Glenn Miller Army Air Force band

[ghost of miles]

I'm currently working on an Afterglow show about Glenn Miller's Army Air Force band, which Miller led from 1943 up to the time of his death in December 1944. Quite an orchestra (Miller was able to nab just about any talented musician he wanted who was serving), and a rhythm section that included Mel Powell on piano, Trigger Alpert on bass, and Ray McKinley on drums. Those who don't care a whit for the Miller civilian orchestra might find music more to their liking in his AAF era... if you ever see this set floating around for a decent price, it's a great 4-CD overview of the band in America, before it departed in the summer of 1944 for England (lots of material from the 1944-45 sojourn on the Continent available as well, through Avid's "Missing Chapters" series):

[Chuck Nessa]

The Miller "civilian" organization was a great dance band. No reason to dis them.

[Matthew]

I always felt that Miller's AAFB was one of the greatest big bands for popular music ever. I say popular music because the whole purpose of that band was entertainment of the troops, so it concentrated on music that everyone knew, and was not concerned with innovation, or even in creative jazz music, it was more "stick to the chart" kind of music, and boy, from all I've read, Miller was a great stickler about playing the charts. Given that, what they produced really rates them as a great band, and the ability to incorporate a string section added to their sound. They were an unique band, that only could have been created in that unique time of WWII, where Miller had his pick of some outstanding musicians. I've always been a big fan of Miller, and the AAFB. I would definitely suggest the pain of getting the 13 cd set of the Complete Blue Bird Recordings (I lucked out and got it for $40.00 off Ebay about seven years ago), which is still my favorite box set of all time.

[JSngry]

I'm on record as finding it worth investigative listening, some really interesting writing here as well as some pure, all of it well-played, and the best of it unthinkable as being material for the "civilian band".

Particular interesting to me are "Pistol Packin' Mama", "Holiday For Strings", "Moon Dreams" and every (other) ballad vocal by Johnny Desmond, who might have been singing better at that point than Sinatra ever did until the 1950s. Can't say that I've ever heard anybody sing in this "style" any better than Desmond did with this band during this time.

Having said all that, it's not music that will likely get anybody over their Miller-phbia and/or misoMilleria. But for anybody not so positioned...worth a listen, in some form or fashion, in some parts or anothers.

[ghost of miles]

The Miller "civilian" organization was a great dance band. No reason to dis them.

I wasn't--I've got a ridiculous amount of stuff by the civilian band. I just know that some folks don't care at all for them.

[Chuck Nessa]

I know you weren't. Just wanted to plug the band for what it did.

[jeffcrom]

Consider including some of the jazz recordings made by members of the Miller AAF band in Paris in the Spring of 1945. I have a French CBS LP called Paris 1945, but I'm sure they've been issued elsewhere.

Bernie Privin - trumpet

Peanuts Hucko - tenor sax

Django Reinhardt - guitar

Mel Powell - piano

Joe Shulman - bass

Ray McKinley - drums:

If Dreams Come True

Stompin' at the Savoy

Hallelujah

How High the Moon

Mel Powell solos:

Hommage a Fats Waller

Hammage a Debussy

Don't Blame Me

Poor Miss Black (These are really nice!)

Puanuts Hucko - clarinet

Mel Powell - piano

Ray McKinley - drums:

After You've Gone

Shoemaker's Apron

China Boy

Sugar

Edited May 25, 2010 by jeffcrom

[ghost of miles]

All of that material and more has been reissued on a really wonderful Timeless CD:

Consider including some of the jazz recordings made by members of the Miller AAF band in Paris in the Spring of 1945. I have a French CBS LP called Paris 1945, but I'm sure they've been issued elsewhere.

Bernie Privin - trumpet

Peanuts Hucko - tenor sax

Django Reinhardt - guitar

Mel Powell - piano

Joe Shulman - bass

Ray McKinley - drums:

If Dreams Come True

Stompin' at the Savoy

Hallelujah

How High the Moon

Mel Powell solos:

Hommage a Fats Waller

Hammage a Debussy

Don't Blame Me

Poor Miss Black (These are really nice!)

