Where Swing is King!
“Guess I’ll Go Back Home (This Summer)” Composed by Willard Robison (music) and Ray Mayer (lyric); arranged by Bill Challis. Recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra for RCA Bluebird on June 2, 1939 in [..]
“Basin Street Blues” Composed by Spencer Williams; arranged by Glenn Miller. Recorded by Benny Goodman (as “The Charleston Chasers” under direction of Bennie Goodman) for Columbia on February 9, 1931 in New York. Benny Goodman, [..]
“Boulder Buff” Composed Eugene Novello; arranged by Fred Norman. Recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra for RCA/Bluebird on May 7,1941 in Hollywood. Glenn Miller, trombone, directing: John Best first trumpet; R.D. McMickle, Ray Anthony [..]
“Long Tall Mama” Composed and arranged by Billy May. Recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on November 3, 1941 for RCA Victor in New York. Glenn Miller, first trombone, directing: R.D. “Mickey” McMickle, first [..]
The story: In this, the second installment of our salute to arranger Bill Finegan, we present two different Finegan arrangements on two separate melodies, done at two different times for two different bandleaders. Nevertheless, there [..]
This is the first time I have given over the swingandbeyond.com forum to someone else, at least in part. The reason why I am doing this is that on occasion, I run across the work [..]
“Star Dust” Composed by Hoagy Carmichael; arranged by Bill Finegan and Glenn Miller. Recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on January 29, 1940 for Bluebird in New York. Glenn Miller, first trombone, directing: R.D. [..]
“Tuxedo Junction” Composed by Erskine Hawkins, William Johnson and Julian Dash; head arrangement organized by William Johnson. Recorded by Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra for RCA-Bluebird on July 18, 1939 in New York. Erskine Hawkins, [..]
Michael P. Zirpolo’s Review of “Glenn Miller Declassified” by Dennis M. Spragg. The definitive story of how swing era bandleader Glenn Miller was lost on a flight from England to France on December 15, 1944 [..]
“Is That Religion?” Composed by Maceo Pinkard (music) and Mitchell Parish (lyric); arranged by Glenn Miller. Mildred Bailey accompanied by the Dorsey Brothers with Bunny Berigan. Recorded for Brunswick on April 8, 1933 in New [..]
“Jingle Bells” Composed by J.S. Pierpont; arranged by Bill Finegan and Glenn Miller. Additional lyrics by Hal Dickinson and Bill Conway. Recorded live on the CBS “Moonlight Serenade Chesterfield Time with Glenn Miller” radio show [..]
Recently, I was fortunate enough to listen to a concert of big band music here in my home town of Canton, Ohio with a gentleman whom I have known for many years. He is 91 [..]