Jerry Gray

A child prodigy on the violin, Jerry Gray (family name Graziano) took up the study of composing and arranging while still a boy in East Boston. His first important job in music was as an arranger for Artie Shaw in the mid-'30s, while he was still in his teens -- Gray was responsible for the hits "Any Old Time," "What Is This Thing Called Love," and, most notably, "Begin the Beguine." He joined Glenn Miller as an arranger in 1939, coinciding with the Miller band's sudden rise to national fame, and remained with Miller right up until the bandleader's death in late 1944. Gray's...