Título: Mitch Miller
Seção: Recording artist
Background: Mitchell William "Mitch" Miller (July 4, 1911 - July 31, 2010) was an American oboist, conductor, recording producer and recording industry executive. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor, and artist and repertoire (A&R) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A&R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as an accomplished player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings, but he is best remembered as a choral conductor on television and as a recordings executive.

Conteúdo: As a record producer, Miller gained a reputation for both innovation and gimmickry. Although he oversaw dozens of chart hits, his relentlessly cheery arrangements and his penchant for novelty material -- for example, Come On-a My House (Rosemary Clooney), "Mama Will Bark" (Frank Sinatra and Dagmar) -- has drawn criticism from some admirers of traditional pop music. Music historian Will Friedwald wrote in his book Jazz Singing (Da Capo Press, 1996) that  Miller exemplified the worst in American pop. He first aroused the ire of intelligent listeners by trying to turn -- and darn near succeeding in turning -- great artists like Sinatra, Clooney, and Tony Bennett into hacks. Miller chose the worst songs and put together the worst backings imaginable -- not with the hit-or-miss attitude that bad musicians traditionally used, but with insight, forethought, careful planning, and perverted brilliance.  At the same time, Friedwald acknowledges Miller's great influence on later popular music production:  Miller established the primacy of the producer, proving that even more than the artist, the accompaniment, or the material, it was the responsibility of the man in the recording booth whether a record flew or flopped. Miller also conceived the idea of the pop record "sound" per se: not so much an arrangement or a tune, but an aural texture (usually replete with extramusical gimmicks) that could be created in the studio and then replicated in live performance, instead of the other way a

user: Who did he record with?

assistant: In the early 1950s Miller recorded with Columbia's house band as "Mitchell Miller and His Orchestra".

user: Did he have any single tracks or any albums?

assistant: The River Kwai March" and "Colonel Bogey March", lasted 29 weeks on the Billboard pop charts in 1958, longer than any other record completely within that year.

user: Did he win any awards or hit on any charts or billboards?

assistant: The River Kwai March" and "Colonel Bogey March", lasted 29 weeks on the Billboard pop charts in 1958,

user: Did he have any music videos?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Did he make any other recordings?

assistant: In 1957, Miller's orchestra and chorus recorded U.S. Air Force Blue,

user: Was there anything interesting about the U.S. Air Force Blue recording?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER