Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American big band musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known big bands. Miller's recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", and "Little Brown Jug". While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Glenn...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth1 March 1904
CountryUnited States of America
I haven't got a great jazz band and I don't want one. Some of the critics, Down Beat's among them, point their fingers at us and charge us with forsaking real jazz . . . It's all in what you define as 'real jazz.' It happens that to our ears harmony comes first. A dozen colored bands have a better beat than mine. Our band stresses harmony.
We can speak our honest minds without compromise and without censorship and to each other and to our people. We can take our message directly to our people.
By giving the public a rich and full melody, distinctly arranged and well played, all the time creating new tone colors and patterns, I feel we have a better chance of being successful. I want a kick to my band, but I don't want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.
We didn't come here to set any fashions in music. We merely came to bring a much-needed touch of home to some lads who have been here a couple of years.
A band ought to have a sound all of its own. It ought to have a personality.
The trouble is discernment. How do you know what's reliable and real and what's not? And who can help teach you that? That's one of the roles librarians have faced and embraced. Before, it was discernment about books in collections. Now, it's online databases and resources.
The infrastructure is being built with the development in mind.