Hello, I'm G. Brown, the director of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, presented by Comfort Dental, a nonprofit organization that celebrates everything that's great about our state's music.

I'm here in the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, where, in April 2016, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame was privileged to induct a class of 20th Century Pioneers, as celebrated by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and contemporary inductee Lannie Garrett.

20th century pioneers paid special tribute to homegrown talent that changed the landscape of modern music and shaped the minds and attitudes of entire generations.

We are thrilled to share the evening's highlights with Rocky Mountain PBS viewers.

It'll put a snap in your fingers and a song in your heart.

So, without further ado, we are going to start off with our first inductee of the evening, who is not a 20th century pioneer.

Lannie would scalp if I threw her in the first half of the 20th century.

She is still a vibrant, contemporary presence on our scene, and her hall of fame credentials as a singer and entertainer in our town are unassailable.

At age 22, Lannie Garrett arrived in Colorado, her first stop on a purposely undefined emigration to the West.

While waiting to establish residency for tuition purposes, she met Denver club singer Ron Henry and told him to call her if he ever needed a singer.

He did, and she eventually proved herself to the eager young musicians in town, many of whom backed her over the years.

Garrett performed at a cabaret in Larimer Square and was named Favorite Female Vocalist several years in a row by the Denver Post readers.

She garnered the same recognition with readers of "5280" magazine and the gay community's "Out Front."

The Colorado Symphony Orchestra accompanied her for a concert.

And she appeared in nightclubs nationally and recorded a half dozen albums.

Garrett and her big band opened a show for Ray Charles at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre and received a standing ovation.

She also had a role in "Destroyer," a 1988 horror film starring former Denver Broncos defensive end Lyle Alzado, Deborah Foreman, and Anthony Perkins.

Garrett operated Ruby, a club on 17th Avenue, and spent a decade as the house entertainer at the Denver Buffalo Company.

In 2006, she realized the dream of owning her own venue, opening Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret beneath the D&F Tower downtown, boasting top local and national talent.

Garrett took to the stage herself with a succession of themed shows.

From fronting her AnySwing Goes big band, as a sequined chanteuse-- (SINGING) Kick it.

Keep the rhythm moving.

Kick it.

Yeah, we're really grooving.

Everybody's kicking.

Let's kick it on out.

--to bringing her comedy chops to The Patsy DeCline Show, her campy spoof of country music.

(SINGING) Well, if you got money, honey, I got time.

We'll go honky tonkin', and we'll have a time.

We hit all the night spots, dancing, making time.

You got the money, honey, I've got the time.

Oh, my dear, I'll love you, see you to stay.

Garrett also created the George Gershwin tribute 'S Wonderful, Screen Gems: Songs from the Movies, (SINGING) Goldfinger [inaudible] Great Women of Song, The Chick Sings Frank-- A Tribute to Sinatra, Beatles to Bacharach-- Songs and Stories, (SINGING) What's it all about, Alfie?

A Slick Chick on the Mellow Side, her 1940s jazz and jump show.

(SINGING) I'm a slick chick.

I know that's the trick.

[inaudible] Yeah.

The Platforms and Polyester Disco Review, and Under Paris Skies, influenced by gypsy jazz.

(SINGING) Oh, c'est s'amore Lovers say it in France.

When it thrilled to romance because it's so, so good.

Garrett's shows feature her quintet, The Errand Boys of Rhythm.

For 4 decades, she has brought happiness to the Denver music scene.

(SINGING) Somebody loves me.

I wonder who.

Maybe it's you.

Congratulations to singer and entertainer Lannie Garrett, 2016 inductee into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

[applause] [music playing] (SINGING) Hot rhythm fascinates me.

Hot rhythm stimulates me.

Come on and swing it, boy.

Swing it, brother, swing.

I don't stop to diddle daddle.

Stop all your foolish prattle.

Come on and swing it, gate.

Swing it, brother, swing.

Rarin' to go, and there ain't nobody gonna slow me down.

Hey, Lizard Joe, hurry up now, don't let me go to town.

Hot rhythm fascinates me.

Hot rhythm stimulates me.

Come on and swing it, boy.

Swing it, brother, swing.

[clairinet solo] Roger Campbell on the clarinet, everybody.

[clairinet solo] [xylophone solo] Rick Weingarten.

[xylophone solo] (SINGING) Hot rhythm fascinates me.

Hot rhythm stimulates me.

Come on and swing it, boy.

Swing it, brother, swing.

I don't stop to diddle daddle.

