Glenn Miller Orchestra to perform in Crossville
“The Glenn Miller Orchestra is popular not just with the World War II crowd,” said Buster Irvin, concert administrator. “It is still the number one most sought after big band in the world today for both concert and dance engagements?and so many of those dance engagements are the current college dance circuit,” said Irvin.
“Nobody says 30s and 40s like Glenn Miller,” said Irvin. “Kids today, as well as their parents and grandparents, recognize that you just don’t find a sound like this. It’s hard for a 19-piece band to travel. What people love is that band leader Larry O’Brien still plays the original Glenn Miller arrangements and won’t deviate from the way Glenn Miller played. What could be better than having a gorgeous woman and a handsome man in love with the songs they’re singing to you, backed up by musicians in love with the music and the entire era? That’s the Glenn Miller Orchestra, ” he said.
Miller’s signature song, “Moonlight Serenade” is always played and audiences wait for old favorites like “Sentimental Journey,” “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “In the Mood,” “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else but Me,” and many other hits. The Glenn Miller Orchestra has been on the road longer and more continuously than any other in the whole world.
The Orchestra works most every night for 48 weeks out of every 52—nearly 300 playing dates, performing for more than half a million people in person each year.
The first Glenn Miller Orchestra didn’t make it at all. It was a total and absolute failure. Glenn Miller knew what he wanted, held to that dedication and relentlessly worked to succeed. He launched his second band—the one that lives on today—in March of 1938. It has been a hit ever since.
At the height of his popularity, Miller disbanded his musical organization in 1942 and volunteered for the Army because he felt he should serve his country. He was then to organize and lead what became the famous Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. It went to Europe to entertain servicemen, and then, on December 15, 1944, Major Miller took off in a single-engine plane from England to precede his band to France. The weather was foreboding. Not very confident, he said to the pilot, “Maybe we ought to call this off?” The flight officer ribbed him about his fear of flying, “Do you want to live forever?” They were never seen again. The Army declared them officially dead a year later.
The Miller estate formed the present Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956 following strong popular demand aroused as a result of the successful motion picture, a box office hit, The Glenn Miller Story, staring James Stewart and June Allyson. The band has been touring consistently ever since.
It will celebrate it’s 49th Anniversary this year. The Cumberland County Playhouse is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra is the fifth of the Playhouse’s sixteen concerts in 2005. For ticket information call 931-484-5000. www.ccplayhouse.com.