In Big Band history, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra is recognized as one of the best all-around dance bands. It could swing with the best of them, and no other band could come close to Tommy’s when it came to playing ballads. Tommy Dorsey, “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing”, was a master at creating warm, sentimental, and always musical moods – at superb dancing and listening tempos. Tommy sustained these moods through the arrangements of the likes of Paul Weston, Axel Stordahl and Sy Oliver, and he showcased singers who could project them brilliantly. The Band was at its best in this decade. In the summer of 1941, it outranked every other band to finish first in one of the most indicative of all popularity polls, Martin Block’s Make Believe Ballroom contest.