Reviews
Alexandra
Theatre, Birmingham - 29th June 2007
With Guests Jan Messeder & Colin
Anthony
Special guest star Eric Delaney
A huge audience were treated to
well over 2 hours of wonderful music, which was both nostalgic, and the best
of today’s instrumentalists. The orchestra comprises 16 top class players
many of whom have played with the great bands and backed some of the best vocalists.
If ever you needed proof that the
sound of the big bands is alive and well, attend any of this orchestras concerts.
The audience may well be mainly mature but they took the time and effort to
come and see a big band live when such appearances on television are rare indeed
if ever! What we need is a reality TV show that brings young talented musicians
together to form a big band, now that would be really worth watching.
Of course many just love the Glenn
Miller sound and the show included so many instantly recognisable instrumental
numbers along with some alternative choices such as “On Ilkley Moor”,
“Midnight in Moscow” and even a medley of Dean Martin songs. I don’t
need to list the classic Miller tunes because yes they played them and beautifully.
On hand for vocals were regulars
with the orchestra Jan Messeder who performed “A Tisket, A Tasket”
the old Ella Fitzgerald favourite and “All of Me”. Colin Anthony
delighted the audience with his distinctive treatment of the beautifully arranged
“The Story of a Starry Night” and the Sinatra anthem “That’s
Life”. Together and with 3 of the bands instrumentalists they also appear
as “The Moonlight Serenaders” vocal group.
At this concert the audience were
thrilled to see Eric Delaney, the legendary performer and one whose playing
of the drums and timpani in particular made him a chart topper 50 years ago!
He may be over 80 but like many musicians of his era age does not diminish ability
and his featured numbers including “Theme form 2001”, Ron Goodwin’s
“633 Squadron”, “St Louis Blues” and “Manhattan
Spiritual” to name just a few got an incredible reaction and great applause.
Appearing in the middle of the second half of the show it was clear that many
had been waiting for his appearance and the atmosphere exploded with energy
on his appearance. What a remarkable performer he is. Long may he continue.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra under
Ray McVay tours throughout the year and with a busy schedule taking in both
towns and cities there is always a chance to catch up on some great music. Like
the audience at the Alexandra Theatre felt when they gave the band a standing
ovation, the night had been a musical memory in its own right.
Clive Fuller
Encore Magazine
Usher
Hall, Edinburgh - 28th December 2006
Between the hubbub of Christmas
celebrations and shopping and Hogmanay’s revelry and weather, lies a funny
quiet week. There can’t be many better ways to fill at least an evening
of it, than with a bit of Big Band. The Glenn Miller Orchestra, led by the irrepressible
Ray McVay, provided the audience with exactly that at the Usher last night.
It wasn’t just the tunes, though there were plenty of those. It was the
fact that whenever the band play a Miller piece, chances are they’re working
from his own original score, thanks to a deal with the great bandleader’s
estate. That, coupled with McVay’s own impressive lineage, meant that
the evening couldn’t help but swing.
The stage was smartly laid out with white covered music stands and, for the
first half, the band were uniform in red blazers.
For the second half, they were actually in uniform in reference to Miller’s
own Air Force service.
After a brief fanfare, the show began with, naturally enough, Moonlight Serenade:
Miller’s own signature tune. A few well known tunes, like Caribbean Clipper,
Kalamazoo, featuring vocal group the Moonlight Serenaders, and Pennsylvania
65000, featuring the audience, got the evening well underway before the evening’s
more gymnastic special guests made an appearance.
The Jiving Lindy Hoppers are well known for performing to 50’s rock ‘n’
roll, with routines straight out of the dance-off in the film Grease, but they
have more up their sleeves than just that. Over the course of the evening, they
did four numbers starting with Jumpin’ at the Woodside, then Undecided,
A String of Pearls, and finally Running Wild. The last one found the unstoppable
dancers jiving in the way they’re probably best known for, but every number
was classy and fun.
Vocalist Jan Messseder stepped out from the Serenaders to sing Have Yourself
a Merry Little Christmas as a solo, added to later with several other songs.
Colin Anthony, featured vocalist with the group later ran through a variety
of Sinatra hits, betraying his own obvious admiration for the star.
The Band continued with numbers like American Patrol, Tuxedo Junction and, opening
the second half, Opus One and the ever popular Little Brown Jug. With more than
a nod to McVay’s own Scottish roots however, the band took the liberty
of ‘Miller-ising’ a few songs well known on these shores. Marie’s
Wedding was the first eye-opener, proving that if a song has a good enough melody,
it can transcend genres. The Jimmy Shand Big Band, indeed.
