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Crotchet

Platinum Glenn Miller bluebird 09026-64014-2

 

CD1

1. Chatanooga Choo Choo
2. Elmer’s Tune
3. Star Dust
4. Stairway to the Stars
5. The Woodpecker Song
6. Juke Box Saturday Night
7. Over the Rainbow
8. A String of Pearls
9. When You Wish Upon a Star
10. Imagination
11. Beat me Daddy, Eight to the Bar
12. Tuxedo Junction
13. Serenade in Blue
14. Danny Boy
15. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
16. Blue Rain
17. Along the Santa Fe Trail
18. Give a Little Whistle
19. The Boogie Woogie Piggy
20. Moonlight Cocktail

CD2

1. In the Mood
2. Kalamazoo
3. My Blue Heaven
4. Little Brown Jug
5. Apple Tree
6. Story of a Starry Night
7. A6t Last
8. Blueberry Hill
9. Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead
10. American Patrol
11. Bugle Call rag
12. Fools Rush In
13. The Nearness of You
14. Blue Orchids
15. Pennsylvania 6-5000
16. Song of the Volga Boatmen
17. Moon Love
18. I’ll Never Smile Again
19. Rhapsody in Blue
20. Moonlight Serenade

On receiving this disc my thoughts were, not another Glenn Miller CD, there must be 30 already in the catalogue! This latest 2CD set from bluebird makes most of the others redundant because on this album we have the original version of all Miller’s greatest hits on one album.

The music of the Glenn Miller Orchestra is still as popular as ever, both with dancers and listeners. At every dance I play with my big band, we always get requests for these arrangements. This is a very strange phenomena really because few of them fit very well into popular dance tempos and we have to speed them up or slow them down a bit. What was the secret of the Miller Bands success, first of all the musicianship is immaculate, it was only when Glenn decided to go for broke and hire all the best musicians available and arrangers of the calibre of Billy May, Jerry Gray and Bill Finnegan, that he was really successful. Miller was also an excellent arranger himself and there are several examples of his work on these two CD’s.

In the vocal department the Modernaires were one of the first vocal groups to use sophisticated harmonies and a wide range. He also employed vocalists who had style and polish; they are also much in evidence here.

If you want to have just one Miller album in your collection, this is it. It is over 50 years since Glenn Miller died but I would not be a bit surprised if his music is still around in another 50 years, for the public it has the magic ingredient.

Don Mather

 

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