"Pennsylvania 6-5000" (also written "Pennsylvania Six-Five Thousand") is a 1940

swing jazz Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

and

pop standard Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

with music by

Jerry Gray Jerry Don Gray (born December 16, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Gray played college footbal ...

and lyrics by Carl Sigman. It was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra as a

Bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

single.

Glenn Miller recording

Many

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

names played in

Hotel Pennsylvania The Hotel Pennsylvania was a historic hotel at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Opened in 1919, it was once the largest hotel in the world. ...

's Cafe Rouge in New York City, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The hotel's telephone number, Pennsylvania 6-5000, inspired the Glenn Miller 1940 Top 5 '' Billboard'' hit of the same name, which had a 12-week chart run. The instrumental was recorded on April 28, 1940 in New York. The 78 single was released in June, 1940 as RCA Victor Bluebird 78 B-10754-A backed with "Rug Cutter's Swing". The song was also an advertisement for attendance at the band's live performances, as a call could be put through to Hotel Pennsylvania’s venue the Cafe Rouge for a reservation. Personnel * Saxophones: Hal McIntyre, Tex Beneke, Wilbur Schwartz, Ernie Caceres, Al Klink * Trumpets: John Best, R. D. McMickle, Clyde Hurley, Legh Knowles * Trombones: Glenn Miller, Jimmy Priddy, Paul Tanner, Frank D'Annolfo * Piano: Chummy MacGregor * String bass: Herman "Trigger" Alpert * Guitar: Jack Lathrop * Drums: Moe Purtill According to a televised interview with John Best, he originally improvised the trumpet solo on the recording.

Other recordings

The song became a jazz and big band

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

also recorded by the Andrews Sisters,

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

and

Martha Raye Martha Raye (born Margy Reed; August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway. She was honored ...

in a duet, the

Brian Setzer Orchestra The Brian Setzer Orchestra (sometimes known by its initials BSO) is a swing and jump blues band formed in 1990 by Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer. In 1998, for their breakout album '' The Dirty Boogie'', the group covered Louis Prima's " Jump, ...

Jimmy Mundy James Mundy (June 28, 1907 – April 24, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Earl Hines. Mundy died of cancer in New York City at the age of 75 ...

and His Orchestra (1959), Louise Gold, Kathy Miller, Martin Brushane Big Band, the Blue Moon Big Band (1999), in a 1976 ''

Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harve ...

'' episode in a tribute to Glenn Miller, Syd Lawrence, Michael Maxwell and His Orchestra, Richard Hunt and

Jerry Nelson Jerry L. Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ' ...

(Bobby Benson and the Baby Band) in ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

'' (1979, Episode 319), Fud Candrix and His Orchestra,

, Mina, Lou Haskins, Jack Livingston, Raquel Rastenni (1941) in Copenhagen, Starlight Orchestra, Klaus Wunderlich, New 101 Strings Orchestra, Heptet, Meco,

Tex Beneke Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke ( ; February 12, 1914 – May 30, 2000) 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. H ...

, The Modernaires, Jack Million Band, Al Pierson Big Band, BBC Big Band Orchestra, SWR Big Band, and by Captain Cook und seine singenden Saxophone in 2012. Fats Waller's arrangement of the song for piano was published in the UK songbook ''Francis & Day's Album of Fats Waller: Musical Rhythms'' in the 1940s.

References

Sources

*Flower, John (1972). ''Moonlight Serenade: a bio-discography of the Glenn Miller Civilian Band''. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House. . *Miller, Glenn (1943). ''Glenn Miller's Method for Orchestral Arranging''. New York: Mutual Music Society. ASIN: B0007DMEDQ *Simon, George Thomas (1980). ''Glenn Miller and His Orchestra''. New York: Da Capo paperback. . *Simon, George Thomas (1971). ''Simon Says''. New York: Galahad. . *Schuller, Gunther (1991). Volume 2 of ''The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945''. New York: Oxford University Press. . {{Authority control Glenn Miller songs 1940s jazz standards 1940 songs 1940 singles 1940s instrumentals Jazz compositions Pop standards Songs with music by Jerry Gray (arranger) Jazz songs Songs written by Carl Sigman Songs about hotels and motels Songs about New York City Songs about Pennsylvania Songs about telephone calls Telephone numbers in the United States

Glenn Miller recording

Other recordings

See also

References

Sources