Ye Banks and Braes, Auld Lang Syne and Flower of Scotland also got the extremely
convincing big band treatment, but not before a full run through of Moonlight
Serenade, Woodchoppers Ball and, of course, an exhilarating In The Mood.
Most of the band played solos, none better than Saxophonist and Clarinettist,
Peter Hughes, formerly with the Benny Goodman, Henry Mancini and Nelson Riddle
Orchestras, no less.
But inevitably, no matter how good the musicians, the leader or the guests,
the star of a show like this will always be Glenn Miller’s immortal big
band music.
Martin Lennon, Edinburgh Evening News.
Chelmsford
Civic Theatre - 27th February 2005
There was snow on the ground. There
was a cold icy chill in the air. What do we need as a warm tonic? The Glenn
Miller Orchestra (UK) with Ray McVay.
Despite the weather, the venue was
full to capacity and as the lights dimmed the Orchestra struck up as the curtain
lifted and we had 60 minutes of the best music around. The first half included
many of the usual classics; 'American Patrol', 'In The Mood', Caribbean Clipper',
'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square'.
The Orchestra were in brilliant
form and the singers - Jan Messeder and Colin Anthony were in fine form and
had the audience singing along. The second half provided more gems from the
Orchestra and the Uptown Hall Gang. The show closed with 'Adios', a fitting
number to end a great show on a very cold night. The show was over two hours
in duration and if Ray and the Glenn Miller Orchestra are at a venue near you,
don't miss them as it was sheer bliss and joy. The Big Band sound and Ray McVay
are up there with the best!
J. Haberman.
Barbican
Hall, London. 4th January 2005 - London Evening Standard
"Still haunted by the ghost
of a swing legend"
Shrouded in legend, the music of
Glenn Miller continues to defy fashion.
The band, once the height of wartime
dance-hall hip; those lightweight US-Airforce uniforms, so resented by British
troops in their coarser khakis; that ill-fated flight to Paris which disappeared
from radar screens - they all happened more than 60 years ago. And yet licensed
Miller ghost-bands like this can still fill concert halls.
"Glenn Miller shoulda lived",
quipped the jazz-loving US comic Lenny Bruce. "It's his music that shoulda
died." For once Lenny got it wrong. Nostalgia alone doesn't account for
this phenomenon.
Something about these smooth ensemble
voicings, sweet harmonies and gentle swing continues to touch people. Bandleader
Ray McVay introduced Miller's quintessential arrangement of London Bridge is
Falling Down as a one-minute-15-second miniature masterpiece.
Studying his New Year's Day audience,
McVay thoughtfully dedicated Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair "to all
the ladies here tonight who used to have light brown hair."
A handful of white-haired octogenarians
were there who might actually have danced to Miller's 1944 US Army-Airforce
Band, but seated beside them were their grandchildren and great-grandchildren,
tapping feet and clapping hands to classics like Tuxedo Junction, Little Brown
Jug and Pennsylvania 6-5000 as if by family tradition.
Enlivened by the energy of the four
Jiving Lindy Hoppers, the close-harmony Moonlight Serenaders and singers Colin
Anthony (Chattanooga Choo-Choo) and Jan Messeder (I'll Never Smile Again), things
reached a nostalgic climax with Moonlight Serenade and, inevitably, In The Mood.
Jack Masarik.
Plymouth
Pavilions - 11th March 2004
It was 100 years ago this month
- on 1st March 1904 - that legendary bandleader Glenn Miller was born in Iowa,
USA. To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, the UK's official Glenn Miller
tribute band - the Glenn Miller Orchestra - have embarked on a centenary tour.
Miller, of course, went missing while flying from England to France on 15th
December 1944. The loss without trace of his plane has remained a mystery -
and the accident happened just four months after his concerts in Plymouth in
August 1944. Glenn Miller The GMO (for short) are probably as near as you'll
get to the original thing. At the Plymouth Pavilions, they put on a flawless
show. In the first part of the concert, the orchestra donned red jackets and
black bow ties. After the interval, they came back on stage wearing the uniform
of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. The show featured all the numbers you'd
expect:American Patrol, Over There, Moonlight Serenade, Little Brown Jug, String
of Pearls, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Pennsylvania 6-5000, and, last up, In The
Mood. This was musicianship at its best. The band - led by musical director
Ray McVay - has 16 musicians and singers Jan Messeder and Colin Anthony. It's
the same stage format that Glenn Miller used - five saxophones, four trumpets,
four trombones, three rhythm plus a male and female vocalist. I particularly
enjoyed the trumpet playing, but the other sections were also spot-on. A special
mention must go to the rhythm section - Gerry Butler on piano, Bobby Cleall
on drums and Paul Scott on double bass - they did their thing quietly in the
background but were integral to the band's sound.
