2007-Dec-3 - Jack Jackson

Jack Jackson was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire. Son of a brass band conductor, he was taught trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music. He first appears on dance band records in 1925 with Bert Ralton, and was soon in the studio with Ronnie Munro. His break came in 1927 when he joined Jack Hylton's outfit. Jack Jackson's trumpet is the highlight on many a Hylton HMV record, and he also sang on many records contributing scat vocals on some.
Listen to these short extracts of Jack Jackson from the recording of Grieving For You with Jack Hylton's Rhythmagicians, recorded Dec 15,1927, issued in UK on HMV B.5422.

When you listen to the whole record you immediately realise that the band have listened to Red Nichols / Miff Mole or Beiderbecke/ Trumbauer/ Venuti/ Lang; this is a rare occasion when the British musicians were allowed to record freely.

Jackson was involved in many hot recording sessions with the likes of Fred Elizalde and Spike Hughes, and then took up a place with Jack Payne and his BBC Dance Orchestra in 1931. Again Jackson features on many a hot recording and comedy number.
By 1933 he had formed his own band playing at the fashionable Dorchester Hotel, from which he made regular radio broadcasts. His first own HMV records named him as John Jackson and his Orchestra, maybe HMV thought there were enough band leaders named Jack! Al Bowlly was the vocalist on the first four issues. Soon the full credit on the labels was Jack Jackson and his Orchestra, at the Dorchester Hotel, London. Jack is vocalist on many of his band's records and in Sept/Oct 1934 several recordings featured the American jazz/blues singer Alberta Hunter.
ack Jackson began a new radio career in 1947 with 'Band Parade' and then his own 'disc-jockey' show 'Record Round-up' which started in 1948 and lasted 20 years.

Jack Jackson & His Orchestra
Be Still My Heart
 

2007-Dec-2 - Swing Is in the Air

Swing Is in the Air
Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra

Disc 1

 1. Cotton Pickers' Congregation
 2. Hide And Seek
 3. South American Joe
 4. Copenhagen    
 5. Lighthouse Blues    
 6. Creole Lady    
 7. Hick Stomp    
 8. Swinganola    
 9. Twilight In Turkey
10. Toy Trumpet    
11. Power House
12. Wood And Ivory
13. Broadway Rhythm
14. Memphis Blues
15. Streamline Strut
16. Maracas    
17. Caravan    
18. Tarantula    
19. The Wedding Of The Sophisticated Dutch Doll    
20. Mr. Reynard's Nightmare
21. Early Morning Blues    
22. Hullabaloo    
23. Tootin' Around
24. Voodoo    
25. B'wanga    
26. Swing Patrol

Disc 2

1. Plain Jane
2. The Penguin
3. Lazybones
4. Wotcha Gotta Trombone For?
5. Lullaby Of Broadway   
6. Chasing Shadows
7. Lament For Congo
8. You Are My Lucky Star
9. Deep Henderson
10. They Can't Take That Away From Me
11. Man About Town
12. Ambrose's Tiger Rag
13. Be Still, My Heart
14. Swing High, Swing Low
15. The Wardance Of The Wooden Indians
16. The Love Bug Will Bite You
17. Red Sails In The Sunset
18. Bye-Bye, Baby   
19. The Object Of My Affection
20. It's A Sin To Tell A Lie   
21. Jeepers Creepers   
22. Down The Old Ox Road
23. Okay For Sound   
24. The Show Is Over   
25. On Your Toes   
26. Swing Is In The Air

2007-Dec-2 - Legendary Big Bands

Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra
Legendary Big Bands

1. Embassy Stomp
2. Caravan
3. Deep Henderson
4. Cotton Pickers
5. Congregation
6. Copenhagen
7. Hors D'oeuvers
8. Streamline Strut
9. Champagne Coctail
10. Falling Leaves
11. Panama
12. Limehouse Blues
13. Piccolino
14. B'wanga
15. Nightride
16. Hide & Seek
17. Hick Stomp
18. El Samba
19. Nocturne Of The Oasis
20. Swing Low Street Clarinet

2007-Dec-2 - Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra

Glamour of the Thirties
Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra 

1. Man About Town    
2. You Are My Lucky Star
3. I'll Step Out Of The Picture
4. Wotcha Got A Trombone For?
5. The Piccolino    
6. Why Was I Born?    
7. One-Way Street    
8. Knock, Knock, Who's There?
9. Cheek To Cheek    
10. Squibs    
11. La Chchuracha
12. Who's Been Polishing The Sun?
13. I'm Gonna Wash My Hands Of You
14. Yip! Neddy
15. College Rhythm
16. Stay As Sweet As You Are
17. Home James And Don't Spare The Horses
18. Wood And Ivory
19. Dames    
20. I Only Have Eyes For You

