[78-L] Mitch Miller Horrifies

[David Lennick]

By the way, Mitch was an entertaining guy..I got a great interview out of him 
years ago. He may still be an entertaining guy, but he must be about 97 now.

Oh yeah, he put strings behind Charlie Parker too..I personally loathe those 
sides but it was Bird who wanted them that way.

Poop wars? I love it!

dl

Sean Miller wrote:
> ....with no intentions of starting a poop war, but amen dl!!!
> 
> Sean
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of David Lennick
> Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 1:35 AM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Mitch Miller Horrifies
> 
> Jeff Sultanof wrote:
>> I wonder what the motivation was to put this set together. There is no
>> question that Miller, a very talented man, was responsible for some of the
>> worst recordings ever perpetrated on the public. The fact is that that
> very
>> public bought a lot of these records, and his radio and television program
>> was very popular.
> 
> And nobody brought them back and asked for refunds. I'm getting a little
> pissed 
> off at the general tone of this thread. We're all free to poop on Mitch
> Miller 
> and generally do, but the fact of the matter is that nobody held a gun to 
> Goddard Lieberson's head (or anyone else at Columbia) and said "Hire our boy
> 
> Mitch and screw up the music forever or kiss your kneecaps goodbye". He 
> produced hit records. He happened to produce them in an era known for boring
> 
> crap, imitation country and western, stolen folk songs, novelties featuring 
> barking dogs, an era that is generally regarded as a low point in popular
> music 
> and one which could only have led to the rise by default of rock 'n' roll
> and 
> R&B, and he made records that SOLD. There was garbage before Mitch came
> along, 
> too. And Sinatra made some stinkers before Mitch was at Columbia..check out 
> "The Dum Dot Song".
>> As if adding insult to injury, Miller claimed that only he knew how
>> Gershwin's late concert compositions should sound, because he played them
>> with Gershwin at the podium. His memory must have deteriorated badly;
> these
>> were the worst recordings Gershwin I've ever heard.
> 
> Just curious which ones you're referring to.
>> Of course the buying public could send a great message to JSP by not
> buying
>> this set.
> 
> JSP isn't in business for its health any more than any record company is
> these 
> days. And it's not the business of you or me or any people on this list to
> tell 
> JSP, Naxos, Jasmine or any other label to say "Don't buy these records".
>> And yes, I agree with Dr. Biel that Miller made up for all of this garbage
>> by keeping Alec Wilder busy in any number of capacities. That certainly is
>> worth something.
>>
>> Jeff Sultanof
> 
> Alec Wilder could produce crap too, incidentally..read the reviews of a
> couple 
> of pieces he composed specially for issue on Golden Crest.
> 
> dl
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