Army Air Corps - Glenn Miller, Crawford, Robert [1
A String of Pearls - Glenn Miller, DeLange, Eddie
Medley: Annie Laurie/My Ideal/Alexander's Ragtime Band/Blue Is the ... - Glenn Miller, Chase, Newell
Caribbean Clipper - Glenn Miller, Gallop, Sammy
Stormy Weather - Glenn Miller, Arlen, Harold
Along the Santa Fe Trail - Glenn Miller, Coolidge, Edwina
It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That) - Glenn Miller, MacGregor, Chummy
Medley: Londonderry Air/Shoo-Shoo Baby/The Way You Look Tonight/Be ... - Glenn Miller, Fields, Dorothy
Holiday for Strings - Glenn Miller, Gallop, Sammy
I'll Be Around - Glenn Miller, Wilder, Alec
Poinciana - Glenn Miller, Bernier, Buddy
The St. Louis Blues March - Glenn Miller, Handy, W.C.
What Do You Do in the Infantry - Glenn Miller, Loesser, Frank
Medley: Goin' Home/Paper Doll/All the Things You Are/My Blue Heaven - Glenn Miller, Black, Johnny Stewa
Sun Valley Jump - Glenn Miller, Gray, Jerry
Track Listings (14) - Disc #2
Tail-End Charlie - Glenn Miller, Finegan, Bill
Suddenly It's Spring - Glenn Miller, Burke, Johnny [Lyri
Medley: In the Gloaming/For the First Time (I've Fallen in Love) ... - Glenn Miller, Goodman, Benny
Jeep Jockey Jump - Glenn Miller, Gray, Jerry
Pearls on Velvet - Glenn Miller, Powell, Mel
My Ideal - Glenn Miller, Chase, Newell
Medley: Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair/I Couldn't Sleep a Wink ... - Glenn Miller, Adamson, Harold
Enlisted Men's Mess - Glenn Miller, Gray, Jerry
In the Mood - Glenn Miller, Garland, Joe
Song of the Volga Boatmen - Glenn Miller, Traditional
I Love You - Glenn Miller, Porter, Cole
Medley: Silver Threads Among the Gold/Absent-Minded/A String of Pearls - Glenn Miller, Danks, Hart Pease
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning - Glenn Miller, Hammerstein, Oscar
Join the W.A.C./ (There'll Be A) Hot Time in the Town of Berlin - Glenn Miller, Bushkin, Joe
Track Listings (17) - Disc #3
Vict'ry Polka - Glenn Miller, Cahn, Sammy
Mission to Moscow - Glenn Miller, Powell, Mel
Medley: My Buddy/Good Night, Wherever You Are/Music ... - Glenn Miller, Donaldson, Walter
Begin the Beguine - Glenn Miller, Porter, Cole
G.I. Jive - Glenn Miller, Mercer, Johnny
Now I Know - Glenn Miller, Arlen, Harold
People Will Say We're in Love - Glenn Miller, Hammerstein, Oscar
Medley: Long, Long Ago - Glenn Miller, Adamson, Harold
I've Got a Heart Filled With Love (For You Dear) - Glenn Miller, Jacobs, Al
How Sweet You Are - Glenn Miller, Loesser, Frank
Juke Box Saturday Night - Glenn Miller, McGrane, Paul
Medley: Flow Gently, Sweet Afton/Moon Dreams/Don't Be That ... - Glenn Miller, Burns, Robert [2]
I Hear You Screamin' - Glenn Miller, Gray, Jerry
Long Ago (And Far Away) - Glenn Miller, Gershwin, Ira
In an 18th Century Drawing Room - Glenn Miller, Scott, Raymond [Jaz
Time Alone Will Tell - Glenn Miller, Gordon, Mack
Flying Home - Glenn Miller, Goodman, Benny
Track Listings (15) - Disc #4
Over There! - Glenn Miller, Cohan, George M.
Medley: Mother Machree/I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night/I Can't Give - Glenn Miller, Ball, Ernest R.