Stop all your foolish prattle.

Come on and swing it, gate.

Swing it, brother, swing.

Rarin' to go, and there ain't nobody gonna slow me down.

Hey, Lizard Joe, hurry up don't dawdle as we go to town.

Hot rhythm that fascinates me.

Hot rhythm stimulates me.

Come on and swing it, gate.

Swing it, brother, swing.

[drum solo] Todd Reed on the drums.

[drum solo] Wooo!

[music playing] [music playing] Hey!

[music playing] [applause] Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Well, I'm going to do a little song here.

Now, they wanted me to pick out some songs that I like to sing, and then we're going to pay tribute to some of the great inductees, the 20th century pioneers.

But I wanted to do-- I wanted to do a little blues song.

I love the blues.

I'm from Chicago, so I kind of grew up on that style of music.

And I don't get a lot of chances to sing it, being a really white girl in a sequined dress, in Boulder, Colorado.

Because I have great respect for the blues, and I-- it has to come from your heart.

It has to be something you really want to sing from your soul.

So I-- I think I found a song that I can sing from my soul.

And if this particular song touches anybody else, especially the-- especially the girlfriends out there, please let me know.

Just clap if it resonates with you.

I'm gonna sing the blues.

[music playing] (SINGING) Chocolate on my fingers, icing on my lips.

Sugar doll beat us Baby, I've got blubber on my hips.

I leave a night light burning in the kitchen, baby, so I can go downstairs and cruise.

I got those Oreo cream sandwich, chocolate covered, cream filled cookie blues.

I-- I keep them in a cabinet.

I keep them in a jar.

And for emergencies, you know, I keep them real close to me to love could probably run my little cheap ass car.

But I couldn't quit them if I wanted to, baby.

They get me higher than I could ever get on booze.

I got those Oreo cream sandwich, chocolate covered, cream filled cookie blues.

(SPOKEN) Oh yeah, girlfriends.

All right, let's bring it way down.

Now, I've learned something over my years of being in Colorado, and I learned this with a girlfriend of mine who happens to be here.

Her name is Shelly.

And we learned this, that any time when we were single, if we ever got lonely and we wanted to meet a really good looking, fabulous guy, we had this system.

And here's how it went.

It worked every time.

Here's what you do, girls, if any of you are single.

You want to meet some cute guy.

Tonight, after the show, take off your pretty party clothes.

Go home by yourself.

Take off all the sparkles, and put on those eating clothes that every woman in this room has in her hamper or next to the bed.

Those sweatpants with the spaghetti stains and stuff on them.

Put those on.

Take off all your makeup, and then put your hair up in one of those banana clips.

Take out your contact lenses.

Put on those glasses with the little safety pin that's holding them together on the side.

And then I want you to flip-flop with your flip-flop shoes that you wash the car in.

Put those on, and then flip-flop down to the all night 7-eleven convenience store, about 2:30 a.m.

Walk into the store.

Pick up every thing that you like to eat when you're by yourself.

Like Cheetos, and microwave pizzas, and Haagen-Dazs ice cream, and Snickers bars, and potato chips, and dove bars, and all that girl food that we like to eat when we're alone.

And then go back down the aisle and pick up, like, a "Star" magazine, the "Enquirer," "People," all that stuff that you hide under the bed when people come over.

And then go down the aisle one last time, and buy the biggest box of Tampax and every feminine hygiene thing you can think of.

Go up to the front of the counter, right there, and the cutest guy in all the land will walk into the store right at that moment.

[music playing] (SINGING) Well, my doctor said I'm crazy.

He says, "You is definitely sick."

He said, "Honey, you'll be pushing up daisies, girl, if you don't give those cookies over quick."

But I told my doctor.

I told my doctor that I'll never, ever want to lose.

I got those Oreo cream sandwich, chocolate covered, cream filled, made by Nabisco, next best thing to nookie, blues.

[music playing] [applause] On behalf of our organization and all Colorado music fans, I hereby induct into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, singer and entertainer Lannie Garrett.

Oh my god, I-- [applause] I forgot about that part.

Thank you, so much.

[applause] This is really cool You stick around long enough, what can they do?

Thank you, so very much.

Thank you, G. It's been so fun getting to know you better.

I was trying to think of what I could say to say thank you.

And all I can say is-- Bob Dylan had this quote.

I was looking around at things, and he had a quote that said you're really lucky if you get up in the morning, and you're healthy, and you go to bed at night.

But, in between times, you get to do something that you really love to do.

And I can't believe I pulled this off.

