Some interesting posts here....
I had the good fortune to see B B King perform like in the 2000s. I have seen 100s of gigs including jazz, classical music and blues yet B B King was by far the best show that I have seen put on. He was absolutely brilliant but the set was pure theatre.
Glenn Miller's "In the mood" is iconic but it's history is absolutely fascinating , the riff having has a history that went back at least ten years before the performance when it was known as "Tar Paper stomp" by the one-armed trumpeter Wingy Malone. There is debate as to whether the theme even predated this. The most effective use of the theme in my opinion was in the score of "Hot & Anxious" which was recorded by Fletcher Henderson in the early thirties and remains a far "hotter" performance than what Miller achieved. It has a rare and blistering clarinet solo by Coleman Hawkins who usually played tenor
The Miller version started to crystalise in mid thirties and was "written " by saxophonist Joe Garland. It first materialised in the arrangement of "Barrelhouse " by Mill's Blue Rhythm orchestra" which was a big band managed by Irving Mills and made some impressive recordings in the 1930s. When one of the MBRO leaders, Edgar Hayes, left to form his own band, Garland went with him and the tune was re-arranged to become more like the "In the mood" which is famous. Henderson, MBRO and the Haye's orchestras were all black.
The story then gets even weirder because when Glenn Miller recorded this in 1939 he employed Eddie Durham to write a new, simpler score based on the Garland arrangement. As well as being a pioneer arranger, the trombonist was also one of the first people to record on an electric guitar. Durham had cut his teeth with Bennie Moten and was instrumental in writing some of the charts for Count Basie's earliest band which was made up of ex-Moten musicians. He then went on to write charts for Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra. Again, all these bands were black.
In many respects, Miller was quite clever as he recognised potential hits from amongst the repertoire of many black bands and then had them re-arranged in his own style to greater commercial success. Miller managed to find the magic formula of playing tunes at such tempos and with a defined range of orchestra palette (by limiting the number of voicings for each section so that the sound was recognisable.) This was a formula he struck to and it is something that continued to have an impact on pop music into 21st century. It is a bit cynical and it frustrated the hell out of his arrangers who wanted more freedom. However, "In the mood" stands as the most well know big band chart of all and finishes with a cadenza for the trumpet section at the end which pushed the technique of musicians in that era.
I had the good fortune to see B B King perform like in the 2000s. I have seen 100s of gigs including jazz, classical music and blues yet B B King was by far the best show that I have seen put on. He was absolutely brilliant but the set was pure theatre.
Glenn Miller's "In the mood" is iconic but it's history is absolutely fascinating , the riff having has a history that went back at least ten years before the performance when it was known as "Tar Paper stomp" by the one-armed trumpeter Wingy Malone. There is debate as to whether the theme even predated this. The most effective use of the theme in my opinion was in the score of "Hot & Anxious" which was recorded by Fletcher Henderson in the early thirties and remains a far "hotter" performance than what Miller achieved. It has a rare and blistering clarinet solo by Coleman Hawkins who usually played tenor
The Miller version started to crystalise in mid thirties and was "written " by saxophonist Joe Garland. It first materialised in the arrangement of "Barrelhouse " by Mill's Blue Rhythm orchestra" which was a big band managed by Irving Mills and made some impressive recordings in the 1930s. When one of the MBRO leaders, Edgar Hayes, left to form his own band, Garland went with him and the tune was re-arranged to become more like the "In the mood" which is famous. Henderson, MBRO and the Haye's orchestras were all black.
The story then gets even weirder because when Glenn Miller recorded this in 1939 he employed Eddie Durham to write a new, simpler score based on the Garland arrangement. As well as being a pioneer arranger, the trombonist was also one of the first people to record on an electric guitar. Durham had cut his teeth with Bennie Moten and was instrumental in writing some of the charts for Count Basie's earliest band which was made up of ex-Moten musicians. He then went on to write charts for Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra. Again, all these bands were black.
In many respects, Miller was quite clever as he recognised potential hits from amongst the repertoire of many black bands and then had them re-arranged in his own style to greater commercial success. Miller managed to find the magic formula of playing tunes at such tempos and with a defined range of orchestra palette (by limiting the number of voicings for each section so that the sound was recognisable.) This was a formula he struck to and it is something that continued to have an impact on pop music into 21st century. It is a bit cynical and it frustrated the hell out of his arrangers who wanted more freedom. However, "In the mood" stands as the most well know big band chart of all and finishes with a cadenza for the trumpet section at the end which pushed the technique of musicians in that era.
