American jazz orchestra and big band. From the 1940’s, the expression ’The Herd’ was used in variable context, which was always a synonym for Woody Herman’s orchestra.
Woody Herman inherited the Isham Jones Orchestra in New York City in 1936. The history of the following band evolution can be structured in the following way:
In 1944, the term ’The Herd’ was first established. Woody Herman took this term for his purposes and started first to number the herds, later the herds got more special names. The following time table gives an overview over the living periods of the herds. The respective herd was always used as an ANV to the ’Woody Herman Orchestra’ in the specified time range. All members of the herds were also member of the Woody Herman orchestra.
Besides this rough timeline, there were several spin-offs and reincarnations of other bands and herds, which do make the timeline in fact more complicated. For example: Members Of The Woody Herman Orchestra (primarily circa 1959)