RCA Bluebird, composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Eddie DeLange. The song is a Big Band and jazz standard.-Background:...
. 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.
Gray was again without a job when Miller broke up his band in September, 1942 to enter the Army Air Forces. The now-Captain Miller used his connections to have Gray posted in his unit; and in early 1943, Gray rejoined his old boss. Entrenched military bureaucracy halted Miller's initial plans to establish a group of service bands with Gray as coordinator of the arranging staffs. Instead, Gray became chief arranger for the Miller's "Band of the Training Command", better known today as the Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra. Gray's training as both a violinist and swing arranger served him well in the massive AAF orchestra composed of an enlarged dance band and a 21–member string section. He created new arrangements of several of Miller's civilian–band hits, added strings to the version of "Begin the Beguine" that he had written for Artie Shaw, and wrote somewhat looser jazz pieces such as "Enlisted Men's Mess". He also co-wrote the famous march version of "St. Louis Blues" along with Perry Burgett and Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley was an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader.McKinley got his start working with local bands in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, before joining Smith Ballew in 1929, when he met Glenn Miller. The two formed a friendship which lasted from 1929 until Miller's death in 1944....
. Two arrangements in particular show the breadth of styles that he was able to contribute: a lush, string-heavy treatment of Fred Fisher's "Blue is the Night" gave that relatively obscure tune a semi–classical cast, while his punching brass arrangement of "Everybody Loves My Baby" was perhaps the culmination of the repetitive short-phrasing style he developed with the Shaw band.
Gray was also the full orchestra's assistant conductor, while Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley was an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader.McKinley got his start working with local bands in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, before joining Smith Ballew in 1929, when he met Glenn Miller. The two formed a friendship which lasted from 1929 until Miller's death in 1944....
and George Ockner served as seconds-in-command for the dance band and string section, respectively. It fell to Gray to conduct the orchestra's first concert in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
after Miller's airplane disappeared over the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. When the men returned to the U.S. in 1945 and McKinley left following his discharge, Gray assumed full leadership of the AAF Orchestra until its final performance on November 17 of that year.
Gray was passed over for the job of leading the postwar "ghost" Glenn Miller Orchestra, reportedly because the Miller Estate felt he did not have the pop-star qualities they wanted in a new leader. Instead they approached Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley was an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader.McKinley got his start working with local bands in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, before joining Smith Ballew in 1929, when he met Glenn Miller. The two formed a friendship which lasted from 1929 until Miller's death in 1944....
, who was not interested, and finally hired Tex Beneke
Tex Beneke
Gordon Lee Beneke , professionally known as Tex Beneke, was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. His band is also associated with the careers of Eydie Gorme...
whose talents as vocalist and lead tenor sax player in Miller's civilian band provided a much more colorful front for the band. In 1945, Grey was an arranger for the Tex Beneke
Tex Beneke
Gordon Lee Beneke , professionally known as Tex Beneke, was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. His band is also associated with the careers of Eydie Gorme...
-Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
Orchestra Grey when Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
was the pianist. In 1947, Grey served as Mancini's best man at his wedding.
For a while Gray, did radio and studio work in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area, including leading the band on a radio show called Club 15 that featured Dick Haymes
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....
. He expressed frustration with musicians who were cashing in on the Miller name even though their connections were tenuous (Ray Anthony
Ray Anthony
Ray Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.- Biography :...
) or non-existent (Ralph Flanagan
Ralph Flanagan
Ralph Flanagan , was a famed big band leader, conductor, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, and Alvino Rey.-Biography:He was educated at Lorain High School, where he was a member of the National Honors...
), so in 1949 he accepted a request from Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
to lead his own Miller-esque orchestra. The result was what he called "Jerry Gray and the Band of Today", an orchestra featuring his old Miller hits along with new compositions. For a number of years the Gray and Beneke bands co-existed, each staffed by many former Miller musicians plus other well-known performers. The Gray band included Al Klink
Al Klink
Al Klink was an American swing jazz tenor saxophonist.Klink played with Glenn Miller from 1939 to 1942, and is heard trading solos with Tex Beneke on the most well-known version of "In the Mood". When Miller started playing in the U.S...
