Pennsylvania 6-5000 (song)
1940 song by Jerry Gray and Carl Sigman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Pennsylvania 6-5000" (also written as "Pennsylvania Six-Five Thousand") is a 1940 swing jazz and pop standard recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra as a 78 rpm single on Bluebird Records. It was composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Carl Sigman.
| "Pennsylvania 6-5000" | |
|---|---|
1940 sheet music covers, Robbins Music, New York | |
| Single by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra | |
| B-side | "Rug Cutter's Swing" |
| Released | June 1940 |
| Recorded | April 28, 1940 |
| Studio | RCA Studios New York |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:14 |
| Label | Bluebird B-10754-A |
| Composer | Jerry Gray |
| Lyricist | Carl Sigman |
Glenn Miller recording
Many big band musicians played in Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge in New York City, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra.[1]
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.[2] The instrumental was recorded on April 28, 1940, at the RCA Victor Studios at 155 East 24th Street in New York City. The 78 single was released in June 1940 as RCA Victor Bluebird 78 B-10754-A backed with "Rug Cutter's Swing".[3] 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.
Johnny Best played the improvised trumpet solo on the recording. The Carl Sigman lyrics were not used; only the refrain was shouted by the band after the ringing of the telephone.
Two different sheet music covers were released with different photos of Glenn Miller.
Personnel
- Saxophones: Hal McIntyre, Tex Beneke, Wilbur Schwartz, Ernie Caceres, Al Klink
- Trumpets: Johnny Best, R. D. McMickle, Clyde Hurley, Legh Knowles
- Trombones: Glenn Miller, Jimmy Priddy, Paul Tanner, Frank D'Annolfo
- Piano: Chummy MacGregor
- Double bass: Herman "Trigger" Alpert
- Guitar: Jack Lathrop
- Drums: Moe Purtill
Other recordings
"Pennsylvania 6-5000" became a jazz and big band standard also recorded by The Andrews Sisters, Judy Garland and Martha Raye in a duet, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Jimmy Mundy and His Orchestra (1959), Fud Candrix and His Orchestra, Jerry Gray, Mina, Lou Haskins, Jack Livingston, Raquel Rastenni (1941) in Copenhagen, the Starlight Orchestra, Klaus Wunderlich, the New 101 Strings Orchestra, Heptet, Meco, Tex Beneke, The Modernaires, the Jack Million Band, the Al Pierson Big Band, the BBC Big Band, Max Greger (1970), the SWR Big Band, and Captain Cook und seine singenden Saxophone (2012).[4]
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.
See also
- PEnnsylvania 6-5000 – article on the Hotel Pennsylvania's number, which was still in use until the hotel's closure in 2020
- Beechwood 4-5789
- 867-5309/Jenny