GMO enjoyed touring Quebec

Here is a report from the GMO: Quebec Tour, April 24 - May 18, the GMO was based in the city of Montreal traveling out to performance venues throughout the province of Quebec. This provided a rare opportunity to live in one place while performing; it is almost like being a resident, returning to the same apartment, having a kitchen, becoming familiar with local restaurants, grocery stores and other amenities when living in a vibrant city. As with life anywhere there are challenges and Montreal is no different in this regard.

May 2nd, 2012 found the Glenn Miller Orchestra continuing the 2012 Quebec tour with a performance in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada at the Grand Theatre de Quebec another magnificent concert venue. May 3, Salle Jean-Grimaldi in LaSalle; May 4, Theatre Hector-Charland, in L'Assomption.

May 5 and 6 the GMO left Montreal for Drummondville and La Baie, the distance to these venues being too great for round trip travel; May 5 at the Maison des Arts Desjardins in Drummondville a beautiful fine arts performance center; May 6 in the magnificent region of Quebec on La Baie (the Bay), in La Baie the performance was at Theatre du Palais Municipal La Baie. There is too much to explain about the activities in the theatre in La Baie, QC. There is a spectacular that has been running here every summer since 1988 that includes 250 local volunteer actors. The set for the show remains in place and there was as much stage behind us as there was audience in front.

The body of water known as La Baie is the only fjord on the East coast of North America.  La Baie; the Bay. This body of water has 90 feet of fresh water covering salt water at the bottom. In the winter this makes for great ice fishing as the bay freezes over with 2-4 feet of ice. Ice fishing brings in halibut, flounder, cod and other salt water fish as they fish deep into the salt water. There is aluminum produced here which is shipped all over the world; La Baie is also a cruise ship destination. We had dinner with the promoter and crew in La Baie, very nice.

Returning to Montreal there was Salle Rolland-Brunelle in Joliette on the 8th, Theatre du Vieux in Terrebonne on the 9th, Centre des Arts Juliette Lassonde in St-Hyacinthe on the 10th, Centre Culturel de Beloeil in Beloeil on the 11th, Maison de la Culture de Gatineain u Gatineau on the 12th, and Theatre des deux Rives in Jean sur Richelieu on the 13th. In the 30 days between coming off break in Patchogue, NY on April 14 to the concert on May 13th the GMO performed 25 concerts with four travel days and one day off making this a very busy period of the tour schedule.

On May 11th many of the GMO were delighted with a guided tour of the Montreal Jazz Festival museum by one of the co-founders of the annual event, Andre Menard. Informative and a lot of fun to have an insider view of the largest Jazz/Musical Festival in the world. www.montrealjazzfest.com

 Before leaving Quebec on May 17 there were 13 more concerts. The audiences throughout the Quebec tour were very astute to the music; they were universally warm and welcoming as well as very appreciative of the performances. We feel it was a very successful tour. We appreciate the audiences of Quebec.

Returning to the USA on May 18 the month was completed with concerts in Norway, MI; shows on consecutive days at Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, IL; two shows on the 26th in Franklin, TN; a matinee at Ole Miss on the 27th, and to finish the month concerts in Lucas and Hays, KS on the 30th and 31st.

If you have been following The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestraon Facebook you have seen the photos of all of the venues in Quebec and comments made by audience members. The Facebook page is kept up to date for you, the GMO fans, as we want to take you along with us everywhere we go. There 4193 fans on this page as of today. If you are not using Facebook, you can use the website www.glennmillerorchestra.com and this news letter to follow the GMO.  However if you are on Facebook and have not yet stopped by to "Like" the World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra please come by.  We feel you will truly Like this page as the content is for you. 

YouTube clip "Oklahoma Medley" performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra from current Oklahoma tour. 

Andre Rieu's tribute to Frank Sinatra

Andre Rieu, renowned Dutch violinist, conductor and composer, and his orchestra did this tribute to Frank Sinatra with My Way on his Stradivarius violin at Radio City Music Hall – New York.

Glenn Miller on Broadway

Q. In a recent article about the great big band leader Glenn Miller it mentioned that he had worked in a show orchestra on Broadway. Do you know what show? When was it? Any big named stars?

A. In 1930, the hit musical of the Broadway season was George and Ira Gershwin's “Girl Crazy,” The production starrred Ethel Merman (her debut) and Ginger Rogers.

Ethel Merman became an overnight sensation when she stopped the show with "I Got Rhythm." George Gershwin, supposedly visited her the day after the opening to congratulate her and to advise her to "never take another singing lesson...don't let anyone change you... just keep doing what you are doing!"

To fans of the big bands, the orchestra for the 1930 show is of great interest. The band in the pit for the original Broadway production was known for its richness of talents an included: Red Nichols, Jack Teagarden, Gene Krupa and Glenn Miller!  All future big band leaders!

Glenn Miller, working as a music contractor, put the group together, including his roommate from the Ben Pollack band days in California....Benny Goodman.

