I agree that the original Glenn Miller arrangement is excellent, but like much music, I grew tired of it due to repetition, and the requirement it be played on almost every commercial gig I worked in the 1970s. Even in a trio (piano, bass, sax). Gag me with a spoon. We used to call it “In The Nood”…
Thanks for the Library of Congress link on In the Mood's history. I downloaded it and read it.
"In the Nude", I love it.
😉
In the mid 1970's before heading to college, it was still popular. A requirement came down from our HQ of our 25th Infantry Division Band to play a field version of
In the Mood. Short tasking, our trombonist, Bob, who was also our arranger, was going to spend a couple days hand arranging parts for us. Whilst assisting the band's librarian, I found we already had a folder on file with all parts, which spared him the task. It was a marching band version.
(We still had music in boxes, as the band received the music library of the recently deactivated 264th Army Band, Honolulu. Roughly 15 of us didn't receive transfer orders to other bands were transferred to the 25th at Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii.)
We ended up playing it a good number of times in various venues we did, military school graduations (various job related short duration courses (2 weeks to say a month or 2, classes held on the base like Non-Commissioned Officer's Leadership Course, civilian world they are called work related continuing education courses), pass in review ceremonies during in-place music, sports pep-band events,etc.
Someone on top loved that song.
Moving on now as a reservist, back in the 1980's with the 300 AB in So Cal, we didn't do Miller stuff, but did a lot of Nestico (Hay Burner, Basie Straight Ahead, Switch in Time, etc.)
Summer 2 weeks, we'd spend one year in Sierra Vista near Tucson, AZ filling in for the 62nd AB on blanket leave (holiday), the other (alternated between the two) at Presidio, San Francisco (Army base at south end of the Bay Bridge) filling in for its band (don't remember the designation - since, base now closed).
Many of our members were prior active service bandsmen. When top brass was coming to visit us, one of the trombone players, Bob, used to refer to the colonels (rank was a symbolic eagle) as the "man with the chicken on his collar".
(Doesn't seem in nearly every band, we have a trombonist named "Bob"?) 😉
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