| Name
and Details |
Photo |
|
Ivan
Aarons
(UK)
Violin
Played in Mantovani's Tipica Orchestra from Late 1935 until
the end of 1941. |
|
|
Abe
Aaronson
(UK)
Saxophone.
Played for Bert Firman's Midnight Follies Orchestra in
1924, later playing for Jack Harris at the Embassy Club in 1928. Following
Jack Harris's move to the Grosvenor Hotel, Aaronson directed the band at
the Embassy until 1932. At the same time, he also organised dance bands
for other Hotels in London, such as The Hotel Splendide and The Ritz
Hotel. |
|
|
Arthur
Aaronson
(UK).
Saxophone. Played
in Ambrose's Orchestra at the Embassy Club in the early
1920s. |
|
|
Wag
Abbey.
(UK).
Drums &
Xylophone.
Charles "Wag" Abbey
was a drummer and xylophonist in the earlier years of dance bands. He was
present on hundreds of records and directed the "house" band for
English Pathe in the early 1920s. He was a founder member of Jack Hylton's
"Queen's Dance Orchestra" in 1921-22 and was much in demand in
the 1920s by the organisers of many of the "house" dance bands
such as Stan Greening, Harry Bidgood, Harry Hudson, Ronnie Munro and Nat
Star. |
 |
|
Ernie
Abbey.
(UK).
Trumpet
& Drums.
Thought to be the brother of "Wag" Abbey, Ernie Abbey was present on some recordings organised by Harry
Bidgood and Nat Star. |
|
|
Derek
Abbott.
(UK).
Trumpet.
Played in Oscar Rabin's Band in the mid-1940s
and subsequently played first trumpet for Geraldo in the late 1940s & early
1950s. (Thanks to Stan Cooper, a former pupil of Derek's, for this.) |
|
|
Bert
Abel.
(UK).
Drums.
Played in Hugo Rignold's Orchestra in 1939. |
|
|
Lou
Abelardo. (US/UK)
Vocalist. He spent some time in Europe during
1929-30, studying singing and making many records, mainly in England,
before returning to America, where he made a few more, before disappearing
from the recording scene. Although he
made two sessions at Decca in England which were issued as by his
orchestra, he was never really a bandleader. |
 |
Max
Abrams. (UK)
Famous percussionist and teacher of drumming.
A timeline of his activities follows:
Tommy Kinsman's
Band;
1931 - 1932
Jack Hylton's
Band; 1932 - 1934
Syd Lipton's
Band; Autumn 1934 - April 1935
Carroll Gibbons' Savoy Hotel Orpheans; May 1935 -
August 1939.
In addition, Max played on many recording sessions for bands assembled
just for the occasion, such as The New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, The Six
Swingers, The Bugle-Call Raggers (all 1935), Mario "Harp"
Lorenzi (1935-1938) and Jay Wilbur (1935 - 1937) and was vene given
billing as leading his own "Rhythm Makers" for a few Parlophone sessions.. |
 |
|
Harry
Acres.
(UK)
Musical director.
He is associated in the 1920s with shows such as "The Yellow Mask", he later
became Ivor Novello's preferred director, orchestrating many scores for his
shows as well as directing many recordings of them. A few recordings in
Metropole (also issued on Piccadilly) from the late 1920s were issued under
his name, but nothing is known about the musicians on the session. |
|
Sam Acres
(UK).
Trombone.A recording
timeline follows:
Jack Howard & his
Covent Garden Dance Band
Sept & Oct 1926
Ambrose & his May Fair Hotel
Orchestra
February 1928
Carroll Gibbons' Savoy Hotel
Orpheans October 1932 - August 1936
Jack Harris and his
Orchestra October 1936
Sam also played regularly for Jay Wilbur's house band recording for Rex
and Crown records from January 1936 until July 1939. |
|
|
Toni Adaire
(UK).
