Sousa with a Floy Floy

Oldtime, long-haired U.S. Army bandmasters had the horrors last week. A U.S. Army band (the 418th Army Air Forces Band from the Technical School at Yale) had suddenly, and disconcertingly, got rhythm. When it swung down the line blaring such hallowed items as John Philip Sousa's Stars & Stripes Forever in jive tempo, sober listeners began to wonder what U.S. brass-band music was coming to. Obviously, there was an Afro-Saxon in the woodpile.

The man behind this military rug cutting was Captain Glenn Miller, late recruit from the swank hotel ballrooms and broadcasting studios. Embarking on an earnest crusade to put swing on the U.S. parade ground, Captain Miller first taught his boys to swing the military classics. Then he militarized a few items like St. Louis Blues and the Jersey Bounce. Finally he got the urge to touch up some of the late great John Philip Sousa's scores with hot licks and modern dance-hall harmonies.

His attitude was far from apologetic. Said he:

"There hasn't been a successful Army band in the country, and if someone doesn't get after band music and streamline it, Army music will be extinct in another couple years. We've got to keep pace with the soldiers. They want up-to-date music. Why, there's no question about it -- anybody can improve on Sousa." Fearful that Captain Miller's crusade would leave the U.S. Army swinging its hips instead of its feet, old-guard Army musicians creaked with suppressed fury. One old Sousaphile, Bandmaster Edwin Franko Goldman, most famous of present-day U.S. concert bandleaders, rose to denounce this outrage. Said he: "Personally I think it's a disgrace! There isn't any excuse for it. Perhaps they think they can add more dash and appeal. But no one can improve on a Sousa march. . . . My God!"

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