My friend Jack Wartelle is here.

He'll tell you the story about me, trying to get started, and what a disaster it was.

But thank you, so much, for coming to my shows all these years, and letting me do this.

It's the only thing I ever wanted to do and be in my whole life was to entertain people.

So thank you from the bottom of my-- [applause] All right.

It is time to pay homage to our 20th century pioneers, and we begin all the way back in the earliest days of the recording industry with the Denver Nightingale, Billy Murray.

Born May 25, 1877, in Philadelphia, Billy Murray and his family moved five years later to Denver, where Billy spent most of his early years expressing an interest in show business.

Following his stint as part of a rube song and dance act with neighborhood pals, Murray's parents allowed him to join Harry Leavitt's High Rollers troupe as an actor at age 16.

He spent the next 10 years learning to clog and do blackface for a succession of minstrel shows and small time vaudeville venues.

Murray managed to secure a position with the widely traveled Al G. Field Minstrels sometime around the turn of the century, finding his way to New York where he could achieve success in the rapidly emerging field of phonography.

In 1903, he secured an engagement with Thomas Edison's National Phonograph Company, and his initial recordings, released and marketed nationwide, became immediate hits.

Murray's ability to sing loudly in full voice was suited for making precise, vibrant records in the acoustic era of sound process, which employed recording horns rather than the electronic microphone.

(SINGING) D-D-D-Daisy, beautiful Daisy, you're the only g-g-g-girl that I adore.

When the m-m-m-moonshine-- Dubbed the Denver Nightingale, Billy Murray was a hit making juggernaut for two decades.

America's foremost recording artist, the first singer ever to make a living and become a star solely from recording, he emerged as one of the best interpreters of the music of George M. Cohan, America's preeminent songwriter.

(SINGING) You're a grand old rag you're a high flying flag and forever in peace may you wave.

He introduced the public to a host of familiar tunes.

"Alexander's Ragtime Band," written by Irving Berlin, (SINGING) Come on and hear, come on and hear Alexander's Ragtime Band.

"Meet Me in St.

Louis, Louis," (SINGING) Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis.

Meet me at the fair.

"Casey Jones," based on the 1900 Illinois Cannonball Express train wreck.

(SINGING) Casey Jones running to the cabin.

Casey Jones, with [inaudible] in his hands.

"Over There."

(SINGING) Over there.

Over there.

Send the word.

Send the word, over there.

"That Old Gang of Mine," and "Pretty Baby."

(SINGING) Everybody loves a baby, that's why I'm in love with you, pretty baby, pretty baby.

For any label willing to pay for his services, Murray recorded a wide range of styles, including material from Broadway musicals, sentimental ballads, comic fare, vaudeville sketches, ethnic and topical pieces.

He served as guest lead vocalist for The Haydn Quartet, known for its spirited interpretations of ragtime and novelty numbers-- (SINGING) By the light, by the light of the moon, of the silvery moon, of the silvery moon, I was a fool.

I was a fool, to my honey I'll-- --and became leader of his own group, the American Quartet.

(SINGING) He was sailing along on moonlight-- He also teamed with other best selling artists, and performed in a wide range of ensemble settings.

(SINGING) He has his heart in a whirl.

Murray remained the popular artist during the Jazz Age of the 1920s.

When the industry implemented electronic recording, he adjusted to a softer, crooning delivery and performed as a soloist with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and other dance bands.

During the 1930s, he recorded spoken dialogue to children's stories and film cartoons.

He retired in 1944, and passed away on September 17, 1954, in Long Island.

Congratulations to Billy Murray, the Denver Nightingale, a Colorado Music Hall of Fame 20th Century Pioneer.

(SINGING) By the silvery moon, by the silvery moon.

We're going to pay tribute to Mr.

Billy Murray.

This is one of his songs.

[music playing] (SINGING) Nobody's sweetheart now.

No place for you, nohow.

With your fancy clothes, silken gown, you'd be out of place in your own old hometown.

When you walk down the avenue The folks won't believe it's you.

You've got painted lips, painted eyes, you're wearing on your head a bird of paradise.

You're nobody's sweetheart, now.

There's no place for you, nohow.

[guitar solo] On the guitar, Mr.

Mike McCullough All the way from Vona, Colorado, wherever the hell that might be.

[guitar solo] [guitar solo] [guitar solo] [music playing] (SINGING) Well, you're nobody's sweetheart now.

There's no place for you, nohow.

With your fancy clothes, silken gown, you'll be out of place in your own hometown.

