On Film - Sun Valley Serenade & Orchestra Wives [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]
1941 was a landmark year for American popular music, a time when the big band craze was probably at its dizziest height. On March 24, Glenn Miller and his crew arrived in Hollywood to start work on their first film. There may have seemed to be little significance in that as big bands appeared on the silver screen ever since the advent of talkies in 1927, usually presenting a featured number or two but mostly as support for cabaret and theatre acts, or providing music for dance hall scenes. Making their screen debut in 'Sun Valley Serenade', Miller insisted that he and the band were to be an integral part of the story line, not just used to provide incidental music. Glenn had become a star as a result of his one night stands around the U.S.A, and the band was hugely popular throughout the country via their regular broadcasts, so now this fame was to be acknowledged by star treatment on the big screen. With music to be as important as the stars, the studios assigned their top writing team of Harry Warren and Mack Gordon to provide the Miller aggregation with some suitable numbers. They excelled themselves, as they had done many times before, with a score that gave Miller three hit songs. A giant amongst Big Band, Glenn Miller's legend reverberates through the music world decades after his untimely (and mysterious) death in 1944. In the course of an all too brief career, Miller and his orchestra starred in two films, 'Sun Valley Serenade' and 'Orchestra Wives'. These films both introduced and showcased classics like "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" and "I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo". Jasmine now presents the complete Miller soundtrack recordings from these films, also featuring the vocal talents of Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, The Mordernaires and more.