Glenn Miller - Classic Jazz Archive Glenn Miller

There several live performances of this piece featuring Beneke with extended solos. Miller saying "Take one more Texas".
Wonderful.

This recording boasts one of the best recorded jazz solos by Glenn Miller, who was always very self-conscious about his instrumental abilities in comparison to his trombonist colleagues Tommy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden.

Here is also one of the best jazz efforts by tenor saxophonist Gordon "Tex" Beneke (1914-2000), who was at his best in slower-tempo jazz solos and in ballads ( as for example, in the Miller recordings of
"Sunrise Serenade" and "The Man with the Mandolin" ). Luckily we are treated here to two different and extended solo passages!!!

George T. Simon, in his definitive biography, "Glenn Miller and His Orchestra" ( 1974 ), says that Tex Beneke was a good deal less impressive in his jazz playing at fast tempos.

Tex Beneke himself, humble man that he was, often used to say of ( and to ) Al Klink, his tenor sax partner on the famous Miller recording of "in the Mood," that "Glenn should have featured you more." ( that is, because of Klink's superior abilities as a jazz player ). As it turned out, Glenn Miller, who was best of friends personally with Tex, was heavily inclined to feature him, very much at Al Klink's expense. ( Klink later went on to have a notable career in the recording studios, and as a member of the "Tonight Show" band ). During the Swing Era, he had also played briefly with Benny Goodman ( and probably other bands---I can't say for sure ).

Unfortunately, Klink, during his stay with Miller, was also the victim of an unfortunate and unintended misunderstanding between him and Miller, who wrongly thought the saxophonist was accusing him, on one occasion, of underpaying him. For Miller, who was prone to making snap judgments, this was further justification for not featuring Al Klink.

This version of King Porter Stomp is an excellent one, and ranks right up there with the very best, along with Benny Goodman's hit version of 1935, and the superior version by the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra.

Incidentally, I also personally very much prefer the Hawkins Orchestra's version of "Tuxedo Junction" ( 1939 ), which was recorded the year before Miller's commercially much more successful version. The Hawkins version is so much more spirited; I think it suffered partly, at the time, from racial considerations, since Hawkins' was a black orchestra.

The difference between the two performances is amazing---almost as if they were of two different pieces. This also explains why I vastly prefer Benny Goodman's 1942 version of "A String of Pearls."

Compare each of these recordings side-by-side, and see what you think!!!

great song, thanks a lot !!!