Customer Reviews

Major Glenn Miller & Army Air Force Band

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The selections on this album appear to come from the 5-LP set of AAF Band air shots originally released in the early 1950s. It's a good overview of the incredible quality of music and range of styles which characterized the AAF Band. This is a worthwhile first album for anyone familiar with the Miller civilian orchestra who wanted to extend their knowledge to the AAF Band. Hearing the unusual mixture of swing, blues and light classics for which this orchestra is so properly famous will be a revelation for anyone who only thinks of Miller's music in terms of "In the Mood" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo." However, if you're already a collector of AAF material, I'd recommend one of the more extensive collections - for example, The Secret Recordings - which give an even better idea of this orchestra's breadth along with tantalizing hints of what might have followed, if only things had been a bit different that dark night in December 1944.

Glenn Miller and the AAF Band shows another side to this talented man. Those used to his civilian band will find a new level of sophistication and experimentation in his AAF band. The addition of strings and a harder jazz leaning leaves us with a yearning for what could have been. I truly believe the face of music as we know it today, would have been totally different if Glenn Miller had survived World War 2.

Put simply, this one is the very best. And I say that as someone who has every Miller civilian band recording and about 30 CD's of the AAF / AEF material including the Conifer, Avid and RCA 4 CD sets.

I would like to point out that contrary to the review here which states that the music "appears to be taken from the original (RCA) 5LP set",this set only contains half a dozen tracks from that 1956 album, the rest are all performances taken from the same period of time but including different takes from different days, so the duplication is thankfully minimal.

Of all the Miller recordings I own, this is my most frequently played as I believe the performances on each of these songs are as good as it gets.

Clearly RCA has a lot more of this material still in the can from 1943-44 and decided to dip into it to produce this CD, the definitive take on Miller's non-civilian band.

Although with only an hour's worth of music (seventeen tracks) a bit too short for modern standards, musically this is the most rewarding overview of Miller's AAF Band, in truly excellent sound quality. It contains the unabridged versions of the imaginative Alec Wilder song "I'll Be Around" (great arrangement, very well played and sung by Johnny Desmond and The Crew Chiefs; in short, a classic) and the spine-tingling "St. Louis Blues March" (with wonderful solos on alto and tenor saxophone), truly magnificent versions of "People Will Say We're In Love" and Kurt Weill's "Speak Low" and Mel Powell's feature "Pearls on Velvet" (which points ahead to his later carreer as a classical pianist). The jazz side is also fairly well served e.g. by the stand out "Tail-end Charlie" (with a very rare baritone solo by Chuck Gentry), with a couple of propaganda tunes thrown in for good measure. So if you're looking for one compilation of Miller's AAF Band, you can't go wrong with this CD, despite its age.