, Trigger Alpert
Trigger Alpert
Herman "Trigger" Alpert is an American jazz double-bassist. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.Alpert attended Indiana University in the late 1930s and moved to New York City, where he played with Alvino Rey in 1940 and with Glenn Miller soon after...
, Zeke Zarchy
Zeke Zarchy
Rubin "Zeke" Zarchy was an American lead trumpet player of the big band and swing eras.He joined the Joe Haymes orchestra in 1934, then played with Benny Goodman in 1936 and Artie Shaw in 1937...
, Jimmy Priddy, Ernie Caceres
Ernie Caceres
Ernesto "Ernie" Caceres was an American jazz musician born in Rockport, Texas.Caceres's brothers were both musicians; Emilio was a norteño violinist and Pinero was a trumpeter and pianist. Caceres himself played clarinet, guitar, alto and baritone saxophone, and first played professionally in 1928...
, Bernie Privin, and John Best from the Miller dance bands plus George Ockner, David Sackson, and Harry Katzman from the AAF string section. Most importantly Gray hired clarinetist Wilbur Schwartz
Wilbur Schwartz
Wilbur Schwartz was a clarinetist and alto saxophonist best remembered today for his work with Glenn Miller....
whose unusual broad tone had been crucial to the civilian band's reed blend. Hits included the obligatory recreations of Miller classics, new compositions in the Miller style such as "Restringing the Pearls", and other distinctive tunes such as "Sound Off".
Listening to the Gray and Beneke orchestras provides an interesting contrast. Gray was arguably closer in spirit to the Miller legacy but never quite achieved the same level of popularity because he was less of a showman and Decca was no match for RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
's marketing machinery. Beneke benefited from greater name recognition and stage presence but was hampered by restrictions placed on him by the Miller Estate both before and after his split with RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
. Gray continued to tour with his band in various forms through the 1950s. In 1953 he and Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
worked together on the biopic The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their first non-western collaboration.-Plot:...
, starring James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
and June Allyson
June Allyson
June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...
. In addition to leading his dance band he wrote and arranged for singers such as Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
and released a very non-Miller-oriented LP featuring a full chorus and many of his own compositions.
By the 1960s he had settled in Dallas where he conducted the house band at the Fairmont Hotel. This later band generally featured more modern compositions by Gray and other contemporaries such as Sammy Nestico
Sammy Nestico
Samuel "Sammy" Louis Nestico is a prolific and well known composer and arranger of big band music...
and Billy Byers
Billy Byers
William Mitchell "Billy" Byers was an American jazz trombonist and arranger.Born in Los Angeles, Byers suffered from arthritis from a young age and was unable to continue his plans of a career as a pianist. He picked up trombone and played with Karl Kiffle before serving in the Army in 1944-45...
. In 1968 he briefly returned to the Miller sound with swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
arrangements of contemporary songs for Billy Vaughan's orchestra, including "Spanish Eyes", "A Walk in the Black Forest", and an AAF-like treatment of "One of Those Songs".
Death
He continued to lead the Fairmont Hotel band into the 1970s before dying of a heart attack at the age of 61.Jerry Gray Orchestra alumni
- Bill Mattison (1958), trumpet
- Jay SaundersJay SaundersJay Saunders born 29 June 1944, is a trumpeter and music educator at the collegiate level. He is most known for being a lead trumpeter with big bands — including the Stan Kenton Orchestra — and a recording studio musician in the Dallas area...
(1960s), trumpet - Tommy Traynor, vocalist
- Zeke ZarchyZeke ZarchyRubin "Zeke" Zarchy was an American lead trumpet player of the big band and swing eras.He joined the Joe Haymes orchestra in 1934, then played with Benny Goodman in 1936 and Artie Shaw in 1937...
