What you’ll read below is an encore posting of a Musings I shared in 2018 immediately following our return from this small Iowa community . . . the last trip of note that my beloved Alicia and I would take together. And, we both enjoyed every minute of it!
While the story here is mostly about what we experienced during the 2018 Glenn Miller Festival, the 2022 edition is set to roll out beginning less than a month from now … running from Thursday, June 9th through Sunday afternoon, June 12th. Read about the artists and events you’ll enjoy at this year’s Festival.
Considering the pandemic and everything else going on in the world, it’s logical that all of the groups and performers appearing this year are from North America; however, with ragtime pianist Adam Swanson and the Glenn Miller Orchestra of today leading the way, I’m confident you’ll find everyone on the lineup to be top-notch.
There’s very little lodging available in Clarinda and it’s always sold out well in advance. A half-hour away in Shenandoah, Iowa, with a couple of hotels. The next closest with a decent selection is Maryville, Missouri, which lies directly south of Clarinda with a good highway connecting – this is where we stayed during our 2004 visit to the Festival.
Before you leave this page, I invite you to scroll to the bottom, where you’ll find links to earlier postings with more about Glenn Miller plus interesting facts about the community of Shenandoah, Iowa.
Alton Glenn Miller, better known as Big Band-era bandleader Glenn Miller was born on March 1, 1904, in Clarinda, this small community in southwestern Iowa.
Each year during the second week of June, the entire town comes together to honor their “favorite son” with a four-day Glenn Miller Festival … which offers a variety of musical performances in the high school’s auditorium and gymnasium.
This year’s just-completed Festival marks its 43rd year. And, for more than half of those years, a major attraction has been an all-girls band from Tamana, Japan … totaling nearly 50-strong. This year we heard the high school band … in alternating years, the Tamana elementary school girls band — known as the “little cherries” — make the trip. We heard the latter group a few years ago during a Festival visit … both deliver excellent, top-notch performances.
Here’s a link to a 2014 performance by the Tamana Girls High School Band. Clarinda and Tamana became sister cities in the 1990s.
We also heard from the Bill Baker Big Band, who flew in from their home base in the Netherlands, and the renowned Canadian Brass, making their first appearance at the Festival.
This year, as a change of pace for the Festival — which normally has big-band-oriented groups, the organizers scheduled a “local boy” who’s gaining worldwide acclaim, pianist Adam Swanson, for his playing of ragtime and early jazz melodies. Adam’s only 25 years old but has already been a four-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest.
Of course, the Festival would not be complete without performances by today’s Glenn Miller Orchestra. If the way they performed during the concert I heard on Friday evening is typical of how they are playing these days, they certainly are worthy of the same kind of acclaim Glenn’s own band received back more than 70 years ago! Presently and for the past seven years, the Band has been under the leadership of Nick Hilscher. When I last heard them, Larry O’Brien was the leader and Nick was the “boy singer.” Today, Nick continues that latter role as well, but it’s clearly evident that his musical skills go well beyond singing.
The Festival is managed by the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society, which has also restored and maintained the small home where Glenn was born, and it is now a museum and the offices of the Society.
The Glenn Miller Festival is definitely an event for anyone who loves the music of the big band era, and Alicia and I certainly enjoyed ourselves. The Clarinda high school, where the event is held, is a modern and well-maintained facility that serves well for such performances and their audiences.
A friend has just sent me a copy of a historical document connected to Glenn Miller, so one day soon I’ll devote another Musings to Glenn, his music, and the Orchestra.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t done so … I invite you to click on the button below and sign up for receiving an E-mail notification — which includes a brief synopsis of the subject matter — when a new edition of Marlin’s Musings is posted, usually on Thursday mornings. Thank you.
