[SYN-034]
For most Americans in the Depression-scarred 1930s, one of the few sure ways to forget your troubles was to escape into swing. Big bands were the main game in pop music, and many of them would become legendary. But the most successful orchestra of all was Glenn Miller's, and to this day its sound remains the most emblematic of that era. Miller's principal innovation lay in the voicing of his band's reed section. The timbral combination was sweet and tremulous, a touch of romance designed to warm up a harsh world. From 1939 to 1942, the hits kept coming: "Moonlight Serenade," "In the Mood," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." Then Miller joined the military. But Miller would not live to see the end of World War II; en route to Paris on December 15, 1944, his plane disappeared over the English Channel. He was 40 years old, and the circumstances of his passing only add to the nostalgic quality of this music. — Mac Randall