Tex Beneke
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Tex Beneke (b. Gordon Lee Beneke, February 12, 1914, Fort Worth, Texas; d. May 30, 2000) was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader, who is probably remembered best for his association -- and best-selling hit records -- with Glenn Miller's popular big band from 1937 to 1942.
Beneke started playing saxophone when he was nine, going from soprano to alto to tenor saxophones and staying with the latter. His first professional work was with bandleader Ben Young in 1935, but it was when he joined Miller two years later that his career hit its stride. Beneke became one of the Miller band's signature soloists and, in short order, one of its most popular vocalists. His amiable singing style made Beneke ideal for some of the Miller band's jazzier songs and novelties, and with the Modernaires to support him, Beneke made Miller's signature recordings of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "(I’ve Got A Gal In) Kalamazoo", two of the band's biggest hits, among numerous others. Beneke's breezy saxophone style was also featured on such swingers as "Bugle Call Rag" and ballads like "Sunrise Serenade."
Beneke appeared with the Miller band in the films "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941) and "Orchestra Wives" (1942), both of which helped propel the singer/saxophonist to the top of the Downbeat and Metronome polls. When Miller broke up the band in late 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. He was discharged in 1945 and formed a new band in conjunction with Glenn Miller's estate a year later.
The Tex Beneke-led Glenn Miller Band attracted an immediate following, playing Miller arrangements from both the hitmaking and military years, as well as new charts by Henry Mancini and other arrangers. The orchestra was a smaller version of the Miller Army Air Force Band composed of a 19-man dance band augmented by a 12-piece string section. Beneke also introduced some bebop-flavoured material into the band's book as a way of staying with the times, since both the beboppers and the solo singers had conquered jazz and pop music, thanks in part to shifting band economics and in part to the recording ban of the mid-1940s imposed by musicians' union czar James Petrillo. As late as 1947 Beneke was setting attendance records, in some cases outdrawing the original Glenn Miller Orchestra itself.
But Beneke ran into another problem: the Miller estate, which didn't think bop knitted to the Miller style, never mind that Miller himself may have pondered changing his style before his unexpected disappearance in 1944. Beneke's contract made him an employee of the Miller estate rather than an independent leader, so he was forced to perform songs that were chosen for him by RCA rather than responding to fans' tastes. Within two years many of the Miller alumni who had initially returned under Beneke had left the band. In 1948 the string section was dropped as a cost-saving move. The orchestra itself went through several name changes, with Miller's name gradually being de-emphasized in favour of Beneke's.
Beneke and the Miller estate severed ties in 1950, and it led --a mong other discrepancies and liberties -- to Beneke not even being mentioned, never mind seen, in The Glenn Miller Story (1954, starring James Stewart as the late bandleader). 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 and Ralph Flanagan. His only recording of significance during this period was Pennies from Heaven, performed with typical Beneke jubilation but not featuring any standard Miller arranging cues.
In the latter part of that decade there was some revived interest in music of the Swing Era. Beneke joined a number of other leaders such as Larry Clinton and Glen Gray in making new high fidelity recordings of their earlier hits, often featuring many of the original musicians. Beneke and former Miller singers Ray Eberle, Paula Kelly, and The Modernaires first recorded the LP Reunion in Hi-Fi, which contained recreations of original Miller material. This album was followed by others featuring newer songs, some performed in the Miller style and others done in a more contemporary mode. His last major album from this period was made in 1965 for Columbia Records, Christmas Serenade in the Glenn Miller Style. This record was generally a success although by this point the effects of Eberle's struggle with alcoholism were beginning to show in his performances.
The singer/saxophonist continued working in the coming decades, appearing periodically at Disneyland and special Glenn Miller reunions. He also made the rounds of various talk shows that had musical connections, including those hosted by Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. His appearances on The Tonight Show sometimes included duos with fellow Miller veteran Al Klink who was by then a key member of the Tonight Show Band. Ray Eberle recovered from his earlier illness and resumed performing with Beneke and the Modernaires for a period in the early 1970s.
In 1972, Beneke agreed to re-record some of his Miller vocals for Time-Life Records' set of big band recreations, The Swing Era, produced and conducted by yet another Miller alumnus, Billy May. The still-unsettled dispute with the Miller estate however prevented him from performing on another Miller reunion album recorded the same year featuring many other alumni along with the official Buddy DeFranco-led Glenn Miller Orchestra.
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. At one point he also toured with former Jimmy Dorsey vocalists Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly (Ray's brother, who used the original spelling of the family name). He suffered a stroke in the mid-1990s and was forced to give up the saxophone but continued to conduct and sing.
Beneke was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1996. He settled in Costa Mesa, California and remained active toward the end of that decade, mostly touring the U.S. West Coast -- and still playing in something resembling the Miller style. In 1998 he launched yet another tour paying tribute to the Army Air Force Band. He died of heart failure in 2000 at age 86.
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