There Are Yanks (From the Banks of the Wabash) - Glenn Miller, Dietz, Howard
Tuxedo Junction - Glenn Miller, Dash, Julian
Anvil Chorus - Glenn Miller, Verdi, Guiseppe
Going My Way - Glenn Miller, Burke, Johnny [Lyri
Medley: Old Black Joe/As Time Goes By/I've Got Sixpence (As We Go ...) - Glenn Miller, Box
Speak Low - Glenn Miller, Nash, Ogden [Author
Here We Go Again - Glenn Miller, Gray, Jerry
Peggy, The Pin Up Girl - Glenn Miller, Evans, Redd
Stardust - Glenn Miller, Carmichael, Hoagy
Pistol Packin' Mama - Glenn Miller, Dexter, Al
Everybody Loves My Baby - Glenn Miller, Palmer, Jack [1]
Medley: Killarney/I've Got a Heart Filled With Love/Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller, Balfe, Michael Will
A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening - Glenn Miller, Adamson, Harold
"Real, live American music"--that's what bandleader Glenn Miller wanted to deliver to the troops fighting World War II. To him, the entertainment factor far outweighed the artistic one. As it turned out, he was able to suc... more »ceed on both counts, delighting the troops with an Army Air Force Band as dynamic and versatile as any he ever led. Capt. Miller received his commission in October 1942, and his huge band--45 or more singers and musicians--was activated in March 1943. Though Miller was eager to entertain the troops overseas, the band wasn't actually shipped out until June 1944. The music on this well-rounded, four-disc set was recorded during this stateside tenure and comes primarily from two sources: nationwide I Sustain the Wings broadcasts and Uncle Sam Presents recordings made for the Office of War Information, which broadcast them to servicemen abroad (the one exception is the famous V-disc version of "The St. Louis Blues March," an attempt to give the men more-swinging marching material). Miller's crew moves with ease from vivacious swing and crafty blues to pop-ditty crooning and patriotic novelties to the beloved old-new-borrowed-blue medleys. --Marc Greilsamer« less
All Artists:Glenn Miller Title:Army Air Force Band Members Wishing: 0 Total Copies: 0 Label:RCA Original Release Date: 1/1/1955 Re-Release Date: 10/9/2001 Album Type: Box set, Original recording remastered Genres:Jazz, Pop Style:Swing Jazz Number of Discs: 4 SwapaCD Credits: 4 UPCs:090266385225, 035628636027
Synopsis
Amazon.com
"Real, live American music"--that's what bandleader Glenn Miller wanted to deliver to the troops fighting World War II. To him, the entertainment factor far outweighed the artistic one. As it turned out, he was able to succeed on both counts, delighting the troops with an Army Air Force Band as dynamic and versatile as any he ever led. Capt. Miller received his commission in October 1942, and his huge band--45 or more singers and musicians--was activated in March 1943. Though Miller was eager to entertain the troops overseas, the band wasn't actually shipped out until June 1944. The music on this well-rounded, four-disc set was recorded during this stateside tenure and comes primarily from two sources: nationwide I Sustain the Wings broadcasts and Uncle Sam Presents recordings made for the Office of War Information, which broadcast them to servicemen abroad (the one exception is the famous V-disc version of "The St. Louis Blues March," an attempt to give the men more-swinging marching material). Miller's crew moves with ease from vivacious swing and crafty blues to pop-ditty crooning and patriotic novelties to the beloved old-new-borrowed-blue medleys. --Marc Greilsamer
CD Reviews
Finally Restored! Listen and Enjoy!
