Imagine the look on their faces that day. It must have been a very sad situation. This was the end of Glenn Miller and his Orchestra as the world knew it at that time. But Glenn was far from slowing down. His patriotic intention of entertaining the Allied Forces with the fusion of virtuosity and dance rhythms in his music earned him the rank of captain from the get-go and he was soon promoted to major by August The way Glenn himself saw his future in the army was as a morale and band builder.
He envisioned a network of great Air Force bands that he would organize by selecting specific musicians from the draft, for example, and that would be able to play both marching and swing music. Major General Walter R. Weaver, the commander of the AAFTC , had given Glenn unprecedented authority for any requests related to personnel and resources.
They really wanted Glenn to succeed no matter what. He knew that a lot of musicians from the New York area were sent there for basic training in the army and so it would be easy for him to recruit them there for his bands. In addition to this, he also had other musicians who served in the AAF around the US reassigned to work for him.
He even provided musicians who were not drafted yet with steps that explained how they could get reassigned to him.
His authority basically enabled him to get almost anyone he wanted from big band or jazz band musicians to concert orchestra and any other musicians. He made sure to have a good mix of both veterans and relative newcomers that worked well together as a team. Glenn had a such a rich pool of talent that he had to even send great candidates to one of the other new bands being formed in the AAF instead of working with them in his own elite band. One such example is composer, conductor, arranger and pianist Henry Mancini who is considered to be one of the greatest composers in the history of film; he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, twenty Grammy Awards and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in Having access to multiple bands allowed Glenn to easily replace musicians in his own elite band or to expand his own band as needed.
What a luxury. He established a band, stationed in New Haven, that had evolved from the to person dance band size to a large concert orchestra with jazz and dance band elements which allowed them to play anything from classics to jazz. The band was being prepared for radio shows and recording sessions and Glenn also formed a marching band within his large orchestra that would play at official events.
This was not another boring marching band, of course; his marching band took popular hits and played them as jazz-oriented tunes. And on September 18 th , it moved to the full NBC network. The show had no announcements so that foreign radio announcers could introduce the music in their own languages.
And in addition to his own shows, Glen Miller and his band made numerous guest appearances which allowed them to reach even more people. Glenn wanted more. He made plans to take his orchestra overseas. This was no easy task, of course, as he had become such an important asset in the US. Not only did he help boost morale, he also helped the army raise a lot of money as part of his bond tour appearances. And there was another thing that made Glenn hesitate: Glenn and Helen managed to adopt their son Steven after years of trying to have children on their own.
When Steven was 1, his parents kicked off the process of adopting a second child which would be Jonnie. Eventually, Glen was allowed to form a piece Army Air Force Band and take it to England in the summer of , where he gave performances. What had made this possible was the intervention of General Dwight Eisenhower who was literally a Glenn Miller fan and, in the spring of , ordered General Raymond F.
Glen was then offered the opportunity to transfer to the SHAEF along with his radio production unit which Glenn gladly accepted. That area of London was hit hard by German bombers and after a bomb landed three blocks away, Glenn decided to relocate everyone to Bedford, 50 miles north of London. In doing so, he was supported by a Lieutenant Colonel named David Niven who would later become one of the biggest movie stars of all time.
The day after Glenn and his crew departed London, a V-1 flying bomb exploded a few feet in front of his former office. The office was demolished and at least 70 of his former officemates were killed. While in England, where Glen was promoted to the rank of Major in , by the way, he and his orchestra played countless gigs, their radio shows and any guest appearances were a hit and they recorded a series of records at Abbey Road Studios.
They had a really tough schedule as the demand for their performances grew and grew and grew. Born in and , Elizabeth and Margaret were both teenagers at the time. The band played at hospitals, for troops that just got back from combat and for soldiers who were about to go to war. Despite all the success Glenn had in England, there were times when he was homesick.
To cope with this, he built a model of the ranch home that he planned to build in California after the war. Contemporaries of Glenn confirmed that he spoke about his plans for after the war quite often and that he offered the members of his orchestra to a job with him in California. While Glenn really liked his time in England, Glenn wanted to get closer to the front lines and so his next plan, which he shared with his military leaders, was to make the orchestra available for personal appearances with the ground troops on leave in the Paris area.
There were a couple of concerns within the BBC and the military that needed to be dealt with, of course. Glenn knew that this was a lot to ask from his team and so he decided to let them vote. Word had gotten out and so the soldiers stationed in France were already looking forward to welcoming Glenn Miller and his orchestra there. The plan was to introduce them with a live broadcast from Paris on Christmas Day that would also be transmitted back to the United States.
Any trips by celebrities had to be approved as the army wanted to make sure they would be safe and not captured by enemies who could use them a trophies. There was some buffer built into the schedule to account for bad weather and other potential surprises. Glenn wanted to travel on Wednesday, December 13 th but all flights that day were cancelled due to bad weather.
Lieutenant Don Haynes was the one in charge of finding quarters for Glenn and his orchestra in Paris. Lieutenant Colonel Norman F. Baessell was responsible for building a new strategic air depot — an important matter. Haynes and Baessell had become friends. Baessell told Glenn that his chances to be able to travel on Friday, December 15 th would be slim since he would probably be bumped by higher priority officers on the list. Working on important matters for the army, Baessell was able to authorize his own flights.
