Abe (Glenn) Osser

Who is Abe (Glenn) Osser?

Abe (Glenn) Osser was an American musician, musical arranger, orchestra leader, and songwriter.

His birthname was Abraham, but much of his work was under the name Glenn; he can be found with references under both names. He also worked under a number of other names: Arthur Meisel, Bob Marvel, Maurice Pierre, and others.

He was born in Munising, Michigan, the child of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He studied piano, violin, saxophone and clarinet in high school, and went on to study music at the University of Michigan, beginning in music education and switching to music theory, graduating in 1935. After graduation he worked with a college dance band, and on advice from the band leader, moved to New York City, where he met music publisher Charles Warren, who became Osser's mentor. With introductions from Warren, Osser began arranging for Bob Crosby, Vincent Lopez, Al Donahue, Charlie Barnet, Bunny Berigan, and Ben Bernie. He also began some radio work, hired by NBC to be a staff arranger with a young conductor, Al Roth. He also played sax and clarinet in some orchestras, including Les Brown's Band of Renown, where he became a close friend of Brown's. He also got to work with Benny Goodman on his radio program, and wrote the arrangement of Martha Tilton's recording of "And the Angels Sing" with the Goodman orchestra.