Jeffrey J. Karpinski | King of Prussia, PA United States | 01/04/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It took 45 years, but we finally have a release of this album the way it was supposed to be! BMG, with the diligent help of AAF Band collector and scholar Ed Polic, have brought back the recordings from the original 5-LP set of 1956 along with nearly two dozen additional selections not included in that landmark album. It's a treasure - the liner notes provide recording dates and locations, personnel changes and other information absent from the original release. But more importantly, the CDs reverse what can only be described as tampering on the LP release. You can once again hear Glenn Miller's and announcer Don Briggs' introductions and audience reactions that were removed from the 1956 set, and the medleys are as originally performed rather than being spliced together from unrelated broadcasts. The fidelity on all but a few of these 60-year-old recordings is amazing. There are new performances of several of Miller's civilian band hits, experimental pieces such as Mel Powell's concerto "Pearls on Velvet", and lush pop songs featuring the full 21-member string section and Johnny Desmond's smooth vocals. With the added ambience of the restored introductions and thunderous applause from the audience, there's a new sense of what it must have been like to listen to this phenomenal orchestra "live and in person"! If you buy this album, I'd also suggest complementing it with the other two significant boxed sets of AAF Band recordings which have appeared in the last few years, since each one presents the orchestra from a somewhat different perspective. Many of the tracks on this album were recorded somewhat earlier in the band's existence, in mid- to late 1943. The performances are by and large either taken from live broadcasts or remote concerts, and there is a spontaneity that few bands seemed to be able to match in the studio. If you think you know "In the Mood", just listen to it on this album! On the other hand, there are some missteps - a dropped note here and there, and some programming lapses (what WAS the Major thinking when he selected "Mother Machree"??? Paging Lawrence Welk!) - but they all add to the sense of "being there". The other two sets I'd recommend are The Secret Broadcasts, studio recordings done in the spring of 1944, and The Lost Recordings, made in the UK in late 1944. The musicians were probably at their most cohesive during that early 1944 period, and it shows in a range of performances extending from Ellingtonian jazz to serious classical works. The UK recordings are noteworthy because you can hear how the orchestra was evolving towards the new style and repertory that would have kept Glenn Miller in the forefront of popular music, if only ...."
AT LAST THE RESTORED 1950's GLENN MILLER AAF ALBUM
cway104468@aol.com | Harlow, Essex | 11/01/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"GLENN MILLER's Army Air Force Orchestra at it's BEST!!!!
WELL DONE BMG!!!! THE GREATEST GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA EVER and restored as it was broadcast during 1943 to 1944. THIS IS THE ORCHESTRA THAT GAVE THE G.I's in Europe That much needed "HUNK O' HOME"...... THIS MUSIC & GLENN's memory will never die.....THIS CD set should be an ALL TIME BEST SELLER!!!!!!!!!!(...)"
Army Air Force Band (Box Set)
Charles D. Walker | 01/26/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I received the original 5-record album for Christmas in 1956. At the time it was a true landmark addition to the Miller discography. Thirty years later I purchased the 45-rpm boxed set. Now comes the CD re-release of this legendary work. One cannot provide enough superlatives in description of this latest BMG release from the Miller library. It is one of the finest Miller releases yet to appear on compact disc...well produced and absolutely sparkling in its audio quality. This set, along with the 9-volume AVID "Missing Chapters" series, shine as the definitive standards of the Miller AAF Orchestra representations, and should be a part of any Miller fan's collection.One should give praise and thanks to Ed Polic, who has worked tirelessly in the effort to convince BMG to provide the public with so many previously unavailable Miller material."
An Important, Ear-popping Release
Peter A. Greene | Franklin, PA United States | 07/05/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Miller's AAF band was everything that big bands were still struggling to become in the late forties. There are... barn-burning hot swing numbers, and a string section that creates some of the sweetest (but never cloying or smarmy) music ever made.This is the collection that started my father listening to Miller; I grew up listening to these recordings myself. But the restoration is wonderful-- the sound is super and the medleys are put back together as Glenn intended. It's also great to hear the introductions that go with them.This is an indepsensible recording, a must-have for every student of the swing era."
What Would Have Been?
Noel W. Fendlason | Birmingham, AL USA | 01/30/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band was far and away the best band that Miller ever fronted, and the evidence of that is overwhelming on these four discs. What clinches it for me is the version of "Star Dust," where the combination of strings and Miller's trademark reed section is absolutely breathtaking. This would have been the sound that Miller would have carried back to the US with him had he lived, and in my opinion the Big Band era would not have died as quickly. This is a must for any collection!"
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1