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. [a239399] inherited the [a750213] in New York City in 1936. The history of the following band evolution can be structured in the following way: 1936 - 1944: [a5757047] 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.