Puanuts Hucko - clarinet

Mel Powell - piano

Ray McKinley - drums:

After You've Gone

Shoemaker's Apron

China Boy

Sugar

[Larry Kart]

Post of mine from 2006 --

...ran across a used copy a while back of the 3-CD "Secret Broadcasts" set (RCA) -- stuff the Miller AAF Band recorded in the U.S. in 1944 for broadcasts to the services. This was a remarkable band within the given Miller style (though rhythmically more relaxed than the earlier Miller band), with Mel Powell on piano, nice trumpet solos from Zeke Zarchy, Bobby Nichols, and Bernie Privin, Peanuts Hucko on clarinet, the best string section any big band with strings ever had AFAIK, Junior Collins (later of the Birth of the Cool band) on French horn (what a player he was), Ray McKinley, etc. And the young Johnny Desmond was a very good singer. Also, the sound here is pretty astonishing; the broadcasts were recorded on 16-inch 33 1/3 rpm discs in good studios and have a wide dynamic range. I wouldn't say that this set is worth seeking out for everyone here, but I'll bet it will surprise some who have filed Miller away as mere nostalgia. On the other hand, it is kind of eerie to hear each broadcast begin with the AAF theme song that Chummy MacGregor (he of "Moon Dreams"), Miller, and some guy named Meyer wrote -- "I Sustain the Wings" -- and think that some of the guys who were listening to it were soon going to be climbing into B-17s.

P.S. There's also a top-notch 2-CD set of later Miller AAF broadcasts recorded in Great Britain, "The Lost Recordings" (Conifer). Sound quality -- Studio 1 at Abbey Road -- is again remarkable. Remastering engineer Ted Kendall says that photos of the band from other contemporary broadcasts show one mike per section, plus another for vocals, which "would have provided reasonable control of the overall sound whilst leaving the tricky job of internal balance to those who could do it best -- the players."

[mmilovan]

Post of mine from 2006 --

...ran across a used copy a while back of the 3-CD "Secret Broadcasts" set (RCA) -- stuff the Miller AAF Band recorded in the U.S. in 1944 for broadcasts to the services. This was a remarkable band within the given Miller style (though rhythmically more relaxed than the earlier Miller band), with Mel Powell on piano, nice trumpet solos from Zeke Zarchy, Bobby Nichols, and Bernie Privin, Peanuts Hucko on clarinet, the best string section any big band with strings ever had AFAIK, Junior Collins (later of the Birth of the Cool band) on French horn (what a player he was), Ray McKinley, etc. And the young Johnny Desmond was a very good singer. Also, the sound here is pretty astonishing; the broadcasts were recorded on 16-inch 33 1/3 rpm discs in good studios and have a wide dynamic range.

Agree. It was very good band. I only have one CD of above mention set (sampler), and it was far more superior band than his civilian band.

[Swinging Swede]

The civilian Miller band could swing. Here are some tracks they never recorded commercially.

[JSngry]

The civilian Miller band could swing. Here are some tracks they never recorded commercially.

Glenn Miller - One O'Clock Jump

Glenn Miller - Oh So Good

Glenn Miller - Down For The Count

Glenn Miller - The Hop

Glenn Miller - Lady Be Good

Glenn Miller - Flagwaver

Glenn Miller - The Blues My Naughty Sweety Gives To Me

Glenn Miller - Twenty-Four Robbers

The Miller civilian band could indeed swing quite nicely when it was called for..I was fortunate enough to have been exposed fairly ealy on to a 5-LP "deluxe" edition of Miller airshots that RCA put out sometimes in the 1950s...a real eye/ear-opener as to how that band really played...and as far as sax sections go, in their own way, quite possibly the best ever (Ellington's were too, but that's a wholly different world than Miller's. For one thing, the notion of swinging when it's called for is...weird once you get to EllingtonLand..). Those sets still turn up in used shops, not regularly, but often enough to where it won't hurt to keep an eye out for them. "Mandatory listening" for anybody who wants to study the whole Big Band Era beyond the basics, I think. The repertoire and interpretation is not always anything like what you'd expect from "Glenn Miller".

