Tex Beneke
Tex Beneke | |
---|---|
Occupation(s) | musician |
Instrument(s) | Saxophone, vocals |
Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke (
Early life
Beneke was born in
Whatever concerns Miller might have had about Beneke's playing were quickly dismissed; Miller immediately made Beneke his primary tenor sax soloist and Beneke played all but a few of the tenor solos on all of the records and personal appearances made by the Miller band until it disbanded in 1942. On the August 1, 1939, recording made of the
When Miller broke up the band in August 1942 to join the Army Air Force, Beneke played very briefly with Horace Heidt before joining the Navy himself, leading a Navy band in Oklahoma. While employed with Miller, Beneke was offered his own band, as Miller had done with colleagues and employees like Hal McIntyre, Claude Thornhill and Charlie Spivak. Beneke wanted to come back to Miller after the war and learn more about leading a band before being given his own band. Beneke led two bands in the navy and kept in touch with Glenn Miller while they were both serving in the military. By 1945, Beneke felt ready to lead his own orchestra.[12]
Working with the Miller estate
Glenn Miller went missing on December 15, 1944, while flying to France from England. After World War II, the United States Army Air Force decommissioned the Glenn Miller-led Army Air Force band. The Miller estate authorized an official Glenn Miller "ghost band" in 1946. This band was led by Tex Beneke who as time went on had more prominence in the band's identity. It had a make up similar to Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band, having a large string section.
This band recorded for
After Miller
Beneke continued to perform under his own name with no official connection to Miller. He enjoyed less success in the early 1950s, partly because he was limited to smaller recording labels such as Coral Records and partly because of competition from other Miller alumni and imitators such as Jerry Gray, Ray Anthony and Ralph Flanagan. Eydie Gormé sang with the Beneke band in 1950.[25] Beneke appeared on Cavalcade of Bands, a television show in 1950 on the DuMont Television Network.[26]
In the latter part of that decade there was some revived interest in music of the
The singer/saxophonist continued working in the coming decades, appearing periodically at
During the 1970s and 1980s, Beneke had a new band playing a style that resembled the classic Miller sound but with as much newer material as older. In the late 1970s, he played at Knott's Berry Farms Cloud 9 Ballroom.
Death
In 2000 Beneke died from respiratory failure at a nursing home in
See also
References
- ^ "Tex Beneke, 86, A Leader of Glenn Miller's Band". The New York Times. May 31, 2000. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ISBN 978-0-375-42149-5.
- ^ Will Friedwald singles out the cover of "What's Your Story, Morning Glory?" by Mary Lou Williams that Beneke did with the Miller band, as one of Beneke's major artistic achievements. Friedwald, p. 613
- OCLC 31611854. Tape 2, side A.
- ISBN 0-934793-19-0.
dialogues in swing.
- ISBN 0-87000-161-2.
- ISBN 0-306-80129-9.
- ^ The songs Beneke and the ensemble played were "Bugle Call Rag" and "One O'Clock Jump". Beneke has a small solo on "Bugle Call Rag". Both songs from recording session at RCA Studio 2, New York City, January 16, 1941. All information taken from annotation to the 1988 Bluebird/RCA compact disc, The Metronome All-Star Bands, 7636-2-RB, liner notes by Peter Keepnews.
- ^ Simon. – p.289.
- ^ "And The Grammy Goes To...CU Boulder's Glenn Miller". Colorado University. 2003. Archived from the original on June 17, 2006.
- ^ Moonlight Serenade. p.303.
- ^ Hall. – p.191.
- ^ Simon. – pp.437–439.
- ISBN 978-0-7515-1078-2.
- ^ "All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008.
- ISBN 0-306-80742-4.
- ^ Simon. – p.258.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ "Old Miller fans remembered Tex Beneke best as the whiny-voiced singer of 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' and 'My Melancholy Baby' [...]" and "[The band's theatrics are] corny, but Glenn was one for commercial corn. If you don't have it you flop."
- ^ a b c "Music: Sweet Corn at Glen Island". TIME. June 2, 1947. Archived from the original on May 4, 2008.
- ^ a b Butcher. p.263.
- ^ Simon. – p.438.
- ^ Simon. – p.439.
- ^ George Simon in Glenn Miller and His Orchestra says it happened in Connecticut in December 1950. Simon. – p.439.
—Beneke says it happened after an engagement at the Hollywood Palladium. – Hall. – p.191. - ISBN 9780751510782.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ "The Former Glenn Miller Singers - Reunion In Hi-Fi". Discogs.com. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ Beneke appeared with singers associated with Glenn Miller, Paula Kelly, Ray Eberle and the Modernaires, at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1963 and 1965. Popa, Chris. "Big Bands At Disneyland".
- ^ Williams, Jean, "Knott's Farm Aims For Topflight Talent." Billboard Magazine, Vol. 89, No. 40, Oct 8, 1977, p 52
External links
- Tex Beneke. – at Big Band Buddies.
- Tex Beneke recorded with the Miller ghost band in July 1946 on YouTube.