Father of the jazz violin, Joe Venuti, introduced “Moonglow” on a recording date for the American Record Company’s Banner label in September, 1933. Venuti’s record didn’t hit the charts, but the following year recordings by several bands did:

• Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1934, #1)
• Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (1934, #2)
• Cab Calloway and His Orchestra (1934, #7)
• Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (1934, Kenny Sergeant, vocal, #8)
• Benny Goodman Trio (1936, #8)

Writer George T. Simon, while working on a compilation of music for The Big Band Songbook, contacted composer Will Hudson regarding “Moonglow,” and Hudson explained how the tune came about. “It happened very simply. Back in the early ‘30s, I had a band at the Graystone Ballroom in Detroit, and I needed a theme song. So I wrote ‘Moonglow.’” Hudson’s band flopped, so he traveled to New York and was hired by promoter/publisher Irving Mills as an arranger and composer.

Hudson’s tune and arrangement were picked up by violinist Joe Venuti. Venuti had just formed a big band after years of work with top groups like Paul Whiteman and successful freelancing on radio and records. (He’s on literally thousands of records from the period.) Joe liked the tune and recorded it twice--in September and October of 1933-- prior to the number’s publication. Neither recording did much during the record buying doldrums of the Depression.

Undaunted, Hudson continued to push his song. He managed to get the tune into the Broadway show Blackbirds of 1934 which opened in New York in December, 1933, and eventually played London in August, 1934.

Venuti’s version contains a verse, which Hudson discarded before rearranging the tune and giving it to Cab Calloway, who recorded it in January, 1934. Hudson tailored the arrangement by leaving spaces to spotlight Cab’s musicians. Alto saxophonist Eddie Barefield is the star of the session, contributing an outstanding solo.

In true Tin Pan Alley, song-plugger fashion, Hudson’s next stop was Benny Goodman, who, like Venuti, was planning to leave his successful freelance career behind to become a leader. Goodman further streamlined Hudson’s arrangement, making trombonist Jack Teagarden the focus. (An interesting feature of this recording is the shuffle rhythm played by guitarist Benny Martel, quite possibly the first recording of this effect that became a huge part of rhythm ‘n blues music two decades later.)

Goodman’s record took off. It was his first really big hit, landing at number one in the charts for 15 weeks. (The flip side, “I Ain’t Lazy, I’m Just Dreaming” with a vocal by Jack Teagarden, made the charts, too).

The Casa Loma Orchestra version from July, 1934, was the first to feature Eddie DeLange’s lyric sung by reed player Kenny Sergeant. The next month popular African-American vocalist Ethel Waters waxed a vocal with the Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra.

Benny Goodman’s Quartet recording from August, 1936, introduced vibraphonist Lionel Hampton as a member of Goodman’s ensemble, and the tune hit the charts for three weeks that year.

The song’s appeal never really dwindled. With a clever counter-melody composed by George Dunning and new words by Steve Allen, the tune was an integral part of the 1955 motion picture Picnic. Allen’s association with the tune continued the following year when he appeared in the starring role in The Benny Goodman Story which included “Moonglow” on the soundtrack.