Trivia / Glenn Miller

• Follow the Leader: Bob Chester's orchestra, which was signed to Bluebird Records a year after Glenn Miller's, initially had a very similar style before growing into its own. The organisation of that orchestra was the end result of a dispute between Miller and Tommy Dorsey — when Miller put together his second band in 1938, Dorsey loaned him some money which he thought entitled him to a piece of the action, but Miller paid him back and denied him that, which angered Dorsey into setting up Chester's orchestra to try and steal Miller's thunder.
• Outlived Its Creator: Like many old-time swing orchestras, the Glenn Miller Orchestra has lived on beyond the disappearance of its namesake leader. The first "ghost band" was formed in 1946 under the leadership of saxophonist/vocalist Tex Beneke, but due to Creative Differences between Beneke (who wanted to forge his own musical identity) and the Miller estate (who wanted the same old Miller sound) the two soon parted ways and the orchestra was re-branded as "Tex Beneke and his Orchestra". A new "ghost band" was formed in 1956 under the leadership of Ray McKinley and still exists today alongside officially sanctioned orchestras in the U.K., Europe and Scandinavia.