Vocalist. She made just one record - with Gerry Moore and his Rhythm:
"Always and Always" on Parlophone F-1090. She was Gerry Moore's girlfriend
at the time according to a contemporary report. |
|
|
Paul
Adam.
(UK)
Violin & Bandleader;
Real Name Carl
Tauber, he played violin in Teddy Joyce's
band in Britain in the 1930s before changing his name (probably just
before the
war) to the more English-sounding "Paul Adam" and leading a band at the May Fair
hotel, making a few recordings for Decca and Regal Zonophone from 1945
onwards. |
 |
|
Claire
Adams.(UK)
Vocalist.
Claire made just one recording with Ronnie Munro in 1937 which
appears to be a special HMV record: "Yoo Hoo Hoo" on HMV JGS-14. |
|
|
Don
Adams.
(UK)
Vocalist. Recorded briefly with Billy Thorburn's "The Organ, The Dance
Band and Me" during 1942. |
|
|
Gerald
Adams.(UK)
Tenor.
Gerald Adams was a trained singer who was called upon occasionally
to provide vocals on dance bands recordings for house bands, though he was
much more at home singing ballads than "pop" tunes. He recorded
a handful of vocals for Stan Greening at Regal (issued as Lido Dance
Orchestra or Raymond Dance Band) and also at Edison Bell with their house
band. |
|
|
Fred
Adcock.
(UK). Saxophone.
Played alto sax for the Leicester-based Ritz Players, who made two
recordings for Panachord in 1935. |
|
|
Sylvester
Ahola.
(US/UK)
Trumpet. Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts on May 24th 1902, "Hooley"
(as he was generally known), made his first recordings for local
bandleader Frank E. Ward in March 1924. The records were never released
commercially, though Ahola had test pressings of them. He joined Paul
Specht's Orch in January 1926 for a year, leaving to work for Ed Kirkeby
for a few months, recording with the California Ramblers, before joining
Peter Van Steeden's Orch until late 1927. He then sailed for England to
play with the Savoy Orpheans. The job was short-lived, but he had no
difficulty finding work as he was, by now, a very accomplished musician,
able to lead the brass section as well as improvise hot solos. He played
for Jack Harris until joining Ambrose's prestigious orchestra in October
1928. During his residence with Harris & Ambrose he was in great
demand for recording and made many records for house bands, notably at
Zonophone Records under Bert & John Firman's direction, and also
Arthur Lally at Decca and Harry Hudson at Edison Bell. He remained
with Ambrose until July 1931 when he returned to the States to briefly
play with Jacques Renard before re-joining Peter van Steeden in Nov 1931.
He then seems to disappear from the recording scene after a few dates
for Ed Kirkeby in mid-1932. |
 |
|
Arthur
Aiken.
(UK)
Piano.
Aiken played for Harry Leader during 1940 & 1941. |
|
|
Horace
Ainsley.
(UK)
Piano.
Ainsley was a member of
Victor Vorzanger's pioneering orchestra, recording with the
band during 1922 & 1923; at least one recording was issued as
"The Ainsley Quartette", but it was by a small group of
Vorzanger's musicians. |
|
Bill Airey-Smith.
(UK)
Drums and vocals.
Real name James
William Smith, born Barnsley, England on
June 3rd, 1901, died Dartford, England on December 12th, 1982.
Bill
Served as a trumpeter in the Army 1916-1923 (France and India)
before switching to drums after demob. He specialised in night-club work in 20s
(first MM reference about 1926, I think) and worked throughout 30s and 40s
with own night-club bands and many other leaders, also theatre-pit work.
He worked widely as a session vocalist in the early 30s. Served as driver in Royal Artillery,
1941-42; invalided out. Joined Ben Frankel, August, 1942. With John Blore,
Marcel Gardner and then Alf Lewis' Trio (1947) before playing for many
years for the Crazy Gang at the Victoria Palace. Left music to become a
publican.
My thanks to Steve Walker for
providing the above details.
