Glenn Miller: Pennsylvania 6-5000
Track
Pennsylvania 6-5000
Artist
Glenn Miller (trombone)
CD
The Essential Glenn Miller (Bluebird/RCA 66520)
Musicians:
Glenn Miller (trombone), Clyde Hurley (trumpet), Tex Beneke (tenor sax),
Leigh Knowles, Zeke Zarchy, John Best (trumpets), Paul Tanner, Jimmy Priddy, Frank D’Annolfo (trombones), Hal McIntyre, Wilbur Schwartz (alto saxes), Al Klink (tenor sax), Ernie Caceres (baritone sax), Chummy MacGregor (piano), Jack Lathrop (guitar), Rollie Bundock (bass), Maurice Purtill (drums)
.Composed by Bill Finegan, Jerry Gray & Carl Sigman
.Recorded: New York, April 28, 1940
Rating: 88/100 (learn more)
In ancient times, telephone prefixes were mnemonic, not numeric. PE 6-5000 in Manhattan, for example, rang up the Hotel Pennsylvania, in whose Café Rouge the Glenn Miller Orchestra nightly performed. That such minutia became grist for Miller's mill of pop hits presaged the pretzel logic of Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" (1974), in which seven digits assume talismanic importance. Glenn Miller goes Steely Dan one better, though, by incorporating a tinkling bell, the prehistoric ringtone so compelling to primitives. Miller's dynamics, encasing straitlaced solos by trumpeter Hurley and tenorman Beneke, are calculated as usual to produce prissy room-service Swing.
Reviewer: Alan Kurtz
Tags: 1940s jazz · big band
1 response so far
Loved the reference to Glenn Miller's Pennsylvania 65000 on the Middleman Show 8/18/08 with the comment "Transylvania 65000" which no one under 60 years old would probably catch.