The last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, trombonist Paul Tanner, passed away earlier this week following a bout with pneumonia, he was 95.

Born in Skunk Hollow, Kentucky on October 15, 1917 Tanner worked alongside Miller from 1938 to 1942 as the trombonist for his jazz orchestra, before moving to Hollywood to work as a studio musician. He later became a professor of music at UCLA published many scholarly and popular works throughout his time as an academic, usually concentrating his work on jazz and contemporary music of the time.

By the 1960's, Tanner began working on a new instrument with amateur inventor Bob Whitsell, the electrotheremin - often referred to as the Tannerin in honour of it's chief developer, Tanner. The electrotheremin was heard all around the world when it's unusual, psychedelic sound was picked up by the Beach Boys, who enlisted Tanner to play the instrument on the hit 'Good Vibrations.' Tanner also player the instrument on two other Beach Boys tracks, 'I Just Wasn't Made for These Times' and 'Wild Honey.'

His stepson, Douglas Darnell, first reported the news of Tanner's death in a statement to press outlining that he had died of pneumonia on Tuesday (Feb 5) at an assisted living centre in California.