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Chapter 17: In The Mood

Big band hits

The first time I heard Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood” was in a Chips Ahoy! commercial, the perfect soundtrack to a cookie factory gone mad. Big band music is so dang fun - it’s expansive and dynamic, the first pop music I can genuinely picture a room full of people dancing to. Get down to thrilling coordinations from the killer ensembles of Count Basie and Benny Goodman, and swoon to stormy melodies like “Brazil” and “Jeep’s Blues.”
1. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

In the Mood

2. Count Basie

April In Paris

3. Jimmy Dorsey

Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil)

4. Les Brown

Bizet Has His Day

5. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

Sing, Sing, Sing

6. Duke Ellington

Jeep's Blues

7. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

Chattanooga Choo Choo

8. Harry Roy & His Orchestra

La Cucaracha

9. Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

Tea For Two Cha Cha

10. Artie Shaw

Begin the Beguine