A timeline of Bill Airey-Smith's
recordings..
Alfredo's
Band March 1928 onwards
Marius B. Winter's Orchestra
September 1930 - Summer 1931
Edgar Jackson' Band at the Gargoyle
Club May
1932
Edgar Jackson's Band at the Spider's
Web June
1932 - November 1932
Howard Jacobs' Orchestra at the Berkeley Hotel September
1933
Harry Leader and his
Band November 1933 - June 1934
Bill Airey-Smith's Band at the Spider's
Web August
1935 - October 1935
Jack Payne's
Band December 1939 - late 1940 ish |
|
|
Neil
Aitken.
(UK)
Drums.
Played with Louis Freeman's band in Glasgow during 1934. |
|
|
Wynne
Ajello.
(UK)
Vocalist.
Wynne recorded just a few titles
for Durium with the "Durium Dance Band", which, in this case,
appears to be the "real" Blue Lyres, directed by Peter Rush.
(All records issued as by "The Blue Lyres" are actually by
Ambrose's Orch). |
|
|
Percy
Alcock.
(UK)
Drums.
Played with Syd Seymour's Mad Hatters in 1937 |
|
|
Ronnie
Aldrich.
(UK)
Piano, arranger.
This famous musician was a founder member of the Royal Air
Force Dance Orchestra (later known as "The Squadronaires"),
playing with the band from it's inception in 1940 until disbanding in
1964. Prior to joining the Air Force in 1940, he had been part of a
double-piano variety act with Freddy Aspinall. He also played (and
presumably arranged) for Nat Temple's Club Royal Orchestra in 1944.
Following the disbanding of the "Squads", he became a busy
pianist, arranger, composer and conductor for radio, television, films and
background music for hotels and restaurants. |
|
|
M. Alexander.
(UK)
Trumpet.
Was a member of Bert Ralton's Havana Band, replacing Freddy Pitt in April
1926. |
|
|
Alfredo.
(UK)
Violin & bandleader. Real name:
Alfred Gill.
Alfredo's professional name is believed to date from when he played the
music halls as a solo violinist. He became a member of Jack Hylton's
organisation in the early 1920s before forming his own band (playing at he
New Princes restaurant) in 1925. It is believed he was still under
the management of Hylton, at least to start with. He soon became a manager
of several bands himself and made many recordings for Edison Bell until
1931, when he forsook modern dance music and formed a gypsy
orchestra. |
 |
|
Ted
Allaby.
(UK)
Trumpet
Ted was a member of Paul Fenhoulet's "Skyrockets"
Orchestra from the band's formation in 1943. |
|
|
George
Allan.
(UK)
Piano and Accordion.
Played with The Ritz Players at Leicester's Palais,
recording with the band in December 1935. |
|
|
Bert
Allen.
(UK)
Drums.
Played in Harry Leader's band during the late 1930s. |
 |
|
Bunny
Allen.
(UK)
Drums.
Played with Jack Simpson's sextet in the mid-1940s. |
|
|
Charles
Allen.
(UK)
Trombone & director.
Leader of the Kentucky Revellers. This band
allegedly made the records issued on Broadcast under their name. However,
there's no aural evidence to suggest the records were made by other than
Harry Bidgood's usual studio musicians. |
|
|
Chesney
Allen.
(UK)
Vocalist.
"Ches" was one half of the famous variety act "Flanagan and
Allen" (the other half being Bud Flanagan). Together they were
occasionally featured with Henry Hall's B.B.C. Dance Orch, usually on some
of Flanagan's own compositions, the most famous of which was
"Underneath The Arches". |
|
|
Jimmy
Allen.
(UK)
Vocalist. Jimmy Allen seems to have been a "house" singer for
Piccadilly Records, singing on many different bands' records, leading to
speculation that he may have been an employee of the company, rather than
a professional singer. |
|
|
Kenneth
Allen.
(US/UK)
Vocalist and guitar.
