Gene Krupa "stole Benny [Goodman]'s thunder," says Kennith Kimery, executive producer of the SMithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. "In the end that cost him his job." Hugh Talman, NMAH, SI When ...

This 14-piece group plays popular big band music of the 30s, and 40s, from bands led by Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and many others. Dancing is encouraged.

The young Benny Goodman is taught clarinet by a Chicago music professor. He is advised by bandleader Kid Ory to play whichever kind of music he likes best, but to make a living, Benny begins by ...