With the additional miles in training for the marathon, I’ve brought back a group of songs to my playlist that used to be awesome to run with on the treadmill and use on the elliptical machine. As a trumpet player, I love me some big band music. Back in the late 1990’s there was a swing music revival that swept the United States. Among the most influential big bands was the Brian Setzer Orchestra. For a couple of years, I had the privilege of playing church gigs with a guy who was the original lead trumpet player of the Brian Setzer Orchestra. He was an amazing trumpet player (as are all of the guys in the band)!

Rock this Town is such a fun song to be running with! There are some long band breaks in the song. So, as long as a lack of lyrics isn’t a big deal to you, this song rocks to run with! It’s a longer song than your typical running song. However, that just means it helps distract you for a longer period of time. I love that the beat of the song is fast and the intensity of the song keeps going all the way to the end. So, whether I’m on a walk interval or a run interval, I’m listening to a song that has a tempo that keeps me going.

Jump, Jive, and Wail is the first single that the Brian Setzer Orchestra released. Much like Rock this Town, the tempo of this song is perfect for running. It isn’t as long as Rock this Town. However, is still a great song to keep you feeling great while running. After all, when we’re feeling tired and want to quit, don’t we want fun, up tempo songs to take our minds off of that? I know that I do. These big band songs help me do just that.