(trumpet) - Johnny BestJohnny BestJohnny McClanian Best, Jr., better known as Johnny Best was an American jazz trumpeter....
(trumpet) - Dale McMickle
- Jimmy Priddy (trombone)
- Willie Schwartz (clarinetist)
- Tony Gray (accordion)
- Conrad GozzoConrad GozzoConrad J. Gozzo was an American trumpet player born in New Britain Connecticut on February 6, 1922. Gozzo was a member of the NBC Hollywood staff orchestra at the time of his death on October 8, 1964...
(trumpet) - Frank Beach (trumpet)
- Murray McEachern (trombone)
- Ted NashTed Nash (saxophonist, born 1922)Ted Nash was born in Boston, Massachusetts on Oct. 31, 1922. His brother Dick Nash became a famous trombonist. He first played at Club 15 and when drafted was labeled 4F because of his back. In 1944 Ted joined Les Brown's Band of Renown. He was met at Union Station by Butch Stone, the band's...
(tenor sax) - Ray LinnRay LinnRay Linn was an American jazz trumpeter.Linn's first major engagements came in the late 1930s, playing with Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman . He would return to play with Herman again several times, in 1945, 1947, and 1955-59...
(trumpet) - Hoyt Bohannon
- Alvin StollerAlvin StollerAlvin Stoller was an American jazz drummer. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s...
(drums) - Joe MondragonJoe MondragonJoe Mondragon is an American jazz bassist.Mondragon was an autodidact on bass, and began working professionally in Los Angeles. He served in the Army during World War II, and then joined Woody Herman's First Herd in 1946...
(bass) - Jimmy RowlesJimmy RowlesJimmy Rowles was an American jazz pianist who was best known as an accompanist. He also released a number of albums under his own name, and explored various idioms including swing and cool jazz. - Biography :Born in Spokane, Washington, Rowles studied at Gonzaga College in Spokane, Washington...
(piano) - Pete CandoliPete CandoliPete Candoli was an American swing and West Coast jazz trumpeter. He played with the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and many others, and worked extensively in the studios of the recording and television industries...
(trumpet) - Charlie TeagardenCharlie TeagardenCharlie Teagarden was an American jazz trumpeter. He was the younger brother of Jack Teagarden....
(trumpet) - Tommy PedersonTommy PedersonPullman Gerald "Tommy" Pederson was an American trombonist and composer – prolific in jazz, big band, and classical genres. He had performed and recorded with big bands and artists that included Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Nelson Riddle, Doc Severinsen , and Frank Sinatra...
(trombone) - Johnny Halliburton (trombone)
- Dave Harris (saxophone)
- Jimmy GiuffreJimmy GiuffreJames Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...
(saxophone)
Video and audio samples
Jerry Gray and his Orchestra- Re-Stringing the Pearls, arr. by Jerry Grey, Brunswick RecordsBrunswick RecordsBrunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
(1950) - There's A Pawn Shop On The Corner In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, solo vocal by Tommy Traynor, arr by Jerry Grey, (45 RPMSingle (music)In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
) Decca RecordsDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
(1952) - Shine On Harvest Moon 78 RPM (1950)
From the Album, A Salute to Glenn Miller
Family
In 1957, Jerry married Joan Barton (1925–1977), a vocalist and film actress. They had one son together, Gerald William Gray. Joan Barton had a daughter from her prior marriage, to Earl "Madman" Muntz. Gray had a son, Albert William Gray, from his first marriage, to Barbara Ann Denby, in 1951.Sources
- Artie Shaw, Collected Papers, University of Arizona School of Music
- IMDb Music Database: Jerry Gray
- Big Band Library: "Jerry Gray - 'A String of Pearls'", Christopher Popa, 2004
- Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, George T. Simon, 1974
- Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band - liner notes, Ed Polic; BMG Music 2001
- Billy Vaughan, various albums - liner notes