[JSngry]

Oh yeah...the white cover is a "second edition"...the first edition was a gold cover, I think...never seen that one but once.

Color aside, this is what they look like:

[mmilovan]

The civilian Miller band could swing. Here are some tracks they never recorded commercially.

Agree! There is one take of the tune called "Solid As A Stonewall Jackson" from 22/8/1940 broadcast (The Chesterfield Show):

Solid As A Stonewall Jackson

It swings like mad. It is good proof that Miller really can swing and produce quality jazz, not only dance music.

Edited May 30, 2010 by mmilovan

[AllenLowe]

a little late here - however - I seem to recall Johnny Carisi telling me that he was stationed with the Miller band at Yale at some point -

can anybody confirm this or am I confusing musicians and bands?

[jazztrain]

Allen:

I can't definitely confirm it at the moment, but the chronology suggests that it likely was Miller that you're thinking of. Some on-line references indicate that Carisi was with Miller during 1943-1946. One source indicates that he was with Miller before the end of 1942.

The following link provides some information indicating that the Army Air Force Technical Training Command Band, under the direction of Miller, was stationed at Yale duirng 1943: Glenn Miller at Yale

Carisi isn't mentioned, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't there.

There's a Glenn Miller discography that might help settle the issue (don't have it).

[jazztrain]

Allen:

This might also be of interest: Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band

a little late here - however - I seem to recall Johnny Carisi telling me that he was stationed with the Miller band at Yale at some point -

can anybody confirm this or am I confusing musicians and bands?

[AllenLowe]

thanks, thinking about it, it's definitely accurate, as I had several long conversations with Johnny in the 1970s; I also recall him saying how much he disliked Miller personally. More interesting, however, is that I believe he wrote some arrangements for the band, though I would assume they are lost.

[brownie]

I ignored Glenn Miller for a long, long time.

Changed my mind after I purchased - on Larry Kart's recommendation - the 3CD set Secret Broadcasts of The Army Air Forces Training Command Band.

Quite a band, this was!

[Swinging Swede]

The Lord discography shows John Carisi as being present on Glenn Miller sessions between July and October 1943.

[ghost of miles]

Another BIRTH OF THE COOL connection to Miller's AAF (interesting, now that I think about it--the AAF did "Moon Dreams" and had Carisi for a spell)--is the presence of French horn player Addison Collins Jr. in the band. He was part of the Mel-Powell-led "Swing Sextet" aka "Uptown Hall Gang" band-within-a-band, and evidently responsible for that group's doing "Night in Tunisia" (which surely must be one of the first known recorded performances of that tune, coming in late '44 not long before Sarah Vaughan would wax it as "Interlude"). I wish there were more of the Uptown Hall Gang's performances readily available; right now they're scattered across the MISSING CHAPTERS series (and the Timeless CD, good as it is, is not really a straight-up representation of that group).

If you can find it (some used copies seem to be floating around), Geoffrey Butcher's Next to a Letter From Home offers a well-detailed account of the Miller AAF band.

Edited June 5, 2010 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Is anybody who played in the band still alive?

EDIT: Well, Nat Peck for starters, it appears.

Edited June 5, 2010 by ghost of miles

[colinmce]

Well, inspired by this thread, I nabbed the following from Amazon: Popular Recordings 1938-1942 (3xCD), Secret Broadcasts (3xCD), Lost Recordings (2xCD) and The Best of the Army Air Force Band. Subtotal: $5.03 + shipping.

[Chuck Nessa]

[ghost of miles]

The Glenn Miller Army Air Force band show is up:

Glenn Miller Goes To War With The Army Air Force Orchestra

It includes an interview with trombonist and surviving AAF member Nat Peck, historian Michael McGerr, and bandleaders/jazz educators Brent Wallarab and Janis Stockhouse.

There's also a 90-minute version of the show online, which includes more music, commentary, and background. It's at the bottom of the linked post above, or you can go directly to the file here.

I'll probably post this as a separate thread closer to Memorial Day, but wanted to mention it as part of the Miller AAF thread too.