Slow Dance

This song was originally recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles, who took their single to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. I love this version by the inimitable Amy Winehouse.

Slow very slow

The setting for this dance is the Waldorf Astoria. We see Al Pacino playing the part of a retired, now blind, colonel dance the tango with a beautiful young lady. If you didn’t get to see the movie, do yourself a favour. It’s called “Scent of a Woman”

There are few genres or eras that typify ‘close and slow’ dance more than the big bands of the 1940s and ‘50s. They rose to the height of their popularity during the dreadful years of WWII, where the promise of enjoyment, great music, and the close company offered a chance to briefly escape the horrors of war. After the war, with the whole world in dire financial straits, most of the big bands split up.
And if you talk big bands, one name is most often mentioned – that of The Glenn Miller Band. Glenn Miller was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942. In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top ten hits—more than Elvis Presley and the Beatles did in their entire careers.
In 1942, at the age of 38, Miller volunteered to join the U.S. military to entertain troops, ending up with the US Army Air Forces. On December 15, 1944, while flying to Paris, Miller’s aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel.

2005 found Carly Simon and a 15-piece orchestra tackling originals and classic standards on a six-day voyage from New York City to Southampton, England, on board the most famous ocean liner in the world – The Queen Mary II. (A film was made of it all). Here she sings an all-time Glenn Miller favourite, Moonlight Serenade, to the accompaniment of those ‘close and slow’ ballroom dancers. The band recreates the typical trumpets, trombones and clarinet sounds that was the hallmark of the original Miller band.