Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the weird sound of the electro theremin at the end of ‘Good Vibrations’. Going through some fan sites, while writing my little tribute last Sunday, I discovered the part was played by a certain Paul Tanner, the man who developed the electric version of the theremin in 1958.
Tanner was not your typical, anonymous studio musician. He already had a whole musical life behind him, when he was asked to work with the Beach Boys during the recording of Pet Sounds. Paul Tanner was a member of the legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra in the nineteen thirties and early nineteen forties. He played trombone on Millers’ signature recordings including ‘In the mood’ and ‘Moonlight Serenade’; songs that dominated the popular music charts in the late thirties.
The success story found a tragic ending. On December 15, 1944, Glenn Miller (born 1904) was scheduled to fly from the England to France, to play for the soldiers who had recently liberated Paris. His plane disappeared over the English Channel and was never to be found. Miller's disappearance remains a mystery, as neither his remains nor the wreckage of his plane were ever recovered from the water.
Paul Tanner, apparently, is alive and well, he's 89 years old.
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