2007-Dec-2 - Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra

Bert Ambrose was born in London, England, in 1897 and as a young man emigrated to USA where he studied the violin. After a first job as a member of a cinema orchestra, Bert became musical director of the Club de Vingt at the Palais Royal in New York (1917-20). He was heard there by the owner of London's Embassy Club and persuaded to return to England. He left the Embassy club in 1922 and returned to New York, and for a time was musical director at the Clover Gardens, but was persuaded again to return to the Embassy Club in London.
Ambrose and his Embassy Club Orchestra made at least twelve recordings in April 1923 issued on the Columbia label. No radio broadcasts were made from the Embassy. In 1927 Ambrose accepted the post of musical director at the Mayfair Hotel, apparently at £10,000 a year. He took with him his saxophonist Joe Crossman and recruited several musicians during a trip to USA, including trumpeter Henry Levine. Within weeks of opening at the Mayfair the Ambrose orchestra was already recording with Brunswick, playing arrangements by Fred Elizalde and Lew Stone. At this time the band also included Jack Miranda (cl,as) Sydney Lipton (vn) and Harry Raderman (tb). In February 1928 the band began recording with HMV and began broadcasting from the Mayfair in March. During 1928 several excellent players joined the band: including Americans Joe Brannelly (g) Sylvester Ahola (t) Perley Breed (cl, saxes) and British Ted Heath (tb) Dennis Ratcliffe (t) Arthur Lally and Joe Jeannette(cl, saxes) Joe Crossman remained, Eric Siday and Reg Pursglove (vn) and Bert Read (p). Ambrose was not considered the top band by HMV who were also releasing very popular recordings by Jack Hylton, Paul Whiteman and others. So in 1929 Ambrose went to Decca studios. It wasn't until star American clarinetist Danny Polo replaced Arthur Lally that Decca released any recordings. The Ambrose recordings on the red M-series Decca are hard to find today and are very sought after for the Lew Stone arrangements and solo work from Ahola and Polo. Most of the vocals during this period were by Lou Abelardo but in 1930 Sam Browne began to appear on Ambrose records just before the band went back to HMV.
Arguably the best hotel band in Britain at the time, the Ambrose Orchestra at the Mayfair could count royalty among their audience and aquired the top Saturday night spot for radio broadcasts.
Over two hundred HMV recordings were made during 1930-1932, and several recordings on Decca and Zonophone by the Blue Lyres are now regarded as being by members of the Ambrose Orchestra. During this time it was Sam Browne who delivered most of the vocals. Two other important changes occurred, the reed players were now joined by Billy Amstell, and trumpeter Max Goldberg replaced Sylvester Ahola who returned to USA. New vocalists included Elsie Carlisle and Anona Winn. Late in 1932 Ambrose appeared on the Regal-Zonophone label then in 1933 the band returned to the Brunswick label and also to the Embassy Club, Sid Phillips joined the band as reed player and arranger, and then in 1934 Ambrose recordings appeared again on the now parent blue label Decca, and this continued until 1947. Listen to this excerpt from Brighter Than The Sun and then an excerpt of Sam Browne's vocal. The popularity of the Ambrose Orchestra reached a peak in the mid-thirties, and at the time vocalists included Elsie Carlisle, Evelyn Dall, Jack Cooper, Sam Browne, Denny Dennis and Vera Lynn. The Ambrose 'sound' was special - the band benefitted from the superb technical skills of the players and the fine arrangements of Sid Phillips and Bert Barnes, and these combined to produce a unique sound full of warmth and intricate section playing with first rate solo work. The Ambrose Orchestra made its last recordings in 1947, and continued to broadcast for a few more years. Bert died in 1971.

2007-Dec-2 - Lew Stone

Born in London in 1898, Lew Stone learned music at an early age and became an accomplished pianist. In the 1920's he worked with many important dance bands. Some arrangements attributed⁽¹⁾ to Lew Stone can be heard on particular records by the Savoy Orpheans (1927) and Ray Starita and his Ambassador's Band (1928),  During 1927-1931 Lew Stone's arrangements for the Bert Ambrose Orch virtually made it the best in Europe. The HMV discs are today sought after as much for those arrangements as for the superb instrumentalists or vocals. You can read more about Lew's contribution to Bert Ambrose Orch on this website.

Lew continued to work with other bands like Jack Hylton's and Jack Payne's BBC Dance Orchestra, and he also took several top musicians into the studio to make a few recordings that were issued on the Duophone label as 'Lewis Stone and his Orchestra'. Roy Fox's Band opened at the Monseigneur Restaurant in 1931 and Lew Stone took the up the position of pianist and arranger. When Roy Fox became ill in October he was sent off to Switzerland to rest and Lew assumed leadership of the band. The main vocalist at the Monseigneur was the very popular Al Bowlly who had already sang on over 30 recordings.
Lew began to use other band members for vocal refrain and this proved successful particularly when trumpeter Nat Gonella sang 'Oh! Mo'nah'. Sales of the record Decca F.2763 were huge and may have kept Decca in business.
When Roy Fox returned to London in April 1932 he found that his band was the most popular in the city. A contemporary article in the Gramophone magazine describes events⁽²⁾.
In 1932 Lew also worked with a studio band and several recordings were issued on the flexible Durium Records featuring vocals by Al Bowlly, Sam Browne and Les Allen. Some of the arrangements on Durium were by Stan Bowsher⁽¹⁾.