Kenny Allen travelled to England in 1930 with Roy Fox as part of
the accompanying band to Fox's "whispering cornettist" act. He
sang on a few of the recordings the band made for Decca in the autumn of
1930 before returning to America, where he recorded with Ted Fiorito in
1933. Prior to travelling to England, he had recorded with Herman
Kenin's Orchestra in San Francisco. |
|
|
Les
Allen.
(UK/Canada)
Saxophone and vocalist.
Les Allen first came to prominence
playing with Hal Swain's New Princes Toronto Band, playing saxophone and
singing duets with Swain. After touring in Germany with the band, he
returned to England and joined Alfredo's
band, playing tenor sax and singing. This was sometime in 1927. During his time with Alfredo, he developed his vocal
skills considerably and sang in variety with Al Bowlly and with a vocal
trio. In late 1932 he joined Henry Hall at the BBC for nearly two years
before going solo and touring with his "Canadian Bachelors. In 1948,
he returned to Canada and started a new career in the office supply trade. |
 |
|
Nat
Allen.
(UK)
Banjo, guitar & double bass.
Nat Allen was with fellow banjoist Pete Mandell's band
during the period October 1929 until May 1930 when Mandell returned to his
native America. Nat then formed his own band, recording just two titles
for Piccadilly in August 1931. The start of the following year finds him
playing first bass, then guitar for Sydney Kyte's band at the Piccadilly
Hotel, staying with the band until at least 1936. |
|
|
Rex Allen.
(UK)
Piano.
Rex Allen was with Bobbie Hind's band, notably during their
stay in Germany during the first part of 1925, when he recorded with the
band for the German Favorite label. |
|
|
Henry
Allman.
(UK)
Drums.
Played in Nat Allen's sextet in August
1931 at least. |
|
|
Maurice
Allom.
(UK)
Saxophone.
Played in Fred Elizalde's Cambridge
Undergraduates. |
|
|
-------
Allwood.
(UK)
Saxophone.
Played in Jack Howard's band at Covent Garden, notably during the
Autumn of 1926 when the band was recording for Duophone. |
|
|
Rose Alper.
(UK)
Vocalist.
Recorded with Joe Loss' band in 1939. |
|
|
Dorothy Alt.
(UK)
Vocalist. Sang briefly with Lew Stone's
Band in the spring of 1939. |
|
|
Bert
Ambrose.
(UK)
Violin & Bandleader.
Probably the most famous British bandleader of the period, Ambrose learned
the violin as a child, and, after moving to America, formed his first band
there when aged only 20. In 1922 he returned to London to visit his sick Mother,
he was asked to form and lead a band at the prestigious Embassy Club,
which he did very successfully, until 1927 when he moved to the
newly-opened May Fair Hotel. His recordings and broadcasts from here made
him a household name, and the money he received allowed him to employ the
best musicians in England. In 1940 he semi-retired, although continuing to
make records until 1947. In the late 1950s he discovered singer Kathy
Kirby. Ambrose died in 1971. |
 |
|
Jack Ambrose.
(UK)
Violin & saxophone.
Played for George Glover during the period when the latter
led a recording band for Sterno in September and October 1933. |
|
Billy
Amstell.
(UK).
Saxophone.
Born 1911. One of Britain's greatest saxophonists, generally associated with
Ambrose's Orchestra. This is not surprising as Amstell spent nearly 10
years with the band. A time-line of his recording activities follows:
Jack Harris and his Orchestra at the
Grosvenor House. May 1930 - Jan 1931
Roy Fox and his
Band.
Jan 1931 - May 1931
Roy Fox and his Band at the Monseigneur Restaurant
June 1931 - Aug 1931
Ambrose and his Orch (various
locations) Sept 1931 - April 1941
Geraldo and his
Orchestra
Feb 1944 - Oct 1945
Ambrose and his
Orchestra
Oct 1945 - Dec 1945
Billy also took part in occasional "outside" work for
Jack Hylton (Nov 1933), Arthur Lally (Sept 1931), Harry Leader (1934) and
Lew Stone (Sept 1937). He was also a member of the Band led by Tommy
Kinsman at Prince's Golden Brasserie, which recorded in September 1933; he
may have been added to the band for the recordings only. |
 |
|
Mickey
Amstell.
