"A String of Pearls" is a 1941 song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on RCA Bluebird that November, becoming a #1 hit. [1] It was composed by Jerry Gray [2] with lyrics by Eddie DeLange. The song is a big band and jazz standard.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded "A String of Pearls" on November 8, 1941 in New York, which was copyrighted and published by The Mutual Music Society, Inc., ASCAP. It was released as an RCA Bluebird 78 single, B-11382-B, backed with "Day Dreaming", in 1941 by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. "Day Dreaming" was the A side.
The personnel for "A String of Pearls": Saxes: Babe Russin, Tex Beneke, [2] Wilbur Schwartz, Ernie Caceres, Al Klink; Trumpets: Johnny Best, R. D. McMickle, Billy May, Alec Fila; Trombones: Glenn Miller, Jimmy Priddy, Paul Tanner, Frank D'Annolfo; Piano: Chummy MacGregor; String Bass: Edward "Doc" Goldberg; Guitar/Cornet: Bobby Hackett; Drums: Moe Purtill. Bobby Hackett performed the cornet solo on the original Glenn Miller recording.
The record was ranked No. 1 in the US for two weeks in 1942 on the Billboard Best Sellers chart in a chart run of 21 weeks. [3] [4]
Among other artists include: [6]
Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombone player, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forces. His civilian band, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, was one of the most popular and successful bands of the 20th century and the big band era.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was an American swing dance band that was formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became the most popular and commercially successful dance orchestra of the swing era and one of the greatest singles charting acts of the 20th century. As of 2025, Ray Anthony is the last surviving member of the orchestra.
Robert Leo Hackett was a versatile American jazz musician who played swing music, Dixieland jazz and mood music, now called easy listening, on trumpet, cornet, and guitar. He played Swing with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played Dixieland from the 1930s into the 1970s in a variety of groups with many of the major figures in the field, and he was a featured soloist on the first ten of the numerous Jackie Gleason mood music albums during the 1950s.
Gordon Lee "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 Gormé, Henry Mancini, and Ronnie Deauville. Beneke also solos on the recording the Glenn Miller Orchestra made of their popular song "In the Mood" and sings on another popular Glenn Miller recording, "Chattanooga Choo Choo". Jazz critic Will Friedwald considers Beneke to be one of the major blues singers who sang with the big bands of the early 1940s.
"It Happened in Sun Valley" is a 1941 song composed by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon. It was recorded and featured by Glenn Miller and his orchestra in the movie Sun Valley Serenade.
John Chalmers MacGregor, better known as Chummy MacGregor, a musician and composer, was the pianist in The Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1936 to 1942. He composed the songs "Moon Dreams", "It Must Be Jelly ", "I Sustain the Wings", "Doin' the Jive", "Sold American", "Cutesie Pie" in 1932 with Bing Crosby and Red Standex, and "Slumber Song".
Irving "Babe" Russin was an American tenor saxophone player.
Ernesto Caceres was an American jazz saxophonist born in Rockport, Texas. He was a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1940 to 1942.
Between 1938 and 1944, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra released 266 singles on the monaural ten-inch shellac 78 rpm format. Their studio output comprised a variety of musical styles inside of the Swing genre, including ballads, band chants, dance instrumentals, novelty tracks, songs adapted from motion pictures, and, as the Second World War approached, patriotic music.
"Sunrise Serenade" is a jazz song written by Frankie Carle with lyrics by Jack Lawrence. It was first recorded in 1939 by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra with Carle on piano as Decca 2321. It soon became Carle's signature piece. Glenn Miller released a famous recording of it a few months later, arranged by Bill Finnegan, with "Moonlight Serenade" on the backside.
"I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem" is a 1941 jazz and pop song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. The song was released as a 78 single on RCA Bluebird by Glenn Miller.
"Pennsylvania 6-5000" is a 1940 swing jazz and pop standard recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra as a Bluebird 78 rpm single. The music was by Jerry Gray and the lyrics by Carl Sigman.
"Here We Go Again" is a swing jazz instrumental recorded by Glenn Miller. The song was released as a 78 single. It was Glenn Miller's last Top 40 hit during his lifetime, peaking at #25.
"I Know Why " is a 1941 song by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. The song appeared in the 20th Century Fox movie Sun Valley Serenade. The song was also released as an RCA Bluebird 78 single.
"Elmer's Tune" is a 1941 big band and jazz standard written by Elmer Albrecht, Dick Jurgens and Sammy Gallop. Glenn Miller and his Orchestra and Dick Jurgens and his Orchestra both charted with recordings of the composition.
125 Jazz Breaks for Trombone is a 1927 folio or songbook of compositions for trombone by Glenn Miller. The jazz breaks were included in a songbook published by the Melrose Brothers in Chicago and a UK edition by Herman Darewski.
Glenn Miller is a compilation album of phonograph records released posthumously by bandleader Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. Released in 1945 on RCA Victor as a part of the Victor Musical Smart Set series, described on the front cover as "An Album of Outstanding Arrangements on Victor Records", the set was number one for a total of 16 weeks on the newly created Billboard album charts. The album, also known under the title Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, was certified Gold in July 1968 by the RIAA.
Glenn Miller Plays Selections From the Film "The Glenn Miller Story" is a 1954 compilation album by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. The collection contained songs featured in the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story from Universal Pictures starring James Stewart and June Allyson. It was the first Glenn Miller LP to be certified Gold in the U.S.
Pure Gold is a 1975 compilation album of 10 studio recordings by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded between 1939 and 1942 by RCA Victor. The recordings were all originally issued as 78 RPM records on the RCA Bluebird and Victor labels and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The album was originally issued on LP and compact disc in reprocessed (fake) stereo sound; in 1988, RCA remastered the album in original monophonic sound for its second CD reissue.