TV Reviews : ‘Miller Band Reunion’ Sounds an Authentic Note

Though it’s more of a salute than a reunion, “The Glenn Miller Band Reunion” (airing at 9:05 tonight on Channels 28 and 15, Saturday at 8 p.m. on Channel 50) still has a pleasing ring of authenticity.

True, only six former Miller band members are on hand--trumpeters John Best and Zeke Zarchy, bassist Rolly Bundock, reedman Willie Schwartz, trombonist Jimmy Priddy and musical director Billy May--in this Gary Halvorson-directed program, but the arrangements by May and Eddie Koch are based on transcriptions from original Miller charts. And while singer-host Jack Jones seems strangely out of place, the spiffy vocal group, String of Pearls, is right on the money.

Filmed before an audience at Hollywood’s Aquarius Theatre, “Reunion” is mostly a music presentation that finds the May-led big band, Jones, guest singers Kay Starr and Ray McKinley and String of Pearls delivering one Miller favorite after another.

Interspersed with the musical numbers are snippets of archival footage and still photos, plus some recent interviews with former Miller musicians. The interviews are often humorous and informative, giving the non-cognoscenti some idea who Miller was--the Swing Era’s most popular bandleader before his disappearance on a flight from England to France in 1944.

The instrumentals--”In the Mood,” “Sun Valley Jump” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000” among them--have a sure-footed smoothness, due to May’s first-class writing and to the zesty solos from tenor saxophonists Don Lodice and Bob Cooper and trumpeter Zeke Zarchy.

Caveat: The sound on the review copy provided to The Times was only fair, and while sources at KCET said audio on the broadcast would be first-class stereo, it may not be.