The era of popular music from about 1918 through the early 1950s saw a veritable explosion of sophisticated songwriting that converged with a new sound from reed and brass players. Jazz was born, and the musical sophistication that accompanied this "newfangled" sound set the stage for the prominence of a relatively new class of musician: the arranger, whose role in big band orchestrations became as important as the composers whose music served as the foundation for Big Band jazz. The Big Band evolved as a unique phenomenon in American music history, and ever since with vintage recordings,...