Local Big Band Expert Anticipates Glenn Miller Orchestra Performance at Westminster

When the Glenn Miller Orchestra returns to Westminster College for an April 24 scholarship benefit concert, the conductor will see an old friend in the audience.

Al Sternbergh, a 1951 Westminster College graduate who returned to work as the Director of the Career Center and a Development Officer for 25 years before retiring in New Wilmington, has followed the Glenn Miller Orchestra since the band's founding in the late 1930s. He has become friends with Larry O'Brien, the current musical conductor of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and is also friends with Dr. Paul Tanner, the only living member of Glenn Miller's Civilian Orchestra.

Tanner and Sternbergh met for the first time over a decade ago at an annual Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda, Iowa - Miller's birthplace. "We had dinner together and have been friends ever since," Sternbergh said.

Sternbergh and his wife, Margaret, visit with Tanner and his wife, Jan, each year in California, and two of Margaret's photographs of the departure site of Glenn Miller's last flight (Twinwood Farm airstrip in Bedford, England) appear in Tanner's latest book Sideman - Stories About The Band. A photo of Sternbergh with a WWII historian and the U.S. 8th Air Force Group is also in the book.

The book features stories about Tanner's life and times with Miller, along with 200 rare photographs providing a glimpse behind the scenes of one of America's favorite bands. Copies of Sideman - Stories About The Band are available at the Westminster College Bookstore (724-946-7218) and will also be sold the Orr Auditorium lobby on the night of the performance. A portion of the proceeds from the book sale will go to the local scholarship fund.

Sternbergh met current conductor Larry O'Brien at Youngstown's Idora Park in the late 1980s. Sternbergh and O'Brien became fast friends and the Glenn Miller Orchestra played at Westminster annually from 1990-94. O'Brien even managed to convince Sternbergh to join the group for a trombone solo during "In the Mood" at the 1994 local show.

"I belong to the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society and the Glenn Miller Society of England," said Sternbergh, one of the nation's leading authorities on Big Band music. "For me, and many others, Big Band music lives on. Our area has had many fine musicians travel and lay with many of the Big Bands in the 30s and 40s, including Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Benny Goodman, and others. I hope many will attend the April 24th concert to hear that wonderful Miller sound once more."

"The basic reason that Glenn Miller's music still is popular today, and that popularity is worldwide, especially in England and Japan, is because Miller entertained the troops during World War II in the U.S.A. and Europe. They would play two to three times a day, and the troops loved them," he added.

Sternbergh's admiration for the Glenn Miller Orchestra grew out of his own musical skills. He grew up just outside New York City and was an accomplished trombone player who studied at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music.

As a high school student, Sternbergh saw the Glenn Miller Orchestra perform many times at New York theaters and was present in 1942 when the band played its last stage show.

Sternbergh played in a dance band during his high school years, and performed in Carnegie Hall during the 1946 Look Magazine National Dance Band Contest. He won a trophy for his soloist performance, which was presented by Bill Harris, a jazz trombonist with Woody Herman's Band.

While studying at Westminster College, Sternbergh was a co-leader of the Westminster Dance Band. After returning to Westminster in 1968 to direct the Career Center, Sternbergh donated his impressive musical collection to the Westminster College Library.

The April 24 Glenn Miller Orchestra benefit concert starts at 8 p.m. in Westminster's Orr Auditorium, and will provide scholarship funds to assist Westminster students from Lawrence and Mercer counties. Contact Jennifer Williams, director of the Westminster Fund, at (724) 946-7007 for more information about the scholarship program.

For ticket information, Contact the Westminster College Celebrity Series Office at (724) 946-7354 or e-mail, mcginncl@westminster.edu