“Every Night Was New Year’s Eve”…on the road with Glenn Miller signed by author Dr. Paul O.W. Tanner

A personal memoir of the heartwarming friendship between Glenn Miller and the author who was a trombone player in the band.

The following is not a history of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, a biography of Glenn Miller, or a book of musical statistics. It is, simply, a personal account of my experiences during the four and a half years I spent on the road with the Miller organization; a retrospective glimpse of a different culture in another, perhaps more innocent, time.

There were thousands of musicians in hundreds of bands on the road during the 1930’s and 1940’s. The country was literally inundated with ballrooms where the bands played and the people danced every night. With the exception of theatre dates, there were very few concerts and, as a consequence, the fans and dancers were able to relate to the orchestra and musicians in an intimate manner virtually unknown in the present area of computer literates and dedicated tube watchers.

During those four, short, heady years, the Miller bank skyrocketed from obscurity to world-wide prominence, and I was lucky enough to have been along for the ride. They were high times and I loved every minute of them. I hope you will too.

Dr. Paul O.W. Tanner played trombone with Glenn Miller through the extent of his civilian orchestra, then Charlie Epivak, Les Brown, Tex Beneke, Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, etc.

• First trombone for the American Broadcasting Company in Los Angeles for 16 years.
• Performed in all major movie, television and recording studios in Los Angeles.
• Performed with Eugene Ormandy, Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Walter Hendl, Andre Previn, etc.
• Graduated from the University of California and Los Angeles magna cum laude, awarded master and doctorate degrees.
• Taught at UCLA for 23 years in all four music fields offered-performance, theory, musicology, and music education.
• Awarded the title “Distinguished Professor”.
• Composed many published work for trombone at varying levels from complicated double concertos to easy solos for young players.
• Author of many books on trombone methodology.
• Author of the most used textbook on the history of jazz, A STUDY OF JAZZ. The seventh edition is simply titled JAZZ.
• Wrote and composed a most successful educational film for Columbia Broadcasting System on the same subject, DISCOVERING JAZZ.
• Has taught 75,000 students in “The Development of Jazz”.
• Now lecturing internationally on the history of jazz.

Published 1992

Hardcover