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Ray McKinley, London, 1944
Abbey Road Studios
© EMI Music Ltd. |
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Since the time of its founding in 1931, Abbey Road Studios has continued to play host to dozens of leading drummers from both the U.S. and Britain, and Sergeant Ray McKinley was no exception. In a relationship dating as early as 1925, McKinley was a long-time friend and band-mate of Glenn Miller’s, and would eventually go on to serve as co-leader of the orchestra in the years following his disappearance.
Seen here as part of the U.S. war effort in England, Ray McKinley’s musical talent had been a driving force behind the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (ABAEF), as well as throughout his earlier involvement with the orchestras of such legendary band leaders as Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. In addition to performing with the full orchestra, McKinley would also serve as leader of a smaller, dance-band unit formed from a select group of his fellow ABAEF members. Other, similar units included the Uptown Hall Swing Sextet, led by pianist Mel Powell, and the Strings With Wings string orchestra, led by concert master Sergeant George Ockner. Although he had never utilized strings in his orchestra prior to the war, because of the importance of ABAEF’s mission Miller was provided with many of the leading players from symphony orchestras and studio groups throughout the United States.
In addition to the central roles of McKinley and Powell, and a newly formed string section, the ABAEF would also consist of numerous, former members of Miller’s civilian band, including trumpeter Zeke Zarchy, trombonist Jim Priddy, and arranger Jerry Gray, as well as former members of the Artie Shaw Orchestra, such as trumpeter Steve Steck, trumpeter Bernie Privin, and saxophonist Hank Freeman. When once describing the sight of the Glenn Miller Orchestra’s June 23rd, 1944 departure for England, long-time Miller friend and personal manager Don Haynes would state “A sight I will long remember was those fine musicians, who for the last ten days had had very little rest, with sore arms from countless inoculations, carrying, dragging, pushing their barracks and duffle bags, instrument cases, overcoats, and their carbine rifles strapped to their shoulders, pointing every direction, as they climbed those stairs and across the gangplank onto the (Queen Elizabeth).”
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Mel Powell, London, 1944
Abbey Road Studios
© EMI Music Ltd. |
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Pictured here at Abbey Road’s studio piano, Sergeant Mel Powell can be seen in what appears to be a candid moment of rehearsal, as part of the day’s recordings. Unlike most other instruments used in a touring orchestra such as Miller’s (woodwinds, brass, strings, drums), the piano pictured in the accompanying photo is very likely the property of the studio itself, and would have therefore previously been used on many of the countless, legendary recordings taking place at Abbey Road, throughout the 1940s, as well as on many, landmark recordings to follow.
Beginning with the studio’s opening ceremony on November 12, 1931, with the London Symphony Orchestra’s historic recording of “Land of Hope and Glory,” under the baton of Sir Edward Elgar, and continuing throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Abbey Road’s recording halls had hosted some of the most beloved artists from the worlds of classical music, film, theatre, and jazz. Beyond Sir Thomas Beecham’s numerous, landmark recordings with the London Philharmonic, taking place in Studio One, the long list of British and American artists at Abbey Road would include Noel Coward, Adelaide Halle, Flanagan & Allen, Paul Robeson, Fred Astaire, Fats Waller, and many more.
In addition to American pianist and composer Mel Powell’s distinguished career in the world of jazz, first with the Benny Goodman Orchestra and pictured here as part of the ABAEF, his own musical instincts would later evolve toward that of contemporary classical, eventually going on to study under German composer Paul Hindemith, a leading force in modernist music (Hindemith, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, etc.). Mel Powell’s career in the world of contemporary classical music would eventually lead him to serve as a founder of the distinguished California Institute of the Arts (outside of Los Angeles), and to eventually receive the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Music, for his 1990 composition “Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.”
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Dinah Sings, London, 1944
Abbey Road Studios
© EMI Music Ltd. |
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In the accompanying photo of Dinah Shore, the viewer is provided with another perspective from within the midst of the Miller Orchestra. Also, with the EMI company maintaining a long-standing reputation of excellence in both the technical and creative fields of music recording, the image’s featuring of Shore performing in front of a large, studio microphone also provides an important opportunity to recognize the history of Abbey Road in the advancement of recording equipment and design.
In April of 1931, six months prior to the studio’s opening, and many years before its eventual re-naming as Abbey Road, the Gramophone Company and its main competitor, the Columbia Gramophone Company, had merged to form Electric and Musical Industries (EMI). Originally operating in London as early as 1897, it had been shortly after that time that the Gramophone Company would also soon begin using their now famous image of “Nipper” (a small terrier dog), staring into the horn of a gramophone machine (head tilted to one side), curiously listening to the sound of “His Master’s Voice.”
Opening its first purpose-built studio complex at 3 Abbey Road in November of 1931, EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) has remained the center of the company’s extensive music recording and post-production work. With its Studio One serving as one of the largest recording rooms in the world, easily housing a full, symphony orchestra, and with its Studio Two and Studio Three also designed to accommodate smaller orchestras, each was originally wired with as many as six microphone channels per room (in 1931) and, with the facility’s opening, EMI would also soon begin the development of its own, specialized recording equipment, in cooperation with British design engineer Alan Blumlein.
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