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Reviewers: Don Mather, Tony Augarde, Dick Stafford, John Eyles, Robert Gibson, Ian Lace, Colin Clarke, Jack Ashby



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Crotchet

TEX BENEKE AND HIS ORCHESTRA

Memories

Submarine DSOY 690

 

 



1. Theme: Moonlight Serenade
2. Gal in Calico
3. Among My Souvenirs
4. Jack Frost Get Lost
5. My Buddy
6. Can’t Help Loving That Man
7. There’s a Small Hotel
8. Ali Baba
9. The Man I Love
10. Hallelujah
11. Blue Skies
12. St Louis Blues March
13. Closing Theme

Tex Beneke was a stalwart member of Glenn Miller’s orchestra, both as tenor-saxophonist and vocalist, from 1938 to 1942. After Miller’s death, Beneke was chosen to lead the Miller orchestra and later he formed his own band which played very much in the Miller style. Glenn’s influence is very clear in this collection of tracks apparently recorded for radio broadcasts in the late 1940s and here remastered with plenty of atmosphere. The album opens and closes with the inevitable Moonlight Serenade and includes other Miller favourites like the St Louis Blues March and My Buddy (which has the trademark Miller saxes). The orchestral style is closely modelled on the Miller sound, with a generous addition of lush strings.

Tex Beneke is heavily featured on tenor-sax and vocals, while Claire Chatwin sings on such numbers as Little Jack Frost Get Lost ("You turned off the heat down in Lovers’ Lane"), which sounds as if it has borrowed the opening bars from Let It Snow, Let It Snow. Other featured soloists include trumpeter Pete Condoli and drummer Jack Sperling (both very impressive on Ali Baba and Hallelujah). Many people have the impression that Glenn Miller’s orchestra was exclusively sweet and mellow but it could also swing like mad – and so could Tex Beneke’s ensemble.

Tony Augarde

 

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