[Dixielandjazz] More On "In The Mood" and Miller

Fri Aug 24 12:00:11 PDT 2007

What I really want to know is how did the Miller solos happen?

Who came up with them in the first place?  Were they improvised and then
written down or were they written solos from the first?

Most of them sound to me like they were more carefully crafted than
improvised but they could have been improvised in the first place and over a
period of time (which could have been just a few playings ) set in stone.

That "crafted" feeling of a "written solo" is stronger to me with "In The
Mood" than some of the others but they all have that feel.

I would like to think that the Miller solos were played by some player who
just happened to get it right in the recording studio.

Speaking of Miller.  Wednesday night I played a concert at a slightly out of
town college to a mixed crowd but mostly in the 50 year old and up group.
The very large room of the commons building was almost sold out.  It was a
dinner concert.  The food was good but nothing special, pulled pork, beans,
etc.  They were charging $10 a head.

We opened the concert with the Star Spangled Banner played with Solo Soprano
Sax.  The arrangement had the first 8 bars rubato before the band came in.
What a haunting thing.

The second tune was a collection of about 10 or 12 Miller tunes.  The crowd
went wild.

The Gary Dammer Band is the best Big Band in St. Louis.  Gary is able to
consistently pull the best big band players from the city most of whom are 
either full
time Air Force guys or top pros from the area.  He gets a lot of support 
from the local Jazz station, WSIE.

We did an arrangement of Killer Joe that has a tough sax soli in it.  What's 
impressive is that the band does not rehearse and only does about 8 or 10 
concerts a year and the sax section just sailed through it.

Sherri Drake who is one of the finest jazz singers around did several tunes.

The Rhythm section was absolutely rock Solid.  The Bass player is a young 
guy from the AF band and I don't know who he was but the piano player, Butch 
Gray, just retired from the AF.  Butch is also one of the best bass players 
around too.  On drums was Kevin Gianinno.  What a player!  I gig with Butch 
fairly often and he is just a pleasure to work with.

We finished with Woodchoppers ball.  We opened the solos with the Tenors.  I
get a real kick out of trading 12's and 4's with the other tenor.  Then a
couple of the bones played.

If you want to see the quality of one of the bone players check this out 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KseK_gYQKBs This was done last week as a 
tribute to Tom on his retirement from the AF.  He is now the principal TBone 
player with the Muny.  The rest of the bone section is either AF or Retired 
AF guys.

It ended up with all the trumpets walking out front, each one in turn taking 
solos, then trading 4's then all playing together.  Almost everyone in the 
band are outstanding soloists.

Talk about bringing down the house.  Miller and the other big band greats 
played by a good band still have the power to make people get up and cheer.

Gary at 71 absolutely cooks.  When he plays a solo every note is in exactly 
the right place.  Just like a master chef at work.  Not too much and not too 
little.

Too bad that bands like this can't play more often but the $2500 price tag 
usually intimidates most around here.  Our next concert isn't until October 
but fortunately Gary is bringing in Kim Park from Nashville to solo on alto. 
Kim and his dad both played with the Kenton Band.  I'm looking forward to 
it.

One other neat thing about that band is you will never see a tuner come out 
and no one ever checks a pitch with the piano and yet from the first note 
everyone is absolutely right on pitch.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 11:09 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] More On "In The Mood" and Miller

> As you know, Zeke Zarchy 92, is about the last living original member of
> the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band.
>
> I asked him about the "In The Mood" sax solos on the recording and if
> after that time, the solos were played the same way for live performances.
> Below is his answer:
>
> (snip)
> Hi Bob
>
> the saxes  usually--played the same solos. The
> audiences expected that and sang along - with the band
> most of the time.
>
> Clyde Hurley  played the original solo . Tex Beneke
> and A L  Klink
> played the two tenor sax parts .  Yes, they played
> the parts like the records .  I hope that answers
> your Questions
> Best. Zeke
> (snip)
>
>
> --Bob Ringwald K6YBV
> 530/642-9551
> 916/806-9551 Cell
> www.ringwald.com
> Fulton Street Jazz Band
>
>
>
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