I consider myself the luckiest guy alive when I get together with my musical compatriots in the Brass Factory Big Band.

Last week, 15 of us plus another 10 family members all made a trek to Brantford to catch a performance of the World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a day with my friends.

The days of the big band are of course long gone, but a few remnants remain, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Anyone familiar with the Big Band Era is no-doubt aware of Glenn Miller and his story.

I do not have the space here to tell his complete story but what matters is that his band was without question the most successful big band in history.

At the height of his bands’ popularity, he was flying across the English Channel for some advance planning for entertaining Second World War troops in France, when it went missing.

Glenn was never seen again. The airplane was never found, and the questions as to what happened and where, remain unanswered to this day.

At the time, there was no bigger music star than Glenn Miller and his orchestra.

Hollywood made a movie about Glenn that is a pretty accurate depiction of his rise to fame, his different versions of his orchestras and his sudden disappearance.

And who doesn’t like a movie starring Jimmy Stewart?

Glenn’s music was so incredibly popular that a few years after his disappearance, his widow Helen authorized the re-assembling of his orchestra, and it has been actively touring in one form or another ever since.

The orchestra is part of a company owned by two individuals and authorized by the Glenn Miller Estate.

As recently as a few years ago, the band was still........

© Sarnia Observer