The Royal Air Force Squadronaires broke their own record as the highest chart position for a military ensemble when they soared further up the pop charts with their album “In The Mood: A Glenn Miller Celebration”. Helped by X-Factor’s Stacey Solomon who recorded the Glenn Miller/Etta James classic ‘At Last’ for the album, they finished at No. 7, two positions higher than last week.
 
On Friday the RAF Squadronaires, with Stacey Solomon, held a 70th anniversary reunion event at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in London, turning the venue into a nostalgic re-enactment of the 1940s wartime dancehall. The event, originally intended as an opportunity for previous band members to get together and share memories, became an impromptu celebration of their Top 10 success.
 
“In The Mood: A Glenn Miller Celebration” overtook The Rolling Stones, Florence & the Machine and Justin Bieber in its first week to become the highest ever album for a military band at No.9. The album also knocked Michael Bublé off his long-standing position at the top of the jazz charts. Since then the Glenn Miller classics have further overtaken Pixie Lott and Pendulum to reach their higher position.
 
The album, released by the RAF’s official Big Band in the 70th Anniversary year of the Battle of Britain, pays tribute to legendary US band leader Glenn Miller. It comes at the same time as a new book with a new conspiracy theory about the great jazz figures mystery disappearance over the English Channel in 1944. The album, like Glenn Miller’s own final recording, was made at Abbey Road Studios and includes many favourites such as the title track, Tuxedo Junction, Pennsylvania 6-5000 and a very special new version of Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree with original Andrews Sisters’ vocals lifted onto the brand new backing.