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Need some help with Glenn Miller


neveronfriday

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Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of getting myself the 1991 (God, even the Centennial didn't get them to reissue this one in a sonically-or-whatever improved version) 13-CD complete (277 studio recordings) Glenn Miller Bluebird/RCA box.

I know that Avid in the U.K. has put out a "Definitive" collection. There isn't much regarding this collection on their site other than that the collection consists of a 5-CD (120 songs) and 4 CD (96 songs) set (plus a third one, which collects the 3 most popular of their 9-volume "Missing Chapters" recordings).

Questions:

Does anyone know how the RCA and the AVID boxes compare (besides that the RCA is more complete and has extensive liner notes)? How's the sound on the old RCA? Everything I've heard is positive, but this was done in '91, so ...

What's the "Missing Chapters" (Avid) collection like? Does anyone have any of these? I know the recordings are of historic nature (radio broadcasts), but I'd still like to know how they hold up soundwise.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers!

Edited by deus62
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All I can say to help you out is that I have heard the RCA box, bought it for my parents for Christmas 1992, and I have heard it quite often in their Ohio home when I visit them. It sounds quite nice indeed, this was music that was very well recorded, and the remastering is good.

Also, there is great music on this set; I happen to like the very least popular pieces, go figure. Some of the instrumentals really ROCK, I say that because they have a hard rocking swing different from the hard swing of some other bands. (Or at least that's they way it strikes me).

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We just did an interview with Paul Tanner, who was a trombonist in Miller's pre-war band, to help commemorate the centennial.

The interview was pretty interesting, and I was surprised at how much good music the band put out: I've never really paid much attention to them.

--eric

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  • 1 month later...

Well, it's been a while since I posted the question here. Since then I've been waiting for a chance to jump on a cheap copy of the 13-CD Bluebird box, and it presented itself two weeks ago. Some guy had tried, without luck, to sell a rather beat-up box on eBay Germany, and after it hadn't showed up again for several weeks, I contacted him.

Surprisingly enough, he went for my offer and I ended up paying 2 Euro per CD. When I got the box, the CDs turned out to be mint, whereas the box had clearly seen better days.

My comments:

I only had the 10-CD Past Perfect box (cost me 3,99 Euro at some outlet up north) and compared to that (duh), the Bluebird sounds tons (!) better. It retains some of the snap-crackle-pop, but with it comes, just like with the Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall remaster, added air, treble and all-around clear sound. This is easily as good as some of the old LP sets I have.

Since the Bluebird contains all 277 studio recordings Miller recorded (including a disc with rare alternate takes, of which there are very few), there are some clunkers here, but most of it is, if you like the stuff at all, just grand.

An added bonus is the wonderfully elaborate booklet which shows Miller as the kind of guy he was: mostly unfriendly or indifferent to most of the band members, a shrewd businessman, a man with a very shaky ego and to most, probably a rather unpleasant fellow. There are some great anecdotes in there (when, I think, one of his drummers went up to him and started polishing the brass on Miller's newly aquired uniform, he told him to get away, using "fucking hillbilly" to accentuate the statement).

There's lots more. Maybe I should scan this in some time for everyone to read. If you haven't read much about Miller and his dance band, there is some truly revealing stuff here.

If you get a chance to pick this one up cheap (I've seen many sealed ones go for around $100) and you like this kind of music once in a while, do pick it up. It is highly unlikely that a collection such as this one will ever come out again or be remastered one more time. AMG gave it 5 stars that time. I would agree.

Cheers!

Edited by deus62
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Hey Deus, Gary Giddins has an article on Miller (as well as Fats Waller) in this week's New Yorker. I posted it in Jazz in Print:

MillerWaller

I'm still hoping to pick up the 4-CD Air Force Band box on the cheap myself... BMG has a single "Best of" drawn from it.

Thanks for that link. I missed that one. Very interesting. I have the 4-CD Air Force Band box and love it.

I just can't shake that early influence. My dad had lots of Miller, Goodman, Basie, Ellington, and Shaw, and of these, Miller is certainly not always the most intelligent(-sounding). But, that highly-polished sound, where nothing seems to be left to chance (Miller was famous for [before live radio transmissions], to for hours arrange his musicians by the volume they played at, etc.), sometimes starts to groove so incredibly much that I just get blown away.

I danced around the room as a little kid to some of these tunes, and I'm still prone to doing that today.

Today, in fact. :P

Cheers!

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It is interesting to point out that Air Force band sounded so well, despite so much criticism thrown on it as being non-jazz, terrible dance orchestra etc. I myself obtained that "The Best of Glenn Miller - The Lost Recordings & The Secret Broadcasts" disc about two weeks ago (probably it is the same disc that is discussed here, BMG Cedar 75605 52290 2), and was completely knocked out by the sound - now I want the whole set. These are sides from 1942 till last 1944 broadcast/transcriptions. And, there is more: boy, how well they were recorded on 33 rpm acetates. Bass drum is heard clearly, as well as bass line, brasses are nice and crystal clear and sax section mellow and just fine.

Real high fidelity, that is.

And, I am not an old person, so - no WWII nostalgia here, although there are tunes like "Speak Low" that can bring to mind the whole war scenery - gigantic wooden old-time radio with green flickering magic eye, played somewhere in the dark basement, air raids and fighting close to the front line... You can almost see all of it floating in ocean of Miller's orchestra with all those polished baritone vocalists singing that weird standard.

All I can say it is perfect sounded nice swing band, with good soloists - Mel Powel is there on piano, as Ray McKinley on drum, great Peanuts Hucko was playing clarinet, and other much or less known, but good musicians.

Of course, the same can be told for Miller's prewar band. They probably sounded even better on broadcasts - I have that very good compiled Naxos CD, there is tune called "Solid as Stonewall Jackson" I think, and, yes - oh my, what nice sound they produced.

It is very hard to think about Glenn Miller and his band overshadowed by his extreme popularity and, well, not always being so nice person (?).

But, music is buisiness as well, ain't it so?

Edited by mmilovan
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