A talk on "Glenn Miller's Music and the Swing Era" by one of the foremost authorities on music of the swing era will be presented by CU-Boulder Friends of the Libraries on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Center for British and Irish Studies on the fifth floor of Norlin Library on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. The program is free and open to the public and a reception will follow. Entrance to the library will be through the west door.
The presentation, the first of several CU-Boulder events commemorating what would have been Glenn Miller's 100th birthday, will feature Norman Leyden relating anecdotes about the big band era with an introduction by Alan Cass, director of the Glenn Miller Archives.
Leyden, an early associate of Glenn Miller, has conducted and arranged for artists including Mitch Miller, Gordon MacRae, Ezio Pinza, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Arthur Godfrey and Sarah Vaughn. He is a graduate of Yale University and holds master's and doctoral degrees from Columbia University.
Leyden began his professional career as a college student playing bass clarinet with the New Haven Symphony. During five years of military service he served as an arranger with the Glenn Miller Army/Air Force Band in England and France. He became chief arranger when Tex Beneke reorganized the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1946.
He then became a staff conductor for RCA Victor and composed and arranged music for Walt Disney's "Cinderella," "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and "Alice in Wonderland."
Leyden advises musical groups around the world on the big band sound and is much in demand in both classical and popular fields of music. He has guest conducted more than 40 American symphony orchestras as well as many orchestras in Europe.
Leyden has been the associate conductor of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra for 33 years. A PBS special on Glenn Miller featuring Leyden and the U.S. Air Force Academy Falconaires debuted on national television in August 2000.
The Feb. 25 event is sponsored by the Daily Camera. Pay parking will be available in the Euclid Avenue Autopark on campus. For more information call (303) 492-7511.
For a complete list of Glenn Miller events scheduled at CU-Boulder through June visit or call CU-Boulder's American Music Research Center at (303) 492-6291.