He offered Glenn to travel with him indicating that the weather was looking better for the next day and expressing confidence that they would be able to get to Paris by Friday afternoon. Glenn, Haynes and Baessell spent Thursday evening having dinner together and playing poker with other officers at Milton Ernest Hall near Bedford. On the next day, Friday, December 15 th , after lunch, Sgt. Stuart Morgan, had let them know that he would be on his way coming from an air depot to pick up Glenn and Colonel Baessell.
The visibility was restricted that day and the weather was overcast at 2,, feet. The aerodrome was not fogged, however, and so the UC Norseman aircraft landed routinely and idled its engine while it waited for its passengers to embark. A short time later, the aircraft, together with Glenn, Baessell and their pilot Morgan disappeared while flying over the English Channel.
Neither the aircraft nor the three men were ever seen again. And neither did his wife. The orchestra and Lieutenant Haynes arrived at the Paris, Orly aerodrome on Monday, December 18 th instead of the 16 th due to delays. They were quite surprised not to see Glenn upon their arrival. It turned out that the 35th Air Depot Group at the 2nd Strategic Air Depot in Abbotts Ripton had already filed a missing aircraft report on December 16 th as they were not able to locate neither the aircraft nor pilot Morgan.
The 35th Air Depot Group then modified their missing aircrew report to add Miller and Baessell as passengers of the aircraft. She was devastated. This also meant that Glenn would never see his second child Jonnie who he was looking so much forward to seeing for the first time as well as seeing his son Steven again. Glenn left behind his wife Helen and his two adopted children Steven and Jonnie.
He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, presented to his wife Helen in a ceremony held on March 24 th , After receiving the tragic news about Glenn, Helen received a very touching Christmas greeting that Glenn had recorded for her on December 6 th , and in which he talked about how much he wants to return to his family to resume their life together at their future home in California.
Helen passed away unexpectedly in Pasadena in at the age of As a civilian, he led an orchestra that for three and a half years was the number one band in America. Glenn could have stayed here in America. He could have stayed and made himself a lot more money, and then, if he wanted to, he could have retired an independently wealthy man.
But he chose not to. He was an extremely patriotic man and he felt an intense obligation to serve his country that had gone into war.
So he disbanded his great orchestra, and he formed an even greater one. Still, he could have remained here in America. But again, he chose not to. Instead, he chose to take himself and his orchestra overseas, to where he felt he could do the most good for our fighting men.
And what a tremendous morale-building job he and his men did over there. And now this great band is back here with us this evening, but without its most important member, Major Glenn Miller himself. For, as we know all too well, he made the supreme sacrifice for his country. But he will never be forgotten, for always we will have the sound of the great music that he created.
An unprecedented gesture and recognition from the President of the United States of America. This event helped many in the orchestra finally realize what they had done for their country and that they had written music history together. There are a couple of conspiracy theories surrounding his death but none of these theories have stood up to scrutiny. Here are the three most prominent ones about what might have happened to Glenn Miller: 1 he was assassinated after Dwight D.
Eisenhower sent him on a secret mission to negotiate a peace deal with Nazi Germany; 2 he made it to Paris, where he died of a heart attack in a bordello; 3 his plane was hit and destroyed by bombs dumped from Allied bomber planes returning from an aborted raid over Germany. The 8-week investigation that the army conducted itself back then came to the conclusion, that a.
Major Glenn Miller boarded the wrong plane on the wrong day without the knowledge or approval of his chain of command; b. Actually, it is the swing era anthem. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement.
Before, there was no mass audience for swing as it was viewed with ridicule and looked upon as a curiosity. After , big bands rose to prominence playing swing music and they held a major role in defining swing as a distinctive style. Swing was typically played by a big band which is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consisted of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a rhythm section. Big Bands contributed a lot to uplifting morale during World War 2.
Many musicians served in the military and toured with US troops at the front, with Glenn Miller losing his life while traveling between shows. Many bands suffered from the loss of personnel and, therefore, their quality declined during the war years. Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War 2 but saw a revival in the late s and s with the resurgent Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras and with pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.
The trend away from big band swing in the s was accelerated by wartime conditions and royalty conflicts: In the American Society of Composers and Producers ASCAP demanded bigger royalties from broadcasters and the broadcasters refused. Consequently, ASCAP banned the large repertoire they controlled from airplay, severely restricting what the radio audience could hear.
ASCAP also demanded a pre-approval of set lists and even written solos for live broadcasts, to assure that not even a quoted fragment of ASCAP repertoire was broadcast. Those restrictions made broadcasting swing much less appealing. Big band swing managed to remain popular during the war years but the resources required to support it became problematic. Wartime restriction on travel, coupled with rising expenses, curtailed road touring.
