I was recently showing a beautiful Upper West Side apartment on a high floor with views across NYC, and I needed to set the mood. The apartment had been perfectly staged, and it was a great space, but something more was needed. I know some agents say the smell of something baking in the oven makes a house feel more like a home to prospective buyers, but that wasn’t the right tone for this place. I needed something more swanky. Since I am particularly attuned to music and soundscapes, I tried putting on WQXR, the local classical music station. That worked well enough until the opera program started – not everyone likes opera, and I didn’t want to put people off. I needed something more upbeat and universally likeable that would set the mood. I tried contemporary jazz, but it wasn’t quite right either. And then it came to me. Big band was the solution!

That was when I discovered the YouTube playlist called Radio Days – Big Bands Play Best Of Golden Songs From the Days of the Radio. Though it seems like it’s from a single album, I haven’t been able to find it anywhere else, so I just keep playing the album on YouTube over and over. It’s just fantastic, and at 2 hours and 30 minutes, it’s sure to keep me amused for quite some time to come.

You can follow Jazz & Blues Legends (the label that put out the album) on Facebook.