Glenn Miller

[Fibber Mcgee]

Anyone gone to the Glenn Miller Orchestra? We went last night and it had to be the best two hours of music I ever heard. They do 300 concerts a year so they are probably near most of you . Not to mention the honor of watching it with the greatest generation.

 

[vitanola]

I like Miller's stuff, but generally prefer his work which pre dates December 15, 1944.

One of my favorite of his sides:
[video=youtube;EfmDjB7WKz4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfmDjB7WKz4&feature=youtube_gdata_player [/video]

Miller composed and arranged the number. The "Room 1411" referred to in the title is the number of the apartment that he was sharing with Benny Goodman at the time.

 

[dhermann1]

I'm a BIG Miller fan. I saw the modern "Miller Band" in New Jersey about 30 years ago, I found it more or less passable. But I had seen the Ray McKinley version in the 60s as a kid. I would imagine the current band has come a long way in terms of musicianship. It's a great thing that the Miller sound is being preserved.

 

[Widebrim]

I would like to hear the Miller "sound" in person, yet it's so removed from the source that I don't know how much similarity would be evident. In addition, Miller's vocalists were also a part of that "sound," and they are long gone.

 

[Edward]

I've never seen this outfit, though I have twice seen the John "Nephew of Glenn" Miller Orchestra. Tremendous fun, especially as it was in a venue with a dancefloor rather than a sterile concernt hall...

 

[Old Rogue]

They've passed through our area a couple of times in the last several years. Haven't seen them yet; the wife loathes and detests big band music.

 

[Fibber Mcgee]

Your never going to get the same sound but they do well and there is something to be said for experiencing it live. And I loved seeing the reactions of the people that do remember the original orchestra several of whom said they had seen Glenn Miller live.

 

[hatguy1]

Anyone gone to the Glenn Miller Orchestra? We went last night and it had to be the best two hours of music I ever heard. They do 300 concerts a year so they are probably near most of you . Not to mention the honor of watching it with the greatest generation.

Yes. They visited our fair city a few years ago. Loved it!

When I was a kid, more of Miller's original surviving band members were still in the Orchestra. They played at the Moose Lodge one night and my folks took our family. Hanging with Dad as he stepped outside with a bunch of guys his age for a smoke break. The conductor of the Orchestra was one of the guys out there. He apparently one of Miller's officers in Europe and took him out to the airfield the morning he disappeared. He claimed that the fog was so bad and the pilot still determined to fly across the Channel, he commented to the pilot about whether it was safe to fly in that fog. The pilot's comment? "Well, ya can't live forever, but we'll be ok." And, of course, neither were seen again.

 

[GHT]

I've never seen this outfit, though I have twice seen the John "Nephew of Glenn" Miller Orchestra. Tremendous fun, especially as it was in a venue with a dancefloor rather than a sterile concernt hall...

The 'Miller' band to whom you refer, are the resident band, year on year, at The Twinwood Festival. Have you never been?