The manpower requirements for big swing bands placed a burden on the scarce resources available for touring and were impacted by the military draft. In July , the American Federation of Musicians called a ban on recording until record labels agreed to pay royalties to musicians. That stopped recording of instrumental music for major labels for over a year, with the last labels agreeing to new contract terms in November In the meantime, vocalists continued to record backed by vocal groups and the recording industry released earlier swing recordings from their vaults, increasingly reflecting the popularity of big band vocalists.
The recording found the commercial success that had eluded its original release. Small band swing was recorded for small specialty labels not affected by the ban.
These labels had a limited distribution centered in large urban markets, which tended to limit the size of the ensembles with which recording could be a money-making proposition. It is basically a mash-up of different parts from earlier works that eventually made it to him. Bear with me, please. Things are getting a bit complicated here. You really have to pay close attention to hear the resemblance but it is definitely there. This record has matrix number P and was issued as Paramount The record has matrix number G and was issued initially as Champion The group was otherwise known as Wingy Manone and his Orchestra.
Fletcher Henderson led one of the most popular African American orchestras of the s and early s. Their version was recorded for the Brunswick label on June 28 th , as matrix B A and it was issued as Brunswick Redman had played saxophone for Fletcher Henderson and was a pioneering swing arranger. Then, saxophonist Joe Garland entered the stage.
It has matrix number CO and was issued as Columbia D. It is matrix number A and was released as Decca B. This one has matrix number M and was issued as Vocalion In November of , he sold the song to bandleader Artie Shaw. The Shaw version was at first played at a much slower tempo than the Hayes recording and the forthcoming Miller adaptation. Although Shaw would shorten the piece and speed up the tempo after several performances, he never made a commercial recording of it.
He then tasked arranger Eddie Durham to work out a revision of it for his band. Durham was a pioneering swing arranger who had worked with many Afro-American territory bands in the s and early s. By , Durham was working as a free-lance arranger in New York and in , Lunceford had agreed to loan Durham to Glenn. This was remarkable and somewhat of a departure from the norm as, to this day, a lot of experts and enthusiasts say that Miller oftentimes sounded like Lunceford.
Durham, who worked for both, was probably the obvious reason for that. He initially trimmed the Garland chart down to a four-and-a-half-minute instrumental broadcast performance length, and then to a three-minute and thirty-seven second recording session length, in order to fit on one side of a ten-inch 78 rpm record.
The maximum recording time available on those ten-inch 78s was 3 minutes and 43 seconds. It is also noteworthy that Miller set a medium swing tempo, a bit slower than that used by Edgar Hayes. After an eight-bar introduction that starts with unison saxophones, the Miller arrangement unfolds with riffs played by the saxophone section, punctuated by brief bursts of brass.
Add cover. Report error. Tar Paper Stomp Wingy's Stomp. Robert Wolfe. Tar Paper Stomp. Mora's Modern Rhythmists. Hot and Anxious. Baltimore Bell Hops. Don Redman and His Orchestra. The Midnite Follies Orchestra. There's Rhythm in Harlem. Mills Blue Rhythm Band. In the Mood. Andrews Sisters with Orchestra directed by Nelson Riddle.
The Clark Sisters [US1]. The Modernaires. The Syd Lawrence Orchestra. Bette Midler. Adriano Celentano. The Peaches [CA2]. Band of H. Ron Haydock and The Boppers. Jerry Walsh. Father Abraham. Pretty Maid Company. Stars on Don Winters and The Winters Brothers.
The Panthers. Sisters [NL]. The Harvard Krokodiloes. Lisa Ono. Gettin' in the Mood. The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Five by Design. Sister Swing. Champion Sisters. Swingin' Fireballs. The Puppini Sisters. Company B Jazz Band. Mary Schneider. Andrews Sisters Medley. The Butlers [SE]. Joe Augustine. En forma. Padre Abraham. Edgar Hayes and His Orchestra.
Glenn Miller and His Orch. Joe Loss and His Band. Nat Gonella and His New Georgians. Felix Mendelssohn and His Hawaiian Serenaders. Jerry Gray and His Orchestra. Chet Atkins and His Galloping Guitar. Hotcha Trio harmonica with rhythm accompaniment. Ray Anthony and His Orchestra. Artie Shaw and His Orchestra. Lawrence Welk and His Champagne Music. Perez Prado and His Orchestra. Crazy Otto. Lenny Dee. Les Brown and His Band of Renown. Larry Green - Mike Di Napoli.
The Ray Eberle Orchestra. Hutch Davie and His Honky Tonkers. Billy Vaughn. Ernie Field's Orch. Red Allen, Kid Ory. Dans l'ambiance. Larry Green et son Orchestre.
Raul de Barros. Little Brown Jug - In the Mood. Lester Lanin and His Orchestra. Lou Stein. In the Mood-Cha-Cha. Billy May and His Orchestra. The Hawk Jerry Lee Lewis. Billy Mure and His Orchestra. Biriba Boys. Heiner Bontrup, E. Ein Jazzmusiker zwischen Nationalsozialismus und Wirtschaftswunder. Rickert, David. Flower, John ISBN Also, do you mean or ? I think it is the latter, correct? From your research did you find out why this song became so popular and remains so today?
As you say, the song is recognizable because of its continues use on TV and in film?
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