When you walk down the avenue, the folks won't believe it's true.

You've got painted lips, you've got painted eyes, you're wearing on your head a bird of paradise.

You're nobody's sweetheart now.

There's no place for you, nohow.

Let's give it to them, boys.

[music playing] (SPOKEN) Do you feel it?

[music playing] [music playing] (SINGING) Nobody's sweetheart now, there's no place for you, nohow.

Yeah, there's no place for you, nohow.

[applause] They're good, huh?

Thanks, Lannie.

And, once again, on behalf of our organization and all Colorado music fans, I hereby induct Billy Murray, the Denver Nightingale, into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

[applause] Next in our 20th Century Pioneers class is a woman who was billed as a dramatic soprano.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elizabeth Spencer.

The youngest of four children, Elizabeth Spencer was born Elizabeth Dickerson on April 12, 1871.

Her father died eight months later.

In 1874, her mother remarried to Colonel William Gilpin, who had served as the first governor of the territory of Colorado in 1861.

The family moved to Denver.

Spencer received vocal training and learned to sing, recite stories and poetry, and play piano and violin.

She graduated from St.

Mary's Academy, and, after going on an extensive European tour, married Otis Spencer, an attorney.

A recognized society woman, Spencer sang in churches, concerts, clubs, parties, and amateur theatricals.

She got her big break in 1905, performing a successful solo act at the local Orpheum Theatre, her professional debut in a major vaudeville house.

Her second engagement, a one act sketch, displayed her acting abilities, and the experience led to roles in Broadway road companies.

By 1910, she was residing in New York City and making her first recordings in an era dominated by a formal opera influenced style of singing.

(SINGING) [inaudible] who plays the violin in the band [inaudible] Signing an exclusive contract with inventor and businessman Thomas Edison staff, she became its most prolific vocalist in the studio, participating in solos, duets, trios, quartets, and choruses.

Edison loved Spencer's rich, high quality voice.

She was often billed as a dramatic soprano, and he would study its vibrations and quality.

Having made only phonograph cylinders, Edison decided to add a disk format to the product line because of increasing competition from rivals such as the Victor Talking Machine Company.

His diamond disks enjoyed commercial success from the mid-1910s to the early 1920s.

Spencer's first diamond disks were distributed as samples to dealers to demonstrate on phonographs.

The diamond disk was where the majority of her best work was heard, her singing quality reproduced with greater accuracy.

The public tone test demonstrations would prove to be Edison's greatest promotional scheme.

He chose Spencer to travel around the country and fill theaters and auditoriums.

Greeted by dealers, salespeople, and thousands of Edison phonograph owners, she would sing at the same level with the phonograph.

The venue would darken and the audience members had to guess when the artist stopped singing and when the phonograph took over revealing the superior qualities of Edison's sound reproduction.

The Edison studio cashbooks documents Spencer in approximately 661 sessions by the time her Edison commitment expired in 1916, more than any other vocalist.

(SINGING) [inaudible] She signed with the Victor Talking Machine Company, but her output there paled in comparison to that at Edison.

She returned to Edison in 1920, though her recording sessions slowed down considerably.

When radio broadcasting began in the 1920s, she sang and recited on the air.

Despite the greater audio fidelity of diamond disks, they were more expensive than and incompatible with other brands of records, ultimately failing in the marketplace.

Edison closed the record division a day before the 1929 stock market crash.

Spencer died in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1930 only 10 days after her 59th birthday.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Spencer, a Colorado Music Hall of Fame 20th Century Pioneer.

[music playing] Well, my band and I are going to pay tribute to the beautiful Elizabeth Spencer.

And when they asked me to do this, I realized that she sang in that high soprano voice, and I can't really do that.

So I want to see if I can recreate it in some sort of fashion.

[music playing] All right.

(SINGING) Poor butterfly, in the blossoms waiting.

Oh, butterfly, how they loved him so.

The hours, they pass into one.

The hours, they pass into years.

And when you smile through my tears, you murmur low.

[sustained high note] [sustained high note] [sustained high note] Now, we're going to do our version.

[music playing] Little song called "Put Her Butterfly."

[music playing] (SINGING) Poor butterfly, 'neath the blossoms waiting.

Poor butterfly, though she loved him so.

The moments pass into hours.

The hours, they pass into years.

And when she smiles through her tears, she whispers low.

The moon and I, we know you'll be waiting.

We'll know he'll come back to me, by and by.

But if he won't come back, I know I'll never sigh or cry.

I just might die.

Poor butterfly.

