[Dixielandjazz] Mission to Moscow was For Western Swing Lovers

[Stephen G Barbone]

Hi Stan:

Ah well, blame the PR man for the imperfect writing. However Glenn  
Miller made it very popular in 1943 or so with a  Mel Powell  
Arrangement for Miller's 42 piece Army Air Force Band. ( Powell joined  
the Miller AAF band after being drafted)

For a VERY INTERESTING New Yorker Magazine article by Gary Giddins  
about the piece, (and about the enduring appeal of Miller and Fats  
Waller who were both born in 1904, and died on the say day December  
15, a year apart. 1943 and 44) see:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/31/040531crmu_music

Note especially the last paragraph of page one, or if you view it as a  
single page, the middle paragraph, which references Miller's Mission  
to Moscow.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

On Feb 1, 2009, at 3:34 PM, Stan Brager wrote:

> Steve:
>
> "Mission To Moscow" was a BG recording written and arranged by Benny's
> pianist Mel Powell. The recording date was July 30 1942. Glenn  
> Miller was in
> the Army by this time.
>
>
> about this Message from Steve Barbone
>
> Those who like Western Swing  may be interested in this collection.
>
> Label: Collector's Choice Music
> Number of Discs: 10 - 150 songs - cost about $110
> Release Date: January 27, 2009
>
> Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
>
> "The Tiffany Transcriptions," about 10 hours of radio recordings of
> Bob Wills's western swing band, have been in and out of print since
> the 1980s. But they have never been available as a single brick, as
> they are now from Collector's Choice. It's fantastic, and it needs
> getting. This was a western band, a jazz band, a dance band in
> general, and as good as its regular studio records could be, they
> sound compressed and uptight by comparison. When it recorded this
> rowdy, airy music in 1946 and '47, the band seemed free and expressive
> and hungry; solo after solo, laid over driving two-step rhythm, the
> group exudes poignancy and raw energy - from the steel guitarist Herb
> Remington, the guitarist Junior Barnard, the electric mandolinist Tiny
> Moore, and the violinist Joe Holley, among others. The collected
> Tiffanys show the black-and-white breadth of the band's repertory:  
> joy-
> ride instrumentals like "Three Guitar Special" and "Playboy Chimes";
> traditional folk songs including "Sally Goodin' " and "Red River
> Valley"; blues standards like "Trouble in Mind" and "Corrine,
> Corrina"; Kansas City jazz (Basie's "Jumpin' at the Woodside," Bennie
> Moten's "South"); Ellingtonia ("Take the 'A' Train," "C-Jam Blues");
> Glenn Miller("Mission to Moscow"); and the perfect western pop songs
> written for the band by Cindy Walker. There's a casual optimism all
> through it, and it's a music of contrasts: the sharp crack of the
> drums versus Tommy Duncan's lazy, macho, pragmatic singing voice.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Steve Barbone
>
> www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
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