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February 14, 2001 Author George T. Simon Dies by LARRY McSHANE Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Author and musician George T. Simon, who played drums with the Glenn Miller Band and wrote acclaimed books and liner notes on the swing era, has died. He was 88. Simon died Tuesday at New York University Medical Center. The cause of death was pneumonia following a battle with Parkinson's disease, according to a friend, archivist Grayson Dantzic. In 1937, while working as a writer for Metronome magazine, he sat in with the fledgling Glenn Miller Band and played the drums as the band recorded its first half-dozen songs. But he opted to stay in writing, and became Metronome's editor in chief in 1939. He held the job for the 16 years, championing artists from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald to Peggy Lee. His music career also included writing lyrics for Duke Ellington and Alec Wilder -- sometimes under the pseudonym Buck Pincus. As a writer, he worked for the New York Post and the now-defunct New York Herald-Tribune. Eventually, Simon wrote several books on the swing era: ''The Sinatra Report'' in 1965, ''The Big Bands'' in 1968, and ''Glenn Miller and His Orchestra'' in 1974. ''Simon tells it like it all was,'' Sinatra wrote in a book jacket blurb. In 1977, Simon won a Grammy Award for best album liner notes -- his contribution to the collection ''Bing Crosby: A Legendary Performer.'' Simon was hand-picked by Crosby to write the liner notes. Simon's late brother Richard was the co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, and one of his nieces is singer-songwriter Carly Simon. Simon was born in 1912, the son of a milliner. At Harvard University, he organized his own band before graduating in 1934 and taking a job at Metronome, a national music publication. During World War II, he played with Miller's Army Air Forces Band and recorded ''V-Discs'' for soldiers and sailors overseas, persuading top musical acts to volunteer their time. He also served for a time as executive director of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, and was on the advisory board for the New York Jazz Festival. Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Beverly Jean Simon; a daughter; son; and three grandchildren. AP-NY-02-14-01 1549EST http://www.newsday.com/ap/national/ap884.htm *********