(SPOKEN) Now, When I found out I was going to be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, I was so excited.

But, I thought, there's a man there's got to be by my side, because, when I first started singing and put my bands together, there was a little group traveling through town from Milwaukee.

And I went to see them, and there was a saxophone player in that band.

And I went up.

I gave him my business card, and I said-- I said if you ever, ever want to move to Denver, Colorado, I'll give you a job.

1979.

And he did.

He moved to Colorado, and he joined my band.

And he's been standing by my side for decades.

Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for my friend Mr.

Bob Rebholz.

[applause] He had to be here.

[music playing] [saxophone solo] [saxophone solo] Woo!

I was smart.

[saxophone solo] [saxophone solo] Woo!

(SINGING) Poor butterfly, 'neath the blossoms, waiting.

Poor butterfly.

Oh, she love him so.

The moments pass into hours.

The hours, they pass into years.

But when she smiles through her tears, she whispered low.

The moon and I, we know that he'll be waiting.

I know he'll come back.

He'll come back to me, by and-- But if he won't come back, you know I'll never sigh or cry.

I just might die.

Poor butterfly.

(SPOKEN) Bob Rebholz.

Thank you.

Bobby Rebholz.

G. Brown.

Thank you, folks.

On behalf of our organization and all Colorado music fans, I induct Elizabeth Spencer into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

Thank you.

We're going to start winding it up here.

OK.

This one is an amazing legacy.

Our next 20th Century Pioneer was the biggest name in show business in the 1920s and 1930s.

The King of jazz, Paul Whiteman.

Born in Denver in 1890, Paul Whiteman was raised in serious music by his father, Wilberforce, director of music for the Denver Public Schools and the first teacher to organize an orchestra in an American school.

As a student at East High School, Paul learned viola and started in 1916 with the Denver Symphony Orchestra as first chair.

After time with the San Francisco Symphony, he started the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1918.

And by late 1920 the nine piece ensemble had relocated in New York City, and played the [non-english speech] for the next four years.

The earliest dance band to invade the East successfully from the West.

On February 12, 1924, he staged a concert blending symphonic music and jazz at Aeolian Hall, at that time New York's sanctuary of classical music.

Special compositions were written for this concert, and George Gershwin, playing piano, introduced "Rhapsody in Blue," which would become Whiteman's theme song and go on to immortality.

[music playing] By the end of the roaring '20s, Wightman was the biggest name in the music business.

With press notices referring to him as the King of Jazz.

He had the largest and best paid dance orchestra in the country, an imposing all-star ensemble of up to 35 musicians.

The first to play arrangements.

The first to use full brass and reed sections.

The first to tour Europe.

Side men included many greats and future bandleaders.

Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Mercer, and Jack Teagarden.

In late 1926, Whiteman signed The Rhythm Boys to sing for his band.

Bing Crosby's prominence in the trail helped launch his career, and his first three number one records were as Whiteman's vocalist.

(SINGING) Another season, another reason for making whoopie, for making whoopie.

Whiteman had 28 number one records during the 1920s and 32 during his career.

His version of "Ol' Man River" with Paul Robeson on vocals would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.

(SINGING) It keeps on rolling along.

Whiteman did not jump into radio as quickly as some of his fellow bandleaders, but, by 1928, he was on the air.

He and the band made "The King of Jazz" for Universal Pictures in 1930, The most primitive and the most modern musical elements are combined, for jazz is born of the African jungle.

One of the first feature length movies filmed entirely in Technicolor.

[music playing] In the early 1930s, the Whiteman band became more of a show unit than a dance orchestra.

The size of the band later decreased, but, as late as 1938, his personal roster included 27 musicians and a vocalist.

When radio programming shifted to disc jockeys, Whiteman briefly spun platters on ABC.

And, after television came onto the market, he made a number of special TV appearances and was Jackie Gleason's summer replacement in 1955.

In the early 1960s, he promoted sports car racing in Florida and California.

Whiteman died in a Pennsylvania hospital in 1967, at the age of 77.

Congratulations to Paul Whiteman.

The King of Jazz, raja of rhythm, monarch of melody, and Colorado Music Hall of Fame 20th Century Pioneer.

[music playing] [music playing] [new song] [music playing] [new song] [music playing] [new song] Woo!

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] Woo!

[music playing] Do you like it?

Song by Paul Whiteman.

It's called "Happy Feet."

[music playing] Do you feel it?

[music playing] (SINGING) Happy feet, I got those happy feet.

Give them a low down beat, and they begin dancing.

