In the Digital Mood

by Glenn Miller, The Glenn Miller Orchestra

Overview

This album may be scoffed at by serious jazz listeners, and even by big-band devotees wary of "ghost band" performances, but the fact is that it sold over 100,000 pieces when it first appeared in 1983, and its CD version was among the very earliest compact discs ever released commercially in the United States (indeed, so early that the actual CDs had to be imported from Japan). The second-ever release by GRP Records, it put the label on the map, and it also stood as testimony to how good those original arrangements of the Glenn Miller Orchestra were. So how is it as music? At worst, entertaining, and at best revealing, and also at times a little frustrating. (On the plus side, even heard decades later, the sound here is impressive; you can safely rank this release as one of the very earliest, if not the very first audiophile CDs to be released.) The fact that it features 18 top-flight musicians under the baton of Larry O'Brien, then the leader of the touring Glenn Miller Orchestra, only makes it more impressive. What's more, with the quality of the playing, one will be able to make out minuscule elements of the original arrangements that were long obscured on the classic late-'30s/early-'40s Glenn Miller sides. Musicians with an appreciation of these arrangements will probably love this recording, and casual fans should embrace it heartily: these boys swing in 1983 about as well as their predecessors from 41 years earlier did. And the vocal numbers are no exception. In contrast to Columbia Records' mid-'60s efforts to revive the Miller orchestra as a recording unit (which failed not just because of the timing of the project but also the uneven quality of the resulting albums), numbers like "Pennsylvania 6-5000" and "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo" are as hot here as there were four decades before. And the singers include Mel Torme and Julius LaRosa (doing a solo) in their ranks. Still, it's the instrumentals that make up the bulk of this album, and on that level it's similarly unimpeachable, at least most of the way through -- "Tuxedo Junction" (which includes Dave Grusin sitting in on piano) is so close to the original that it's easy to forget who you're listening to and when they put this track down; and serious listeners should probably hold out for the "Gold Disc" edition or the Japanese CD version, which contain a bonus track, "At Last," featuring a trombone solo by Urbie Green that is worth the price by itself. Now, all of that said, there are a couple of quibbles: the absence of the cowbell on "In the Mood," and the "clever" notion on "Pennsylvania 6-5000" of ending the number with -- well, you can guess. This is still one cool, swinging release and, with its virtuoso musicianship, offers many of the same appealing qualities as the original Miller recordings. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	10/28/2022
Label:	Universal
UPC:	4988031524688

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Glenn Miller Orchestra   Primary Artist
Glenn Miller   Primary Artist
Dave Grusin   Guest Artist,Piano
Marlene VerPlanck   Guest Artist,Vocals
Bucky Pizzarelli   Guest Artist,Guitar
Jay Leonhart   Guest Artist,Bass
Mel Torme   Guest Artist,Vocals,Whistle (Human)
Julius La Rosa   Guest Artist,Vocals
Morty Lewis   Tenor (Vocal),Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Ronald Zito   Drums
Michael Mark   Vocals
Irvin "Marky" Markowitz   Trumpet
Bernie Leighton   Piano
Paul Faulise   Trombone
John Frosk   Trumpet
Walter Levinsky   Clarinet,Saxophone,Alto (Vocals)
Wayne Andre   Trombone
Billy Slapin   Saxophone
Phil Bodner   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor),Tenor (Vocal)
George Masso   Trombone
Jimmy Maxwell   Trumpet
Marvin Stamm   Trumpet
Sonny Russo   Trombone
Larry O'Brien   Conductor
Marty Nelson   Vocals
Sol Schlinger   Saxophone

Technical Credits

Frank Dickinson   Engineer,Digital Engineer,Digital Mastering
Peter Lopez   Coordination
Andy Baltimore   Art Direction
William Johnson   Composer,Composer
Joseph C. Garland   Composer
Joseph Eastburn Winner   Composer
Ollie Cotton   Assistant Engineer
Linda Mack   Assistant Coordinator
The Glenn Miller Orchestra   Performer
Bob Ludwig   Mastering
Eddie DeLange   Composer
Larry Rosen   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Erskine Hawkins   Composer
W.C. Handy   Composer
Joseph E. Winner   Composer
Josiah Gluck   Digital Editing Assistant
Jerry Grey   Arranger
Buddy Feyne   Composer
Mitchell Parish   Composer
Glenn Miller   Arranger,Composer
Dave Grusin   Mixing,Producer
Carl Sigman   Composer
Jose Ferro   Design
Jerry Gray   Composer
Bill Finegan   Arranger,Composer
Joe Garland   Composer
Frank W. Meacham   Composer
Mack Gordon   Composer
Julian Dash   Composer
Ray McKinley   Arranger
Harry Warren   Composer
J.E. Winner   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Andy Razaf   Composer