Whenever I try to import music into Itunes the Band/Orchestra tag
shows up in the artist field and the artist disappears.  If I delete
the Band/Orchestra tag, then the Artist tag shows up correctly.

I've seen this problem reported elsewhere on the Internet but haven't
found a solution (other than deleting the Band/Orchestra tags, which I
don't want to do).

I tag my MP3s and AACs with Helium2.  But this seems to be an issue
with any non-itunes tagging program.

The reason is simple: iTunes is weird. This relates to two different
ID3 fields: TPE1 and TPE2.

TPE1 is the "Artist" field.
TPE2 is the "Band/Orchestra" field.

iTunes will treat either of these as the "Artist" field, for the
simple reason that some tagging programs use one, some use the other.
If you use both field, iTunes has the annoying chracteristic that it
will choose whichever one comes LAST in the tag. Or first. I forget,
but the point is that it chooses based on position of the field in the
tag itself.

Since tag fields can actually be in any order, which one you actually
GET is therefore a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes you'll get one,
sometimes the other. It all depends on how your tagging program works.

For consistency you should therefore use either Artist or Band, but not both.

This is a problem I had, I don't know why iTunes won't let you
view/edit both types of tags, but I found a way to force iTunes to use
TPE1.

iTunes does read whichever tag comes last, however, you can change
which tage comes last by using MP3Tag.  This is non-destructive in
that it leaves the content of both the TPE1 and TPE2 tags in tact, but
just changes their order.  This way, you can use real mp3 players like
winamp and Windows Media that DO read and display both tags (unlike
iTunes).

Solution:
1. Download MP3Tag at http://mp3tag.de/en/download.html

2. Import your mp3s into the program

3.  Select all files (CTRL + A)

4. Hit ALT + T

5. Hit OK (you don't have to do anything except hit OK, trust me)

Voila.  All your MP3 tags are rearranged so that TPE1 is the one that
is read by iTunes.  Of course this fix won't add support for
viewing/editing both TPE1 and 2 tags in iTunes, but it will let you
use your iPod and iTunes without a single album showing up as 10
different artists.

Cheers