Smithsonian Magazine - 11.2019

Photograph by

Andrea Modica

By

Dennis M. Spragg

cluding the Dorsey Brothers and Ray Noble, Miller
launched his fi rst namesake band in 1937. His goal,
he once said, was to “create the best all-around
band, able to play jazz and ballads with equal skill
and good taste.” Following a breakthrough summer
in New Rochelle, New York, he reached listeners
coast to coast on NBC radio before moving in 1940
to CBS, broadcasting live three nights a week. At
one point that year , two out of every three records in