Laura Joint.
Review
of a concert given at The Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh
SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE PROVES
GENIUS NEVER DIES
Someone once laughingly said nostalgia
is a thing of the past. But judging by the age range of people who came to hear
this legendary orchestra last night, there are no time limits on good music.
And their appreciation of the programme was palpable. That Glenn Miller's music
can evoke such a warm response has been an international phenomenon for more
than half a century. And when it is played by first-rate musicians under the
direction of a master technician, Ray McVay, it graphically demonstrates that
while musical fads come and go, genius never dies. The 16-piece band was in
spectacular form. The precision, intonation, phrasing, dynamics and perfect
tempos were exactly as Miller had laid them down in the 1940s. In addition to
these attributes, the band really swings. Led by a flawless rhythm section,
the rest of the orchestra jumped right on every number and proved that tunes
more than five decades old can sound as clean and fresh as the day they were
written. Classic arrangements, coupled with the intricate free style of the
solos blew the house down one minute and were soft as a whisper the next. The
Miller standards expected by the audience were all there: Moonlight Serenade,
Chattanooga Choo Choo, String Of Pearls and Little Brown Jug. In addition, the
band incorporated a few more modern numbers into the performance; though these
tunes had been carefully selected to lend themselves naturally to the miller
style and sound. Also on the bill were vocalists Jan Messeder and Colin Anthony,
along with singing group the Minting Sisters, who made an impressive job on
several numbers, in an Andrews Sisters vein. To attempt to single out any particular
musician for special mention would be unfair, since every single one of them
played their heart out. But as anyone who has ever worked in a big band will
tell you, holding it all together is a work of art. Thus, it is worth noting
that drummer (and Scotland's own) Bobby Orr kept the band firmly on a swinging
course when not soloing on such cornerstones as St. Louis Blues March. The Glenn
Miller Orchestra directed by Ray McVay sounded to me very much like the Glenn
Miller Orchestra as directed by Glenn Miller. And you can't say better than
that. - - - - Pat Quinn
Review
of a concert given at Theatre Royal, Windsor - 7th May 2000
Another full house
for the Glenn Miller Band was no surprise, bearing as it does the biggest name
in the big band business. To a backdrop of stars and stripes the band played
Miller music and with a superb sax section to boot. Their programme wasn't limited
to Miller music only, the bands of Dorsey (T), James, Shaw and Herman were musically
acknowledged. Glenn's arrangement of "Begin The Beguine" featured Jeff Mason
on clarinet to warm applause. Leading the reeds was Peter Hughes and his clarinet
added polish to a strong section which produced the Miller sound to perfection.
The brass was unamplified ensuring that they never overblew the beautiful reeds.
"Running Wild" was the band's brisk opener, followed by an early introduction
to vocalist Jan Messeder with "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me"
- taken with great style. Now here was a great example of why (in my view) every
band should have a girl singer, if only to counterbalance the otherwise all-male
aggregation. This girl has looks, personality, glamour, voice - and body language
as a bonus! and she suits the band very well indeed!! Fellow vocalist, Colin
Anthony, was an excellent partner and shone in "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Glenn's arrangement of "American Patrol" had the trumpet section playing the
bugle parts, from the Royal Box! In "Tuxedo Junction" the trombones too took
to the auditorium via the passageways of this old theatre. The selection of
Glenn's film numbers brought Colin Anthony and Jan Messeder together for "At
Last", "Serenade In Blue", etc. with excellent accompaniment from the band.
Of all the vocal numbers the best for me was "I'll Be Seeing You" by Jan, but
the Moonlight Serenaders were not to be outdone and their harmony was excellent
in "Chattanooga Choo Choo" etc. The Uptown Hall Gang were a popular small group,
enabling the sidemen to sparkle. Among many excellent soloists tonight were
Bobby Orr, drums; Peter Hughes, clarinet; Johnny Evans, tenor; Alan Berlyn,
trumpet; Ray Wordsworth and Ted Barker, trombones. Ray McVay's presentation
was very informative and included a quiz based on the film "The Glenn Miller
Story" which involved the audience who at the close gave him and the orchestra
a well-deserved standing ovation. Playing time: 2 hours 30 minutes - - - - Roy
Belcher (Review reproduced with permission from Big Bands International).