Oh, I got those 10 little tapping toes, and when they hear a tune they can't control my dancing to-- to save my soul.

We read blue.

They get down to my shoes, until my shoes refuse to ever go weary.

I get cheerful on an earful of that music suite.

I got those dancing feet.

Let's go now.

[music playing] [music playing] Woo!

[music playing] [music playing] That's Roger Campbell.

[music playing] [music playing] Yeah, baby.

Rick Weingarten.

(SINGING) Happy feet, I got those happy feet.

Give them a low down beat and they begin dancing.

Oh, I got those 10 little tapping toes, and when they hear a tune, I can't control my dancing dues to save my soul.

What are we blue, they get down to my shoes, because my shoes refuse to ever go weary.

I get cheerful on an earful of that music suite.

I got those dancing feet.

I got those dancing feet.

I got those dancing feet.

[applause] The boys, Rick Weingarten on the vibes, Roger Campbell on the clarinet, Todd Reed on the drums, Bijou Barbosa on the bass, Mike McCullough on guitar.

And the man who arranged all these songs, my right hand man, my musical director Justin Adams, right there.

[applause] On behalf of our organization and all Colorado music fans, I hereby induct Paul Whiteman into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

All right, one more 20th Century Pioneer in this half, and we are in the presence of greatness, folks.

Introducing Mr.

Ragtime, Max Morath.

Ragtime virtuoso Max Morath was born in Colorado Springs on October 1, 1926.

His mother had lugged a piano bench full of music west from the family farm in Iowa.

As a youngster, he said he'd discovered "the beat in my fingers" for ragtime, the tunes that predated jazz as America's first distinctive music.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in English from Colorado College, Morath embarked on a varied career.

Appearing in melodrama productions in southwest Colorado, Morath studied American popular music and theater.

Finding inspiration in his ragtime heroes, Eubie Blake and Scott Joplin, he became fascinated with the accompanying fads from the turn of the century.

He logged hundreds of appearances in the Gold Bar Room in Cripple Creek during the summers of the 1950s.

He also did radio announcing and moved into television, where he wrote, announced, edited, acted, and sang at Colorado's new KKTV in Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

The success of his endeavors led to Morath's first professional recordings during 1959 through 1961.

He wrote, performed, and co-produced 26 half hour television programs for NET, National Educational Television, the precursor to PBS.

Produced by KRMA Channel 6 in Denver, they were fed nationally to the Nassant Public Broadcasting Network.

Combining his seemingly offhand colloquial approach to music, comedy, and social history.

(SINGING) Hello, my baby.

Hello, my honey.

Hello, my ragtime gal.

Send me to kiss my wife.

Honey, my heart's on fire.

The "Ragtime Era" series, followed by the "Turn of the Century" series, were in syndication through the 1960s and are considered classics of the genre.

Morath also appeared on a number of commercial television programs and was Arthur Godfrey's regular guest on radio and TV.

Moving from Colorado to New York, Morath performed nationally at colleges and in nightclubs with his original rag quartet.

His off-broadway one man show "Max Morath at the Turn of the Century" was a hit.

He spent seven weeks rehearsing his performance in Durango, Colorado.

Similar productions followed.

"The Ragtime Years," "Living a Ragtime Life," "The Ragtime Man," and more.

His 1969 album, "At the Turn of the Century," encapsulated the essence of his musical bits of nostalgia and helped commence the 1970s ragtime revival.

The 1992 album, "The Ragtime Man," included his own composition, Cripple Creek Suite, which captured the mood of the region's gold rush days.

[music playing] Morath earned a master's in American studies from Columbia University and published works including "Max Morath-- The Road to Ragtime," an illustrated book detailing his traveling experiences.

(SINGING) I got a ragtime dog, a ragtime cat, a ragtime piano in my ragtime flat.

I got ragtime clothes, from hat to shoes.

I read a paper called "The Ragtime News."

Got ragtime habits, and I talk that way.

I sleep and ragtime, rag all day.

Got ragtime trouble with my ragtime wife.

Guess I'm living a ragtime life.

Mr.

Ragtime retired from touring in 2007 and continued to be active as a lecturer and consultant.

Congratulations to Max Morath, Mr.

Ragtime and the Colorado Music Hall of Fame 20th Century Pioneer.

[music playing] Ladies and gentlemen, Justin Adams playing The Entertainer, Scott Joplin, in tribute to Max Morath.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [applause] Thank you for asking me to be here.

Hey.

I'm honored to be here and a little bit awed to be in the company of these great old timers.

Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman, Billy Murray.

Wow.

My mother came west from Iowa, and when she was 19 years old, she got a job playing the silent movies at the old Princess Theater in Colorado Springs.

My mother was a classically trained pianist, but she brought, from Iowa, a box of sheet music that was all ragtime.

And she told me that I had to learn to play the ragtime classic The Maple Leaf Rag by heart, or she would not buy me a bike.

My mother was also a professional journalist, and for many years she was, for 35 years, society editor of the "Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph."

I've always been proud of my mom.

And she not only knew how to spell but she had a great left hand.

[laughter] Yeah.

I've always felt Colorado to be my home.

I would never think of it being any place else.

When I was, oh, till I was 7 years old, I thought I owned Pikes Peak, because my dad and my uncle started The AdAmAn Club, which shoot the fireworks off, those crazy guys.

Every New Year's Eve, year after year.

And until my brother and I were kids, we thought they did that just for us.

So let me say I am pleased and highly honored to be here and be a member of this wonderful organization, with people like the classics.

You know, I grew up listening on the radio late at night to Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, live on NBC, from New York.

When I was in the eighth grade, desperate to be cool, I fell in love with a 9th grader named Jenny O'Brien, dancing to Glen Miller's recording of Moonlight Serenade.

Jenny, the next week got married to the captain of the football team.

Anyway, thanks to these great people that I'm joining here.

I can't imagine being in better company.

I am proud to join their hall of fame.

And I want to say that, from Lannie and all the rest of them, they are now part of my personal hall of fame.

Thank you very much.

Let's make it official, huh?

On behalf of our organization and all of us Colorado music fans, I hereby induct Mr.

Max Morath.

Glenn Miller was born on March 1, 1904, in Clarinda, Iowa.

His family was poor, moving steadily westward during his childhood.

First, to Nebraska and then to Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Music gave him an escape.

Glenn studied music during high school.

And soon after graduation in 1921, he took his first professional job with Boyd Senter's Orchestra, which was popular in the Denver area.

He then enrolled at the University of Colorado, where he spent his time outside of class playing in fellow student Holly Moyer's band.

He left college in 1923 to devote full attention to his career as a musician and arranger.

Miller went to Los Angeles, where Ben Pollack asked him to join his band.

With Pollack, Miller went to Chicago and, eventually, to New York in early 1928, where he married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger.

After leaving Pollack, Miller joined the Smith Blue Orchestra, and then the newly formed Dorsey Brothers.

He finally decided to launch his own band in January of 1937.

At the end of the year, he disbanded it, discouraged and in debt.

With financial help, he tried again in the spring of 1938.

This time, he had the players he wanted to create a unique style.

And, after much experimentation, he developed a clarinet lead reed section and created what became known as the Miller Sound.

In 1938, Miller signed with Victor's Bluebird label.

He played at Glen Island Casino while the nation listened beside radios, carrying the music to every corner of the country.

Miller recorded his signature tune, "Moonlight Serenade," and "Little Brown Jug," in April 1939.

[music playing] [music playing] The following month, the band made In The Mood, receiving play both in jukeboxes and on radios nationwide.

By the fall of 1939, the Glenn Miller Orchestra was the nation's hottest attraction, working some 100 hours a week, recording an average of two songs a week, and doing a thrice weekly radio show for Chesterfield Cigarettes.

The band was magic on records, and live appearances persistently broke house records throughout the eastern states.

From engagements at the Cafe Rouge at the Hotel Pennsylvania came the hit Pennsylvania 6-5,000, which immortalized the hotel's telephone number.

[phone ringing] Pennsylvania 6-5,000.

[music playing] Tuxedo Junction and A String of Pearls reached number 1 on the Top Sellers Chart.

And Miller was awarded the first ever gold record in 1942 for selling more than 1 million copies of Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

[music playing] Though not a hit, his song Boulder Buff reflected his CU roots.

[music playing] With the onset of World War II, Miller, at 37, was determined to take part in the war effort.

Entering the Army in October 1942, he molded the nation's most popular service band.

That US Air Force band went to England in the summer of 1944 entertaining troops at 71 live concerts in five months.

[music playing] On the foggy afternoon of December 15, while flying from the south of England to newly liberated Paris to lead his Army Air Force band and a concert to be broadcast on Christmas Day, the small plane carrying Major Glenn Miller and others disappeared over the English Channel, ending a brilliant and influential career in American popular music.

In 1954, Universal International released "The Glenn Miller Story," a major motion picture starring James Stewart and June Allyson.

