Abe (Glenn) Osser
Encyclopedia
Abe Osser (born August 28, 1914) was an American musician, musical arranger
, orchestra
leader, and songwriter.
His birthname was Abraham (Abe), but much of his work was under the name Glenn; he can be found with references under both names. He also worked under a number of other names: Arthur Meisel, Bob Marvel, Maurice Pierre, and others.
He was born in Munising, Michigan
, the child of Russia
n-Jewish immigrants. He studied piano
, violin
, saxophone
and clarinet
in high school, and went on to study music
at the University of Michigan
, beginning in music education and switching to music theory, graduating in 1935. After graduation he worked with a college dance band
, and on advice from the band leader, moved to New York City
, where he met music publisher Charles Warren
, who became Osser's mentor. With introductions from Warren, Osser began arranging for Bob Crosby
, Vincent Lopez
, Al Donahue, Charlie Barnet
, Bunny Berigan
, and Ben Bernie
. He also began some radio
work, hired by NBC
to be a staff arranger with a young conductor, Al Roth. He also played sax and clarinet in some orchestras, including Les Brown's
Band of Renown, where he became a close friend of Brown's. He also got to work with Benny Goodman
on his radio program, and (though he was not officially credited) wrote the arrangement of Martha Tilton
's recording of "And the Angels Sing
" with the Goodman orchestra.
During World War II Osser served in the U. S. Maritime Service, stationed on Hoffman Island in New York harbor. After his discharge in 1944 he began to arrange for the Paul Whiteman
orchestra. (According to one source, it was Whiteman who, disliking the name "Abe Osser," suggested the name "Glenn." Another source credits the name change to Bud Barry, director of programming at ABC.) Osser rehearsed and conducted Whiteman's orchestra on the NBC Blue Network, which became the ABC Network
, and when Whiteman went on ABC television
, Osser joined him. Whiteman became music director at ABC and put Osser on as staff, where he served from 1947 to 1969, when staff orchestras were eliminated. During his time at ABC, Osser was the orchestra director for Theater Five (1964-5), ABC's attempt at reviving theatrical radio.
Osser became an arranger/conductor, first for Mercury Records
, where he backed such vocalists as Patti Page
, Vic Damone
, and Georgia Gibbs
, and later for Columbia Records
, where he backed Doris Day
, Jerry Vale
, Johnny Mathis
and Jill Corey
, among others.
On television, he was musical director for the 1949
series Blind Date (also titled Your Big Moment), conductor for the 1953
series The Vaudeville Show, and orchestrator and conductor for the 1957
production of Pinocchio. In 1959
, he was the Orchestra leader for the series Music for a Summer Night, which was repeated the following year
as Music for a Spring Night.
He wrote a number of songs, usually with his wife, Edna
contributing the lyrics.
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
leader, and songwriter.
His birthname was Abraham (Abe), but much of his work was under the name Glenn; he can be found with references under both names. He also worked under a number of other names: Arthur Meisel, Bob Marvel, Maurice Pierre, and others.
He was born in Munising, Michigan
Munising, Michigan
Munising is a city on the southern shore of Lake Superior on the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,539. It is the county seat of Alger County...
, the child of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-Jewish immigrants. He studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
in high school, and went on to study music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, beginning in music education and switching to music theory, graduating in 1935. After graduation he worked with a college dance band
Dance band
Dance band can be one of several kinds of musical ensemble:* British dance band* Dansband, a Swedish pop genre* A Eurodance band...
, and on advice from the band leader, moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he met music publisher Charles Warren
Charles Warren
General Sir Charles Warren, GCMG, KCB, FRS was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of Temple Mount...
, who became Osser's mentor. With introductions from Warren, Osser began arranging for Bob Crosby
Bob Crosby
George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
, Vincent Lopez
Vincent Lopez
Vincent Lopez was an American bandleader and pianist.Vincent Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York and was leading his own dance band in New York City by 1917...
, Al Donahue, Charlie Barnet
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
, Bunny Berigan
Bunny Berigan
Rowland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan was an American jazz trumpeter who rose to fame during the swing era, but whose virtuosity and influence were shortened by a losing battle with alcoholism that ended in his early death at age 33. He composed the jazz instrumentals "Chicken and Waffles" and "Blues"...
