[Dixielandjazz] Mitch

[eupher dude]

the "Sing Along" thing an abomination?  Hell, that did more to keep OKOM alive than anything else going on in the 60s.  Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, Patti Page,  among others, owe their careers to him for the most part.  And, he passed on the Beatles, as part of his disdain for rock 'n roll.  Although, he did sign Aretha Franklin later on, and many give him credit for Bob Dylan, which really is wrong.  Alec Wilder, as mentioned, owed a lot to Miller, too.

But, every gig I play or hear, I think about the Sing Along With Mitch albums my family STILL enjoys.  I learned a lot of songs by listening to them over and over, never realizing what it would mean to me later.  Admittedly, I didn't see a lot of the shows, since I was WAAAAAYYYYY  to young to have any memory.  (take that, you mouldy figs!)   But, that was an amazing thing.  He introduced music from the Gay 90s, the Ragtime Era, the Tin Pan Alley era, and even later things to a mass audience on that show, and those records. 

Hardly an abomination.  Maybe wrong about rock, but a monumental figure in music from the 30s till the 70s.  

steve