I'm going to have a band all of my own.

I'm going to play my own kind of music.

At the urging of his widow, some scenes were shot at CU.

Good old Colorado U, hasn't changed a bit.

No, it's just as pretty as ever.

[music playing] Congratulations to legendary bandleader Glenn Miller, a Colorado Music Hall of Fame 20th Century Pioneer.

[music playing] [applause] - 1, 2, 1, 2, 3.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [whistling] (SINGING) [inaudible] what you say.

(SINGING) Step aside, partner, it's my day.

Bend an ear, and listen to my version.

A really solid Tennessee excursion.

Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?

(SINGING) Yes, yes, (SPOKEN) track 29.

(SINGING) Well, you can get me a shine.

Can you afford to board the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?

I got my fare, and just a trifle to spare.

You leave the Pennsylvania station about a quarter 'til 4.

Read a magazine, and then you're in Baltimore.

(SINGING) Dinner in the diner.

Nothing could be finer.

(SINGING) Bet you'll have your ham and eggs in Carolina.

(SINGING) When you hear the whistle blow [inaudible] to the bar, then you know that Tennessee is not very far.

(SINGING) Shovel all the coal in, we gotta keep it rolling.

(SINGING) Woo woo, Chattanooga there you are.

(SINGING) There's gonna be a certain party at the station.

(SINGING) Satin and lace.

(SINGING) I used to call Funny Face.

She's gonna cry until I tell her that I'll never roll.

(SINGING) So, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, (SINGING) won't you choo-choo me home?

(SINGING) Chattanooga, Chattanooga.

(SINGING) All aboard.

(SINGING) Chattanooga, Chattanooga.

(SINGING) Get aboard.

(SINGING) Chattanooga, Chattanooga.

(SINGING) Chattanooga Choo-Choo, won't you choo-choo me home?

(SINGING) Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

[music playing] [music playing] [applause] [music playing] Hey.

Hey, brown jug.

[music playing] Hey, brown jug.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [saxophone solo] [saxophone solo] [music playing] [trumpet solo] [trumpet solo] [trumpet solo] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [applause] Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

We are the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

[applause] My name is Nick Hilscher.

I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and we're all very delighted to be here once again.

The beautiful Glenn Miller Ballroom.

The last time that the band was here, as I recall, was when I was the male vocalist with the orchestra back in 2004.

And, of course, we are honored to be here for this special event this evening, of course, Glenn Miller being inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

Thank you.

[music playing] [music playing] [bell ringing] Pennsylvania 6-5,000.

[music playing] One more time.

[music playing] [bell ringing] Pennsylvania 6-5,000.

[music playing] [music playing] [bell ringing] Pennsylvania 6-5,000.

[music playing] [music playing] [saxophone solo] [saxophone solo] [music playing] [bell ringing] Pennsylvania 6, 5, Oh, Oh, Oh.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [applause] Pennsylvania 6-5,000.

Well, here's one from 1941 that the band recorded.

An original composition and arrangement written for the orchestra by Jerry Gray, A String of Pearls.

Doo-wop 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [applause] 1, 2, 3.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [applause] - 1, 2, 3, 4.

[music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] [music playing] In the Mood.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage one more time, Mr, G. Brown.

G. Thank you, Nick.

Let's do this right.

On behalf of our organization and Colorado music fans, I induct Glenn Miller to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

You folks want to hear one more tune?

How about it if we bring Lannie Garrett back up here to sing for you.

She's going to do one with the band.

Lannie, where are you?

There she is, Lannie Garrett.

One more time, ladies and gentlemen.

Beautiful.

Here's a great one from the George and Ira Gershwin song book.

Lannie Garrett's-- Here we go.

1, 2, Hi, everybody.

3.

[music playing] (SINGING) Somebo-- oh, oh.

Somebody loves me.

I wonder who.

I wonder who it can be.

Somebody loves me.

I wish I knew who in the world could it be.

For every guy that passes by I shout.

Hey.

(SINGING) Hey baby.

You were meant to be my lovely baby.

Whoa, somebody loves me.

I wonder who.

Maybe it's you.

[music playing] [music playing] (SINGING) For every guy that passes by, I shout.

Hey.

(SINGING) Hey baby.

Oh, you were meant to be my lovely baby.

Oh, somebody loves me.

I wonder who.

Baby, maybe-- maybe it's you.

It's you.

[music playing] [applause] The Glenn Miller Orchestra.

[applause] Lannie Garrett.

[applause]