, and Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie , born Bernard Anzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, often introduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue....
. He also began some radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
work, hired by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
to be a staff arranger with a young conductor, Al Roth. He also played sax and clarinet in some orchestras, including Les Brown's
Les Brown (bandleader)
Les Brown, Sr. and the Band of Renown are a big band that began in the late 1930s, initially as the group Les Brown and His Blue Devils that Brown led while a student at Duke University. He was the first president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences...
Band of Renown, where he became a close friend of Brown's. He also got to work with Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
on his radio program, and (though he was not officially credited) wrote the arrangement of Martha Tilton
Martha Tilton
Martha Tilton was an American popular singer, best-known for her 1939 recording of "And the Angels Sing" with Benny Goodman. She was sometimes introduced as The Liltin' Miss Tilton.Tilton and her family lived in Texas and Kansas, relocating to Los Angeles when she was seven years old...
's recording of "And the Angels Sing
And the Angels Sing
And the Angels Sing is a classic example of a film musical written to capitalize on the title of a previously popular song; in this case Benny Goodman's 1939 number one hit song, "And the Angels Sing" by Ziggy Elman and Johnny Mercer, and sung by Martha Tilton although the song is not sung in the...
" with the Goodman orchestra.
During World War II Osser served in the U. S. Maritime Service, stationed on Hoffman Island in New York harbor. After his discharge in 1944 he began to arrange for the Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
orchestra. (According to one source, it was Whiteman who, disliking the name "Abe Osser," suggested the name "Glenn." Another source credits the name change to Bud Barry, director of programming at ABC.) Osser rehearsed and conducted Whiteman's orchestra on the NBC Blue Network, which became the ABC Network
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and when Whiteman went on ABC television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, Osser joined him. Whiteman became music director at ABC and put Osser on as staff, where he served from 1947 to 1969, when staff orchestras were eliminated. During his time at ABC, Osser was the orchestra director for Theater Five (1964-5), ABC's attempt at reviving theatrical radio.
Osser became an arranger/conductor, first for Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, where he backed such vocalists as Patti Page
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
, Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
, and Georgia Gibbs
Georgia Gibbs
Georgia Gibbs was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs first achieved acclaim in the mid-1950s interpreting songs originating with the black rhythm and blues community and later as a featured vocalist on a long list of...
, and later for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, where he backed Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Jerry Vale
Jerry Vale
Jerry Vale is an American singer.-Career:In high school, in order to make some money, he took a job shining shoes in a barbershop in New York City. He sang while he shined shoes, and his boss liked the sound so well that he paid for music lessons for the boy...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
and Jill Corey
Jill Corey
Jill Corey is a retired American traditional pop singer.Nee Norma Jean Speranza in Avonmore, Pennsylvania, about forty miles east of Pittsburgh, a coal mining community, Corey was the youngest of five children...
, among others.
On television, he was musical director for the 1949
1949 in television
The year 1949 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1949.-Events:*January 3 – Colgate Theatre premieres on NBC....
series Blind Date (also titled Your Big Moment), conductor for the 1953
1953 in television
The year 1953 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1953.-Events:*January 19 – 68% of all US television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth to little Ricky....
series The Vaudeville Show, and orchestrator and conductor for the 1957
1957 in television
The year 1957 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1957.-Events:*January 6 – Elvis Presley makes final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show....
production of Pinocchio. In 1959
1959 in television
The year 1959 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1959:For the American TV schedule, see: 1959-60 American network television schedule.-Events:...
, he was the Orchestra leader for the series Music for a Summer Night, which was repeated the following year
1960 in television
The year 1960 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1960.For the American TV schedule, please see: 1960-61 American network television schedule.-Events:...
as Music for a Spring Night.
He wrote a number of songs, usually with his wife, Edna
Edna Osser
Edna Osser was an American songwriter.She was married to orchestra leader Abe Osser.-Songs:Among the songs she wrote were:*"C'n I Canoe You Up The River"...
contributing the lyrics.