NORWICH – The Chenango Blues Association’s Free Summer Concert Series will be in full-swing - literally, this time around - with the Glenn Miller Orchestra taking the stage at 7 p.m. Thursday in East Park.
“A band ought to have a sound all of it’s own. It ought to have a personality,” said American big band leader, arranger, composer and trombonist Glenn Miller, who formed the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956. The band - and it’s personality - has been touring consistently since.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra has been hailed as the most popular and sought after big band in the world today for both concert and swing dance engagements, and Thursday’s show in Norwich will be the ensemble’s second show in town. The group plays an average of 300 live performances per year all across the globe.
In 1939, the orchestra performed at the Glen Island Casino, a major swing venue in NY, and was heard on the radio for the first time. The group’s success grew throughout World War II and Miller himself has been deemed by some as the premier musical symbol of the WWII generation. Live appearances at ballrooms broke attendance records regularly. That same year, Miller and the orchestra were offered a thrice-weekly radio show.
At the peak of his civilian career, Miller opted to join the war effort, asking to “be placed in charge of a modernized Army band.” By 1944, Miller had been promoted to Captain and then Major, and hundreds of thousands of people had heard the sounds of his swing and big band.
On December 15, 1944, Miller went ahead of his band to prepare for a six week tour in Europe. He boarded a single-engine UC-64 Norseman, departed from Clapham, Great Britain, and was never seen again. The plane disappeared over the English Channel, and no trace of the aircrew, passengers or plane have ever been found. Miller’s status remains “Missing in Action.”
The band continued in Miller’s absence and plays to this day, keeping his dream of a band with personality alive.
In 2003, Miller received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously.
The ensemble’s top hits include: “Sunrise Serenade,” “Wishing,” “Tuxedo Junction,” “In the Mood,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Fools Rush In,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “(I’ve Got a Gal) In Kalamazoo,” and “That Old Black Magic.”
“We’re really excited to have the Glenn Miller Orchestra back,” said Blues Association President Eric Larsen. “They were here a couple of years ago and it was really great – brutally hot, but great, and we wanted to bring them back.”
