20th Century
Pioneers

Background

Born in 1871 to Julia and Col. John M. Dickerson, Elizabeth was the youngest of four siblings. Following the sudden and tragic death of her father, her mother married Col. William Gilpin in 1874. They moved to Denver where Elizabeth received vocal training and play various musical instruments, including the violin and the piano. Because of her passion and love for music, she performed in various local venues and churches when she had the opportunity.

Career

Her iconic and powerful soprano voice, said to have a “sterling operatic quality combined with the ability to sing in the vernacular,” led to a 1905 opportunity for a performance at Denver’s Orpheum Theatre and then to additional roles on Broadway. She moved to New York in 1910 where Thomas Edison gave her an exclusive recording contract and signed her to his recording company. During this period, she performed both as a soloist and in various duets, trios and choruses with well-known artists of the era.

Personal Life

Elizabeth Spencer married Otis Spencer, an attorney with the justice system and they lived in Montclair, New Jersey, until her death in 1930 at the age of 59.

Early Life

Glenn Miller was born on March 1st 1904 to Mattie Lou and Lewis Elmer Miller in Clarinda, Iowa in the southwestern part of the State. The family moved to Nebraska and then Missouri. Along the way Miller found music as a constant in his life, playing mandolin, cornet and switching to trombone in 1916.Miller’s family moved to Fort Morgan, Colorado in 1918 where he played football and was named the “Best Left End in Colorado” on his high school team that won the Northern Colorado American Football Conference Championship in 1920. It was here that he would begin to develop his love for what was called “dance band music” the EDM of its era. In 1923 Miller enrolled in the University of Colorado with the intention of becoming a successful musician. Because dance music was his first love, he spent much of his college years playing gigs with the Boyd Senter’s band in Denver. He spent so much time performing that he had to drop out of CU but he kept perfecting his style and sound studying the “Schillinger technique” of arrangement with Joseph Schillinger, and that became part of his signature theme in “Moonlight Serenade.”

Career

After leaving CU Miller signed on with the Tommy Watkins orchestra where he played for a few years. Like many musicians from the West of the time he gravitated to Los Angeles and Chicago with Ben Pollack where he was a featured soloist and he also played with Red Nichols, and Paul Ash and in the Broadway pit bands for shows like “Strike Up the Band” and “Girl Crazy” where he worked with Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. In the mid-1930s Miller got a gig as a trombonist, arranger, and composer in The Dorsey Brothers. Miller composed several songs for the brothers whose tumultuous relationship is the stuff of legend. Miller appeared in his first movie in 1935. The YouTube/MTV of the era it was a Paramount Pictures release called “The Big Broadcast of 1936.” Miller was a member of the Ray Noble Orchestra performing “Why Stars Come Out at Night” and the movie featured Bing Crosby, the Bruno Mars of his time. In 1941 Miller and the band became a central part of the story in “Sun Valley Serenade,” that featured comedian Milton Berle and Dorothy Dandridge.

Miller began working on his “signature sound,” a way of arranging call-and-response swing using the clarinet and saxophone section as a single leading harmonized voice with trumpet and trombone counterpoint, that would land him his first major recording contract with Victor’s Bluebird label in 1938. Those records, “Little Brown Jug” and “In the Mood,” alongside his classic “Moonlight Serenade,” along with “Chattanooga Choo Choo” sold well over one million copies and Miller received the first-ever gold record ever awarded to a recording artist in 1942. That same year Miller joined the service to aid the war effort. He formed and led a number of ‘hit’ bands including the AAF Orchestra-that recorded songs with American singer Dinah Shore at the famed Abbey Road studios in London. General Jimmy Doolittle famed for his B-25 bomber raid on Japan said, “next to a letter from home, that organization was the greatest morale builder in the European Theater of Operations.” Miller was killed when his plane went down in the English Channel on December 15, 1944. While several theories were put forward as to the reason for his disappearance, modern analysis indicates it was due to a design flaw in the carbonator of the UC-64 that could not withstand severe icing conditions.

Background

Morath received a Bachelor’s degree in English that helped him in his work on screenplays, radio, and television writing that dominated his various careers in entertainment. From 1959 to 1961 Max wrote, performed, and produced two syndicated programs backed by KRMA in Denver. These two programs, The Ragtime Era and Turn of the Century, were aired on stations that were the predecessors of modern PBS stations and network. During those years, he created 26 half-hour programs that brought Ragtime to audiences who were rediscovering the music through the Newport Folk Festival, and later because of the music of Scott Joplin featured in the 1973 movie, “The Sting.”

While working in radio, Max played regularly at the Gold Bar Room in Cripple Creek, and it became his home away from home until he left for New York City in 1963. There, Max formed his own band, the Original Rag Quartet, and they played colleges and nightclubs all across the US.

In the mid-60s, Morath created a one-person show and took it on tour, “Max Morath at the Turn of the Century.” With the success of that show, he created three additional shows, “The Ragtime Years,” “Living a Ragtime Life,” and “The Ragtime Man.” Between tours, Max worked on and earned his Master’s degree in American Studies, and he and his wife published a book. “Max Morath: The Road to Ragtime” featuring extensive photographs documenting his travels through the years.

In 1982, Morath wrote and produced musical revue entitled “One for the Road.” It was a mixture of comedy and commentary that explored American culture including our changing attitudes about drugs and alcohol. Max co-wrote the screenplay for “Blind Boone” that won first place for a music-inspired drama at the 2015 Nashville Film Festival.

Born in Denver on March 28, 1890, his father was the Director of Music for Denver Public Schools. Whiteman began studying the viola while in high school. In his early years after high school, he joined the Denver Symphony as first chair, did a stint with the San Francisco Symphony, and led a large Navy band during WWI.

By 1918, Paul formed the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Whiteman worked with both black and white musicians, though the era of segregated bands would not end until Benny Goodman began working with Lionel Hampton and Charlie Christian. Whiteman found some of the best players in the country and took his Colorado and San Francisco bandmates to New York City. For the next four years, his group became one of the most popular dance bands of the era. Declared by critiques and fans of that era as one of the first West Coast dance-bands to make a name for itself on the East Coast, Whiteman made the first iconic recording of “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.

By 1924, his band included 35 members and was the first to include both full brass and full reed sections. Paul’s ensemble was also the first of its kind to tour Europe. It was during this time that the Paul Whiteman Orchestra broke new ground and played Aeolian Hall. This venue was noted for its classical music, yet fans and critiques of the day were over-the-moon by Paul’s combination of symphonic orchestrations and jazz influences. And it was there that Gershwin introduced his famous “Rhapsody in Blue,” which became Paul’s theme song.

In 1926, Paul began working with a trio they called the “Rhythm Boys.” One of the members of the trio, Bing Crosby, would later reach international super-star status. During the 1920’s, Paul Whiteman recorded 28 number one records. In 2006, his version of Ol’ Man River was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The “Great Depression” proved catastrophic for many of the 1920’s dance-bands, and Paul’s band lost several key members due to lack of venues and promoters who could pay Whiteman enough to keep the group together. By the early 1940’s, Paul’s days as million-selling orchestra leader had virtually ended.

But Paul’s career did not end with the coming of WWII. He spent time as a disc jockey and later worked in the early days of television. In addition to his many guest appearances on various shows, Paul Whiteman spent the summer of 1955 filling in for Jackie Gleason. In the 1960’s, Paul discovered his love of sports car racing and spent time promoting the sport in both Florida and California.