A petition for Mildred Bailey's selection in the Jazz Hall of Fame

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NESHUI ERTEGUN JAZZ HALL OF FAME

March 19, 2012
 

Mr. Wynton Marsalis
c/o Selection Committee
Jazz Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center
33 West 60th Street, 11th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10023
 

Dear Mr. Marsalis and fellow Selection Committee Members:
 

My name is Julia Keefe, and I am a student at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, studying vocal jazz performance. I am also a member of the Nez Perce Indian Tribe. Shortly after I first became interested in jazz over ten years ago, I began researching the life of Bing Crosby, who also attended my high school, Gonzaga Prep, in Spokane, WA. I was surprised and happy to learn that Bing Crosby gave credit for his early success to a Native American woman from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe named Mildred Rinker Bailey who had, like me, lived her formative childhood years on her Idaho tribal reservation before moving to Spokane and discovering jazz. I am writing to urge that Mildred Bailey be considered for induction into the Neshui Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame in recognition of her groundbreaking role in jazz history.
 

To say that Mildred Bailey inspired me in my chosen vocation as a jazz singer would be a great understatement. But I am not alone. Bing Crosby once said, "I was lucky in knowing the great jazz and blues singer Mildred Bailey so early in life. I learned a lot from her. She made records which are still vocal classics, and she taught me much about singing and interpreting popular songs." And a sideman from her husband Red Norvo's band, trumpeter Lyle "Rusty" Dedrick once wrote, "She had a magic. So many people down the line, so many singers, benefited from her, owe debts to her - and they don't even know it. Mildred Bailey probably never made a bad record; she made many that were excellent, and quite a few considerably better, even, than that."
 

As the very first female big band singer in America, Mildred was a role model and inspiration for contemporaries including Billie Holiday, Helen Ward and Ella Fitzgerald. She opened the door of opportunity for every female lead singer who followed the trail she blazed. Her singing style and phrasing caught the ear of aspiring young singers of that era including Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney, and still, much later, Linda Ronstadt. She was respected and admired by performers including Frank Sinatra, the Dorsey brothers, Coleman Hawkins and Artie Shaw. A 1944 Time Magazine review of her show at the Café Society in New York called Mildred, "just about the greatest songbird in the U.S."
 

Recognition of Mildred Bailey in the Jazz Hall of Fame would, I believe, open a door to a largely neglected and ignored chapter in the history of this All-American art form known as jazz: the involvement of First Americans. When I was living on my own reservation in Kamiah, ID, I came across old photographs of tribal members in small ensembles and quartets, playing jazz. One group, the Lollipop Six, was made up of young Nez Perce men who had learned to play their instruments while attending Indian boarding schools in the early 20th century. I can still recall how proud Lionel Hampton was when he visited our reservation to be honored while attending the international jazz festival at the University of Idaho that still bears his name.
 

On too many reservations in modern America there are not enough inspirational stories of successful native women who rose above the challenges they faced and helped to change history. But Mildred Rinker Bailey, did just that. Though widely thought to have been a white singer, Mildred was, in fact, a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. Mildred once called traditional Indian singing, "a remarkable training and background" for a singer. "It takes a squeaky soprano and straightens out the clinkers that make it squeak; it removes the bass boom from the contralto's voice," she said. "This Indian singing does this because you have to sing a lot of notes to get by, and you've got to cover a lot of range." Every Native American who has ever attended a tribal ceremony, whether a feast, a memorial, or a modern pow-wow, knows exactly what Mildred Bailey was talking about here. I believe that Mildred Bailey's success as a jazz vocalist is grounded in her early vocal training and development from singing traditional tribal songs as a young girl on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation.
 

I would deeply appreciate the chance to provide you and the other selection committee members, and your entire international voting panel, with a complete packet of information that I have collected while researching the remarkable career of the first female vocalist in America to sing with a big band. Recognizing Mildred Bailey's pioneering, ground breaking accomplishment, would do honor to the Neshui Ertegun Hall of Fame, and provide Indian tribes from across this country a symbol of their own contribution to the rich cultural heritage of a uniquely American art form that I have come to love, thanks in large part to Mildred Bailey.

Respectfully,

Julia Keefe
Nez Perce Tribal member #4152
Frost School of Music, Class of 2012
www.whereismildred.com
www.juliakeefe.com

Artie Shaw's many wives!

Band leader Artie Shaw was married eight times!

They included actresses Lana Turner (wife No. 3, 1940), Ava Gardner (No. 5, 1945), Evelyn Keyes (No. 8, 1957) and novelist Kathleen Winsor, author of the 1944 best-seller “Forever Amber” (No. 6, 1946).

ARTIE SHAW (getty)

Here's the complete list (from Wiki); A self-proclaimed "very difficult man," Shaw was married eight times: Jane Cairns (1932–33; annulled); Margaret Allen (1934–37; divorced); actress Lana Turner (1940; annulled); Betty Kern (1942–43; divorced), the daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern; actress Ava Gardner (1945–46; divorced); Forever Amber author Kathleen Winsor (1946–48; annulled); actress Doris Dowling (1952–56; divorced); and actress Evelyn Keyes(1957–85; divorced).

The marriage to Keyes, best known for playing the middle of the three O’Hara sisters in “Gone With the Wind,” lasted the longest, until 1985, but they led separate lives for much of that time. “I like her very much and she likes me, but we’ve found it about impossible to live together,” he said in a 1973 interview.

 Note: With that many ex-wives, collecting alimony in most cases, it is not surprising that his theme song was "Nightmare!"  When asked why he married so many times....his answer..."Because they asked me!"He had one son, Steven Kern, with Betty Kern, and another son, Jonathan Shaw (a well-known tattoo artist who founded Fun City Tattoo), with Doris Dowling. Both Lana Turner and Ava Gardner later described Shaw as being extremely emotionally abusive. His controlling nature and incessant verbal abuse in fact drove Turner to have a nervous breakdown, soon after which she divorced him.