Hvad var navnet på sangmesteren, der kom med?
Louis Armstrong havde nok til at tage Miller med sig sine optagelser, som blev overført til syv tommer båndspoler, når han tog på turné. "[Armstrong] kunne lide musikere, der satte pris på melodien, og hans udvalg gik fra Glenn Miller til Jelly Roll Morton til Tjajkovskij." Jazzpianisten George Shearings kvintet i 1950'erne og 1960'erne var påvirket af Miller: "med Shearings låste hænder-stilklaver (påvirket af stemmeføring fra Millers saxofonsektion) i midten [af kvintettens harmonier]". Frank Sinatra og Mel Tormé havde stor respekt for orkestret. Tormé krediterede Miller for at have givet ham nyttige råd, da han først startede sin sang- og sangskriverkarriere i 1940'erne. Mel Tormé mødte Glenn Miller i 1942, og mødet blev formidlet af Tormés far og Ben Pollack. Tormé og Miller diskuterede "That Old Black Magic", som netop var ved at opstå som en ny sang af Johnny Mercer og Harold Arlen. Miller fortalte Tormé, at han skulle samle hver eneste sang af Mercer op og studere den og blive en glubende læser af alt, hvad han kunne finde, for "alle gode tekstforfattere er store læsere". I et interview med George T. Simon i 1948 beklagede Sinatra den ringere kvalitet af den musik, han indspillede i slutningen af fyrrerne, sammenlignet med "de fantastiske Glenn Miller-ting" fra otte år tidligere. Frank Sinatras indspilninger fra slutningen af fyrrerne og begyndelsen af halvtredserne bruger nogle Miller-musikere. Trigger Alpert, en bassist fra det civile band, Zeke Zarchy fra Army Air Forces Band og Willie Schwartz, den ledende klarinettist fra det civile band, er med til at støtte Frank Sinatra på mange optagelser. Med modsatrettede meninger nedgjorde bandlederkollegaen Artie Shaw ofte bandet efter Millers død: "Alt jeg kan sige er, at Glenn skulle have levet, og 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' skulle have været død." Klarinettisten Buddy DeFranco overraskede mange mennesker, da han ledede Glenn Miller Orchestra i slutningen af tresserne og begyndelsen af halvfjerdserne. De Franco var allerede en veteran fra bands som Gene Krupa og Tommy Dorsey i 1940'erne. Han var også en vigtig eksponent for den moderne jazz i 1950'erne. Han så aldrig Miller som leder af et swingende jazzband, men DeFranco er meget glad for visse aspekter af Glenn Millers stil. "Jeg fandt ud af, at når jeg åbnede med lyden af 'Moonlight Serenade', kunne jeg se mig omkring og se mænd og kvinder græde, mens musikken bragte dem tilbage til forgangne år." De Franco siger, at "skønheden i Glenn Millers ballader [...] fik folk til at danse sammen."
Louis Armstrong thought enough of Miller to carry around his recordings, transferred to seven-inch tape reels when he went on tour. "[Armstrong] liked musicians who prized melody, and his selections ranged from Glenn Miller to Jelly Roll Morton to Tchaikovsky." Jazz pianist George Shearing's quintet of the 1950s and 1960s was influenced by Miller: "with Shearing's locked hands style piano (influenced by the voicing of Miller's saxophone section) in the middle [of the quintet's harmonies]". Frank Sinatra and Mel Tormé held the orchestra in high regard. Tormé credited Miller with giving him helpful advice when he first started his singing and song-writing career in the 1940s. Mel Tormé met Glenn Miller in 1942, the meeting facilitated by Tormé's father and Ben Pollack. Tormé and Miller discussed "That Old Black Magic", which was just emerging as a new song by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. Miller told Tormé to pick up every song by Mercer and study it and to become a voracious reader of anything he could find, because "all good lyric writers are great readers." In an interview with George T. Simon in 1948, Sinatra lamented the inferior quality of music he was recording in the late forties, in comparison with "those great Glenn Miller things" from eight years earlier. Frank Sinatra's recording sessions from the late forties and early fifties use some Miller musicians. Trigger Alpert, a bassist from the civilian band, Zeke Zarchy for the Army Air Forces Band and Willie Schwartz, the lead clarinetist from the civilian band back up Frank Sinatra on many recordings. With opposite opinion, fellow bandleader Artie Shaw frequently disparaged the band after Miller's death: "All I can say is that Glenn should have lived, and 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' should have died." Clarinetist Buddy DeFranco surprised many people when he led the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the late sixties and early seventies. De Franco was already a veteran of bands like Gene Krupa and Tommy Dorsey in the 1940s. He was also a major exponent of modern jazz in the 1950s. He never saw Miller as leading a swinging jazz band, but DeFranco is extremely fond of certain aspects of the Glenn Miller style. "I found that when I opened with the sound of 'Moonlight Serenade', I could look around and see men and women weeping as the music carried them back to years gone by." De Franco says, "the beauty of Glenn Miller's ballads [...] caused people to dance together."
Glenn Miller