Bringing back the big band era

The Glenn Miller Orchestra will perform at the Plenary Hall of the Philippine International Convention Center at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex Pasay City on July 2 and at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City on July 3. This is no ordinary show where people come to watch and listen to the music and applaud. Brought to town by Ovation Productions, this is a dance concert where the audience can dance to the music of Glenn Miller.

That was what the public did to the sounds of Miller when he first came out in the ’30s and that is still what everybody feels like doing today whenever we hear something by Miller. I never got to do it but I believe that one of the most romantic things ever is dancing to his Moonlight Serenade. What about a turn or two to the energetic In The Mood or a bit of jive to the tune of Pennsylvania 6-5000. The man initiated his own kind of dance fever and it has been raging for decades.

More than getting people to dance to his hit songs though, Miller also accomplished something that all aspiring hitmakers should take note of. He came up with his own original sound. Miller rose to fame in the big band era. There were lots of bands then. You might have even heard of the names of some band leaders. Jimmy Dorsey and his brother Tommy, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman and Harry James are some of them. Not one of them remains as famous today as Glenn Miller.

The big bands all sound the same. Once you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all, but not Miller’s. You hear the first bars of his recordings and you can tell right away that it is by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The man was not only a good band leader and trombone player, he was also a clever arranger. He came up with the Miller sound. Unlike any other, this is a combination of a clarinet and tenor sax playing the melody with three saxophones doing the harmony. 

This detail might not matter to his fans but I see it as a stroke of genius. The effect of the sound on the listener is instantaneous. Then as the ensuing years have shown, also long lasting. It has been 75 years since the Glenn Miller Orchestra was born and the music is still here. More remarkable still is the fact that Miller’s career was cut short while at its peak only six years after he had become a star. He was only 40 years old.

An officer in the US Air Force during World War II, Miller was on his way to France from England on Dec. 15, 1944 to perform for servicemen in just liberated Paris. The plane disappeared over the English Channel and no one among the crew or passengers or even traces of the plane were ever seen again. Legend has it that the plane was brought down by friendly fire and that was why the real story has been kept secret all this time. 

And still the music as Miller performed it then, remains very much alive. Moonlight Serenade, Pennsylvania, 6-5000, In The Mood, String Of Pearls, At Last, Little Brown Jug, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Tuxedo Junction, I’ve Got A Gal In Kalamazoo, American Patrol, Serenade in Blue, Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me, Sunrise Serenade, Imagination, Stairway To The Stars and others. See it really pays to come up with something unique and your very own.

I suppose that the 17-piece touring orchestra playing Miller’s music has added other songs from the period arranged Miller style to his original repertoire. This means that those who will come to the local shows will be getting more than they expect. So they can count on a great evening of music and dancing, the way they did it in the good old days.

Joining the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the show will be the Swing Kittens as the legendary Andrews Sisters who also had their own original sound, and Filipino singer Arthur Manuntag. Tickets to the PICC show are available through Ticketnet. Cebu residents can get theirs through telephone numbers 232-6888 or 0917-6228705.