I always loved the Glenn Miller Orchestra sound and just a few days ago on TV the Glenn Miller story staring Jimmy Stewart and June Allison was playing. It seems every year around this time you can see the Glenn Miller story somewhere on TV. His disappearance on the 15th of Dec 1944 was so sad. on that day Glenn Miller, one passenger and pilot and Norseman C-64 airplane disappeared over English channel and were never seen or heard from again. The Glenn Miller Orchestra still lives and plays Glenn's music around the world today. There have been different directors and musicians that make up the Glenn Miller Orchestra thru out the years playing Glenn's music . Glenn Miller was in two movies with his original band , those movies were (Orchestra wives) and (It happened in sun Valley), both very good movies for this time of year, I am only 59 years old , I really love the sound of the great Big Bands that swept thru the nation during the 30,s and 40,s. What a time that must have been , the war put a damper on things and after wars end the big bands slowly faded away making room for the Rock and roll era. I have had the pleasure to meet some Big band leaders years ago such as Woody Herman , I did get to meet Tex Beneke also who was the lead sax player and singer for Glenn Miller band, he lived in Ft Worth tx and was special quest at a Big Band concert one time in Dallas, got to see him and talk with him a few minutes back stage, he didn't look to good but was able. Those days are long gone but Glenns music lives forever and will never be forgotten, Glenn did find that sound that he was after and with that he entertained us here in the states and the troops abroad giving them a little piece of home, while fighting during WW2 , to keep America free and safe . You still can enjoy the sound of Glenn Miller Orchestra live , if you look on the Glenn Miller Orchestra website they is a tour schedule and perhaps the band will be playing near you some day. When I have time later I want to post some pictures here of some things I have showing my love for Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. Feel free to post pictures and comments of and about Glenn Miller and perhaps some of the other Great Big Bands of the Big Band era. Thank You Fred Taylor.
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I too love Glenn Miller, always figured I was born about 50 years late.
Here Glenn Miller | Greatest Hits | Full Album on you tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REDgif1Wc_c

I keep the CD "Glenn Miller, in the digital mood in the CD player in
my Radio heaven museum.

We just watched "The Glenn Miller Story" on cable last week, it's just
as great every time we watch it.


cheers

Thank you for posting this, Fred. I was born in 1944, near the tail end of tht big band era. My mother loved that kind of music, so I heard a lot of it on the radio and via records when i was little. I still like all of it as well as that from the 1920s and '30s. The thing many people don't know about Miller is that his career an arranger for other leaders as well as assembling bands for recording sessions made him well known, at least among musicians, long before 1939. If you don't already own it, you need to find a copy of George T. Simon's book "The Big Bands". Simon was a writer and band reviewer/booster for Metronome magazine and his book contains an extensive chapter on Miller. Another interesting Miller item is a 2 LP set issued by 20th Century Fox in the late 1950s which contains the original sound track recordings from his 2 films.

Jim

I do have the book by George T Simon , I bought it back in the 70,s and compiled and bunch of musicians autographs in the book, of whoever I met live at ballroom dances and concerts that Big Bands where playing, in the book on the same page they were mentioned, always bringing the book with me, I have many albums of Glenn and other Big Bands. One of my favorites is called Glenn Miller Today, produced in the early 60,s and under the direction of Ray McKinley . Made by RCA records, recorded in what I think was Webster hall recording studios and produced in living stereo. Using the exact same arrangement's that Glenn Miller wrote. Truly fine stereo sound using original Glenn Miller sheet music, there are other albums that Ray had done in this manner. From what I understand that Ray McKinley started his own band calling it The Ray McKinley Orchestra after Glenn's death using Glenn's music and arrangement's and some personal but was quickly stopped By Glenn's wife Hellen Miller. Ray McKinley was the drummer during Glenns tour of duty with the Glenn Miller Army Air force band.

I like the movie but have only seen it once in my life, many years ago. I like his music

You know Glenn Miller defected to the USSR and provided music for Stalin’s Gulags? Every time Glenn Miller’s band played, forced laborers worked 20% more efficiently. The US government knew about his defection, but never let the public know.

Years later he came back to the US under the name of Lee Harvey Oswald.

P.S I have ocean front property in Tennessee for sell, please inquire.

I enjoy his music.I end up getting a pile of his vinyl albums from a neighbor.Some were collection box sets in pretty good condition.My late father would enjoy listening to them but he is now hearing the real thing up in heaven with Glenn himself.
RIP both of them.

Am also a Miller fan, and have the long out of print RCA CD box set of all of his recordings, 1938-42. I have this pamphlet advertising the 2 Chesterfield sponsored radio shows circa 1940. It's signed in pencil by Fred Waring....if only it had Glenn's signature too.

Miller had some excellent singers as well. When Marion Hutton became pregnant, Dorothy Claire stepped in. I have a hand-colored photo of Dorothy, given to Al Khan, one of the founders of Electro-Voice. The inscription says "To Al Khan, with best wishes. Your Cardak mike is terrific. Very Sincerely, Dorothy Claire".

I got this box set when we cleaned out my dad's stuff;

I read they're pretty sure what happened to Miller and his pilot. There are reports a Brit bomber crew jettisoned their bombload in a designated jettison area over the Atlantic and more than one crew member said they saw a caribou or whatever his plane was down there among the explosions.

