GLENN MILLER AND THE ARMY AIR FORCE ORCHESTRA - THE ST. LOUIS BLUES MARCH

THE ST. LOUIS BLUES MARCH

GLENN MILLER AND THE ARMY AIR FORCE ORCHESTRA

SONGWRITER: W. C. HANDY

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO

LABEL: V. DISC

GENRE: INSTRUMENTAL

YEAR: 1945

 

            Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – disappeared December 15, 1944) was an American big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, 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", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", "Little Brown Jug" and "Anvil Chorus". In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top ten hits—more than Elvis Presley (38 top 10s) and the Beatles (33 top 10s) did in their careers.

       In 1942, Miller volunteered to join the U.S. military to entertain troops during World War II, ending up with the U.S. Army Air Forces. On December 15, 1944, while flying to Paris, Miller's aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

           During World War II we lost many great men. The majority were ordinary men doing extraordinary things who died in combat. Among those who died in service of the United States during World War II was a music superstar. Trombonist and bandleader Glenn Miller had more top ten hit singles than either Elvis Presley or The Beatles. In 1942 he was making anywhere from $15,000 a week (that would be $233,728.71 today) to $20,000 a week (that would be $311,638.28 today).

            "St. Louis Blues" was initially arranged by W.C. Handy in 1914. Glenn Miller enjoyed the piece and often performed it with his initial orchestra in the United States. He then moved on to arrange it in such a way that its blues/jazz feel would intertwine with a standard military march tempo in order to play it with his Army Air Force Band during its time in England. To this day, Miller's arrangement of the "St. Louis Blues (March)" continues to be associated with the American War Effort in World War II. This video plays a sharp recording of the piece in the background of images from World War II, when the Air Force Band was oversea.

          "Saint Louis Blues" (or "St. Louis Blues") is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and the Boston Pops Orchestra are among the artists who have recorded it. The song has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet." Composer William Grant Still arranged a version of the song in 1916 while working with Handy.

           The 1925 version sung by Bessie Smith, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. The 1929 version by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra (with Red Allen) was inducted in 2008.

         Handy said he had been inspired by a chance meeting with a woman on the streets of St. Louis distraught over her husband's absence, who lamented, "Ma man's got a heart like a rock cast in de sea", a key line of the song. Handy's autobiography recounts his hearing the tune in St. Louis in 1892: "It had numerous one-line verses and they would sing it all night."

             The song was a massive and enduring success. The original published sheet music is available online from the United States Library of Congress in a searchable database of African-American music from Brown University.

         The St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL) are named after the titular song.