Glen Miller I do know, through my Dad,who was in the War (South African Air Force), so I grew up listening to him. Glen Miller died in a plane crash during/towards the end of the war? I'll tell you who else my Dad listened to and I have been trying to find it ever since, Billy Vaughan. I just remember the saxes playing in harmony, that was great to my five-year old ears. Crazy Otto? Did you listen to him?
I was more influenced by my Uncle's taste though, Acker Bilk, Fats Waller - that sort of thing. Still love the clarinet today because of that. There is a great album out by Louis Cottrell, "New Orleans Living Legends", beautiful!
That's controversial about Glenn; some say his 'plane didn't vanish in the English Channel but that he and Elvis and Henry, from M*A*S*H, who also supposedly perished on a flight from Korea are all together on an island in the Bermuda Triangle. I am only reporting, so don't quote. It could be false.
New Orleans. The book that opened the doors (or my ears) to that sound was
Jazz by Rex Stuart. It was, at least I seem to remember it as, a paperback from, I think, Penguin. As with so much in life, you lose things... I lost David Niven's
The Moon's a Balloon to the crew of a boat that I shot here for Pete Townshend via a local agent (I'm told he had several boats at the time); they sailed away without giving it back. But I did get paid. Not for the book, for the snaps. In retrospect, I bet I was screwed there, too: the local boat agent later did a run owing a huge sum around the marina; I wonder how inflated my quote for the shoot might have been...
I remember it, rightly or wrongly, as being called the Billy Vaughan
Orchestra; maybe that'll help you do youtube search for videos?
Mr Bilk had a style and some popular hits, but I preferred Monty Sunshine on clarinet (from the Brits), but if you listen to Sidney Bechet on clarinet or soprano with Armstrong's Hot Five or Hot Seven you'll love him.
As you might have seen, I have a few shots of a Cuban tenor player who lives and works near me on this island; it's interesting to learn that due to political censorship at various times, the whole New Orleans sound is totally alien to him: with no exposure to it in Cuba. On the other hand, modern jazz he knows all about. Hard to understand how politics can alter musical perspectives so radically.
Rob C