What the hell are you smoking son? If you really believe what you just posted , you've got some major mental problems.

Yes I have seen that report, a Lancaster bomber was over English channel heading back from failed bombing run in Germany due to weather and did not drop its payload, coming back its common practice to get rid of bombs over the English channel before landing . Tail gunner looking out and down on way back saw a, what looked to be a Norseman aircraft in and out of clouds below and thought he seen it get hit by falling bomb. All this taking place around the same time frame and no other aircraft were suppose to be in that area at the time.

My father was/is a huge fan of Glenn Miller since he was a kid. It rubbed-off on me and I think he made some of the most beautiful recordings in recording history! To listen to "Moonlight Serenade" and not get chills up your spine, you could not have a pulse! I just can't believe how many Bluebird records he made. Just when I'm sure I heard them all, I come across another. Some might say he ran that "Miller sound" down for all it was worth, but it's great that he did! I can listen to them all one by one and never tire of it. Hopefully a few younger people will always keep his memory and music alive. It should never fade into oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWiXYLLnhM

(Intro to Benny Goodman’s Let’s Dance ``Original 78RPM version'')
ANNCR

This is the sound of the Thirties.
The Sound of THE SWING ERA.
Kinda scratchy after all these years.
If only it sounded like this:

(Introduction to Re-recorded Stereo version)

(ANNCR)

What a Difference.
It’s like being back at Frank Dailey’s Meadowbrook,
Glen Island Casino, the Aragon
Or one of the other great ballrooms.

But try to recapture that excitement by digging out your old 78’s
And you’re in for a disappointment.

(Intro to Glenn Miller’s String of Pearls ``original 78RPM version'')

(ANNCR)

It’s just not the way you remember it.
What you probably remember was more like this:
(Intro to Re-recorded Stereo version)

Etc etc etc.

If you take a look at our letter,*
we think you’ll be fascinated by the
stories and pictures of THE SWING ERA too.
No longer is there any need to rely on your memories,
sweet as they may be.
TIME-LIFE RECORDS
can put you right there in front of the bandstand
with an exciting souvenir
of a great period in American pop music.
THE SWING ERA.
(Coda for Let’s Dance comes up full and goes out.)

*Paraphrased excerpt from the afrorementioned Letter

We apologize for fooling you on this little demonstration record.
Due to licensing issues, we couldn't actually play you the original recordings,
so instead we folded down the stereo re-recordings and added sound effects of a scratchy record.

I never got a copy of the Letter with that little blurb until years later so I was dragging around 78s forever trying to find the ``exact'' performances from the flexidisc - come to find out it was grunged up mixdowns of the recreations (LOL

George T. Simon also wrote Glenn Miller and His Orchestra that contains a lot of interesting information on him and his band(s). It has a number of interesting illustrations, including a facsimile of his check to the IRS for his 1930 income taxes during his scuffling days. Six dollars.

That little Time-Life flexi-disk was some piece of work and ndiamone re-created it perfectly. I was in the 6th grade in 1969 when those came out and I took that record to school and played it on several record players when the rooms were empty. It played surprisingly well, especially on the new Califone with the foam rubber turntable mat, which kept it from slipping.

My parents were big on Life Magazine and I asked for them to buy me a set of Swing Era records, not knowing that every other month another set would arrive, over and over. I will say in their defense that the fidelity is very good and the re-creations are not too bad and some are done with the original vocalists. Most were Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra and Capitol mastered the discs, I think. They were almost indestructible. I don't know exactly how many different sets they made, but we stopped after "Into the 50s" and I think we sent the last one back. I think it was Curtain Call or Encore. They were really stretching for content there at the end.

The books that came with those sets were well done with lots of pictures from Life Magazine and they taught me lots about those years. They started my appreciation of music of the Big Band era that's lasted until today. I still have all those records on a bookshelf in my bedroom, but I can't tell you the last time I played one. I eventually collected 78s and I do prefer the original performances. They're in albums right next to the Swing Era records.

I have a friend who gave me a thumb drive of "the complete Glenn Miller" and I keep it in the car. Makes great background music.

Are you interested in the ocean front property?

This topic really hits close to home for me. I saw the "Glenn Miller Story" as a child and it really got my attention as I was already playing the trombone which was GM's instrument. About the time I finished college I was looking to get back to playing and ended up forming my own big band. I have now run a full size GM style orchestra for over half my life and I can tell you that the ONLY way to really appreciate the music is to hear it live.

We play a good many of GM's authentic arrangements and to this day they fill a dance floor better than anything else. While we do not limit ourselves to GM's music we play a good bit of it on our shows. It is always fun to see the audience reaction. In June we do a "D-Day" show and play the music the guys were probably listening to the night before the invasion of Europe. The Miller organization has a saying that says" The Miller Sound lives Forever" and they are not kidding .

Miller himself contributed a lot to the popularity of his bands even after his death in 1944 as he had each of his live radio performances recorded and those recordings were used by RCA Victor to compile volumes of live performances that are unlike anything that was available in studio recordings. I don't believe many other bands had such an archive. It was said that Miller was the biggest earner for RCA's record division 'til Elvis came along. That was while he was recording and from his legacy recordings.