Glenn Miller figured out a sound — clarinet carrying the melody, a tenor saxophone doubling it an octave lower, the remaining saxes filling in the harmony — and that voicing became so identifiable that eight decades after Miller disappeared over the English Channel, orchestras still cross North America performing it to sold-out halls. The Glenn Miller Orchestra plays Cohoes Music Hall on Tuesday, November 17.
About the Show
The original Miller ensemble, formed in March 1938, broke attendance records up and down the East Coast almost immediately. The arrangements that would define the swing era were already recognizable within months: “Moonlight Serenade,” “In The Mood,” “Tuxedo Junction.” When Miller disbanded the orchestra in 1942 to volunteer for the Army and lead the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band, the music had already embedded itself in American memory. His disappearance over the English Channel in December 1944 only fixed it there permanently.
The Miller Estate authorized a new orchestra in 1956, following the success of The Glenn Miller Story, the 1954 film starring James Stewart and June Allyson, and the ensemble has been touring continuously ever since, performing more than 200 concerts a year. The current group numbers 15 members, including lead singers and a vocal group, under vocalist Nick Hilscher, who has led the band since January 2012. The program draws from original Miller arrangements alongside selections arranged in the Miller style and sound, performed as they would have sounded when the original band played them. The Cohoes program features the standards that defined the era: “In The Mood,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “American Patrol,” “A String of Pearls,” “Little Brown Jug,” “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” “Tuxedo Junction,” and the theme, “Moonlight Serenade.” The show runs approximately two hours with an intermission.
Venue & Logistics
Cohoes Music Hall, a 350-seat historic theater at 58 Remsen St. in the Capital Region, gives this program an intimacy that performing arts center stages don’t offer. A big band in a room this size is a different proposition than the same band in a hall: the ensemble is close enough that individual section voices register separately rather than as a unified wash. The show begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, August 21 at 10 a.m.; a members presale opens Wednesday, August 19 at 10 a.m. Tickets are available online or by calling the box office at 518-434-0776. Buy tickets