In October 1932, when Roy Fox's contract at the Monseigneur ended, Lew Stone was offered the post of bandleader and this story filled the pages of the music press. An article from Rhythm magazine describes how this happened⁽²⁾.
The Tuesday night broadcasts from the Monseigneur established Lew Stone's band as a great favourite with the listening public, who recognised the sheer quality of the music, and the royal clientele attracted an unsurpassed reputation. Rave reviews were common in the music press, for example Melody Maker⁽³⁾.
The popularity of vocalist Al Bowlly increased, he was a regular on broadcasts, his name was credited on many of the Decca records and he toured with the band including an appearance in front of royalty at the London Palladium. Listen to the introduction of Lew's arrangement of My Woman from 1932, and then listen to part of Al Bowlly's vocal in the same recording.


There is a very good Cartoon of Lew Stone's Band with Al Bowlly is at the microphone and the other musicians from the band of 1933 are⁽¹⁾: Nat Gonella and Alfie Noakes (trumpets), Lew Davis and Joe Ferrie (trombones), Joe Crossman, Jim Easton, Ernest Ritte, Harry Berly (reeds), Eddie Carroll (piano), Harry Sherman (guitar), Tiny Winters (string bass), Bill Harty (drums). Some arrangements were by Phil Cardew, Stan Bowsher, Con Lamprecht.
In 1933 Lew Stone's Monseigneur Band were involved in an interesting competition designed to test the popularity of in Britain of British vs US dance bands. It was run by the 'News Chronicle' newspaper and was based on the sales of specially recorded dance tunes by Lew's band, Jack Hylton's, Guy Lombardo's and Wayne King's. The songs were What More can I Ask? and Can't We Meet Again? Read about the competition and the result in 'News Chronicle' .
From late 1931 until 1934 Lew Stone was also musical director for British and Dominion Films, working mostly from Elstree Studios, and later worked with other film companies. About 40 pre-1947 films which involved Lew Stone with his band or as Musical Director are included in the listings of British musical films on this website. British Dance Bands on Film, British Entertainers on Film, British Musical Directors.
In Nov 1933 Lew Stone transferred his band to the Cafe Anglais and in Feb 1934 started a very successful tour under the Mecca Agency. The band returned to the Monseigneur in Mar 1934 until the Summer when the Monseigneur was sold to become a cinema. Then in Sep 1934 Al Bowlly and Bill Harty left to join Ray Noble in USA.

For about a year from Nov 1934 Lew Stone moved to the Regal Zonophone record label, continued with theatre tours, and the band resided for a time at the Hollywood Restaurant. Alan Kane became the main vocalist while there were also vocal contributions from Nat Gonella, Joe Ferrie, Tiny Winters and Joe Crossman. When Nat Gonella left to concentrate on his own Georgians band in March 1935, trumpeter Tommy McQuater joined Lew's band. On Oct 12 Lew Stone featured Sam Browne as vocalist for the first time with Cheek To Cheek and Isn't This A Lovely Day? In November Lew Stone and his band returned to the Decca record label.
In 1936 Lew stopped touring and formed a smaller band which opened on 30th March at the Cafe Ce Paris. The band also began to broadcast regularly for commercial radio stations Normandy and Luxembourg. In October Lew Stone became musical director for the show "On Your Toes" (opened Feb 1937). The band continued at the Cafe de Paris until 31st July 1937. In September Lew became musical director of the show "Hide are Seek" starring Cicely Courtneidge and Bobby Howes.

Al Bowlly returned to England at the end of 1937 and in Feb 1938 he began recording with Lew Stone again. Recordings with Al Bowlly in 1938 rank as good as those made during the earlier years. Lew Stone's band played music of all kinds, for all tastes, and for all the dance tempos, but today it is particularly their playing of the sentimental ballads that is recognised and in demand for re-issue on CD, especially the titles featuring Al Bowlly. In his own arrangements Lew Stone was particularly careful to match Al's voice with appropriate ensemble phrasing and short instrumental solos resulting in very pleasant recordings which make much more satisfying listening than many other bands' recordings of the standard tunes.
Look out for:

Decca F.3783	Close Your Eyes
Decca F.5017	Riptide
Decca F.6641	Moonlight On The Highway
Decca F.6745	You Couldn't be Cuter

	UK	USA
Lazy Rhythm	Decca F.3644	656
Blue Jazz White Jazz	Decca F.3782	487
Nagasaki	Decca F.3821	496
Tiger Rag Canadian Capers	Decca F.3839	510
Milenberg Joys The Call Of The Freaks	Decca F.3953
Garden Of Weed That's A Plenty	Decca F.5271	361