[Trombone-l] Paul Tanner

Wed Feb 7 09:40:14 CST 2018

Thank you for sharing that, Earl!
I learned a great deal about him from that. I had no idea he was also born
in Kentucky!

Raymond Horton
Composer, Arranger
Minister of Music, Edwardsville (IN) United Methodist Church
Retired Bass Trombonist, Louisville Orchestra, 1971-2016
Visit us at rayhortonmusic.com

On Feb 7, 2018 10:14 AM, "Earl Needham via Trombone-l" <
trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:

> From 2013:
>
> Today's Los Angeles Times carried the following obituary of trombonist Paul
> Tanner.
>
>
>
> By Don Heckman, Special to The Times
>
> February 6, 2013, 9:23 p.m.
>
> Paul Tanner, a trombonist with the Glenn Miller
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/music/glenn-
> miller-PECLB003221.t
> opic>  Orchestra who became a prominent jazz educator at UCLA
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/education/colleges-
> universities/university-of-
> california-los-angeles-OREDU0000192268.topic>  and created an unusual
> electronic musical instrument heard on the Beach Boys'
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/music/the-beach-
> boys-PECLB000492
> 9.topic>  classic 1966 hit "Good Vibrations," has died. He was 95.
>
> Tanner died of pneumonia
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/
> pneumonia-HEDAI00000
> 61.topic>  Tuesday at an assisted-living facility near his home in
> Carlsbad,
> Calif., said his wife, Jan.
>
> Tanner was a member of the Miller Orchestra, one of the best-known swing
> bands of the 1930s and '40s, for most of the orchestra's existence of less
> than a decade. Over the course of his tenure with Miller, Tanner recorded
> some of the orchestra's best-known hit recordings - "String of Pearls" and
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=bR3K5uB-wMA> "In the Mood" among them.
> He
> left the orchestra in 1942, when Miller broke up his civilian band to form
> a
> service swing band. Tanner joined the Army
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/defense/
> u.s.-army-ORGOV00
> 00126141142.topic>  himself in 1942 but did not play in Miller's service
> ensemble.
>
> He continued to play in big bands after the war - occasionally with Tex
> Beneke
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/tex-beneke-PECLB000442.topic>
> ,
> a tenor saxophonist/singer with Miller who was leading a Miller-like band.
> But other interests soon began to attract his attention.
>
> Tanner's involvement with electronic musical instruments began in the '50s,
> when he was drawn to the sound of the theremin, with its eerie, sliding
> notes. (It was notably present in the film scores for
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/movies/the-lost-
> weekend-%28movie
> %29-ENMV0001912.topic> "The Lost Weekend" and
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=eZP2lIrWvk0%29> "Spellbound.")
>
> Fond of its unique tonal qualities, he was bothered by the theremin's
> playing technique, which required the performer to control it by waving
> one's hands. Working with inventor Bob Whitsell, Tanner designed an
> instrument that initially he called the electro-theremin. Eventually, it
> also received the name Tannerin, although Tanner preferred the title Paul's
> Box. Unlike the theremin, its method of playing was closer to that of
> traditional keyboard instruments.
>
> It was prominently heard on the 1958 LP "Music for Heavenly Bodies" as well
> as the TV series "My Favorite Martian" and another LP, "Music From Outer
> Space." But the best known performance by the electro-theremin/Tannerin was
> on the Beach Boys'  <http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=B0yoiBYbT2I> "Good
> Vibrations," where it is played by Tanner.
>
> Paul Tanner was born Oct. 15, 1917, in Skunk Hollow, Ky., the son of
> Archibald Elmer and Janet Rose Tanner. The family was musical, with all
> five
> of his brothers playing instruments. His early trombone training took place
> at a reform school where his father was employed as the superintendent.
>
> Tanner was barely out of his teens when he joined the hugely popular Glenn
> Miller Orchestra, remaining with the ensemble from 1938 to 1942 and serving
> in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945.
>
> He was discovered by Miller in what Tanner described as a "strip joint,"
> while he was playing with his brothers in a family band.
>
> "Somebody told him to come in and hear this kid on trombone," Tanner told
> NPR
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/
> media-industry/radio-
> industry/npr-ORNPR0000040.topic>  in 2000. "So he did, and he said, 'Well,
> how soon can you come with me?' I said, 'I can come right now.' I told him
> I
> was all packed, I had my toothbrush in my pocket and everything. And so I
> went with him that night, and I stayed with him until he broke the band up
> in September 1942."
>
> After the war years and into most of the '50s and '60s, Tanner was an
> active
> studio musician on the staff of ABC
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/
> media-industry/televi
> sion-industry/abc-%28tv-network%29-ORCRP000009600.topic> , performing on
> recordings, film and television scores composed by the likes of Henry
> Mancini
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/music/henry-
> mancini-PECLB0000001
> 0701.topic> , Pete Rugolo, <http://lat.ms/VJ5rUW>  Neal Hefti, Nelson
> Riddle
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/nelson-riddle-
> PECLB00000011063.t
> opic>  and others. He also played in the ABC Orchestra, performing under
> the
> direction of Andre Previn, Leonard Bernstein
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/music/leonard-
> bernstein-PECLB000
> 490.topic>  and Arturo Toscanini.
>
> While his playing career continued, Tanner earned three degrees from UCLA -
> a bachelor's in 1958 (graduating magna cum laude), a master's in 1961 and a
> doctorate in 1975. Carrying a full teaching load as well, he played a
> significant role in starting the university's highly regarded jazz
> education
> program in 1958. Two of his courses, "Jazz Before World War II
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/wars-
> interventions/world-
> war-ii-%281939-1945%29-EVHST00000110.topic> " and "Jazz After World War
> II,"
> were taught with the aid of his own book, "A Study of Jazz," which has
> become one of the most widely used texts in jazz history courses.
>
> His other books include "Sideman: Stories About the Band" and "Every Night
> Was New Year's Eve
> <http://www.latimes.com/topic/arts-culture/holidays/new-
> years-day-EVFES00016
> 8.topic> ," inspired by his on-the-road years with the Miller Orchestra.
>
> A decade after he began teaching, Tanner's overflowing classes were
> averaging 1,600 students a week, with a waiting list.
>
> He retired from teaching in 1981 and donated his record collection of
> 10,000
> jazz albums and recordings, fully catalogued, to UCLA.
>
> "I've always been very lucky," he told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 1986,
> "in that I've never had a job I didn't enjoy or one that didn't pay well."
>
> Tanner, whose first marriage ended with the death of his wife, Alma, in
> 1982, is survived by his second wife, Jan, and two stepsons.
>
> news.obits at latimes.com
>
>
>
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