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“In the Mood“ is a song popularized by the American bandleader Glenn Miller in 1939, and one of the best-known arrangements of the big band era. Miller's rendition topped the charts one year later and was featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade. The song is an anomaly to chart purists. “In The Mood“ was released in the period immediately prior to the inception of retail sales charts in Billboard magazine. While it led the Record Buying Guide (jukebox list) for 13 weeks, it never made the top 15 on the sheet music charts, which were considered by many to be the true measure of popular song success. The popular Your Hit Parade program ranked the song no higher than ninth place, for one week only (1940). It opens with a now-famous sax section theme, and is joined by trumpets and trombones after 13 counts. It has two main solo sections; a “tenor fight“ solo -- in the most famous recording, between Tex Beneke and Al Klink -- and a 16-bar trumpet solo. It is also famous for its ending. The song, a twelve-bar blues, was composed by Joe Garland and Andy Razaf, and arranged by Eddie Durham. The main theme previously appeared under the title of “Tar Paper Stomp“, credited to jazz trumpeter/bandleader Wingy Manone, who recorded it several times in 1929 and 1930. A story says that after “In the Mood“ became a hit, Manone was paid by Miller and his record company not to contest the copyright.