(UK)
Saxophone. Billy
Amstell's elder brother, born 1901, was also a very accomplished saxophone player,
but since he made
very few recordings (that are known), he is less well remembered. He was with his brother in the band lead by Roy Fox
prior to moving to the Monseigneur Restaurant, but apart from that, little
is known abour his career. |
|
Fred
Anderson.
(UK)
Piano & bandleader.
Fred
Anderson was the leader of a successful semi-professional band which
always received good reports in the various contests run by "The
Melody Maker" magazine. His 1927 band included future guitar wizard,
Ivor Mairants. The band only made two recordings - for Dominion in April
1929. At this time the band, lead by Anderson on piano included:
Percy
Hewing or Heming -t/ Jimmy Nettleton -tb/Les Wilson -cl-as/ Cyril Wilson -cl-ts/
Stan Barnes -as-vn-v/ Alf Elley -g/ Fred Hutchins -sb-bb/ Fred Draper -d.
Jack Hart-v added for the recording:
1183-3
I Know That My Baby Is Cheatin' On Me - vJH
Dominion A-100
1184-1 Sally Of My Dreams - vJH Dominion A-101
Both records seem to be quite rare! |
 |
Tommy
Anderson. (UK)
Trumpet.
Tommy Anderson, obviously a highly respected player, probably made many more
records than are shown here in this time-line:
Lou Abelardo and his
Orchestra October 1930
Arthur Lally and his Savoy Hotel
Band
Jan 1931 - May 1931
Jack Payne and his B.B.C. Dance
Orchestra June 1931 - Mar 1932
Jack Payne and his
Band Mar 1932 - Aug 1933
The Barnstormers at "The Barn", Barnet
by-pass. Sept 1933 - Jan 1934
Teddy Joyce & his Kit-Cat Dance Band
Feb 1934 - May 1934
The Masterkeys (at the Kit-Cat
Restaurant) Feb 1934 - May 1934
Percival Mackey's Band (as New Mayfair Dance Orch) Sept 1934 - Jan 1935
Debroy Somers'
Band Sept 1936 - Late 1937 |
|
Stan Andrews. (UK)
Trumpet, saxophone, violin, arranger.
Stan was a true
multi-instrumentalist, equally at home on trumpet, saxophone and violin
and a fine arranger to boot!
He was born in 1903 in Finchley, London and attended Finchley County
School. On leaving school he went into business, but also became a
semi-pro musician; he was already very proficient as a violinist. He lead
the dance orchestra at the Brent Bridge Hotel in his spare time and then
progressed to Pinoli's in The Strand. He subsequently turned professional,
though I do not know when, neither do I know what his career was at this
period, but he must have made quite an impact as he was playing in Jack
Hylton's band by 1930. Here is a time-line of his recordings:
Spike
Hughes and his
Decca-Dents
February 1930 - August 1930
Arthur Rosebery and his
Band
Early 1930
Jack Hylton and his
Orchestra
May 1930 - July 1930
Arthur Rosebery and his
Band
Late 1930 - 1931
Howard Jacobs and his
Orchestra
December 1932
Jack Jackson and his Dorchester Hotel
Orchestra February 1933 - November 1939
Hatchett's Swingtette
March 1940 - April 1942
Stan also played for Jay Wilbur at Rex and Crown records during the period
from December 1933 to February 1935. (Note: the references to Stan
playing for Arthur Rosebery and Howard Jacobs are from Brian Rust). Stan
was generally employed as a violinist and he played some excellent
"hot" fiddle with Spike Hughes in 1930. With Jack Jackson's band
he doubled saxophone, violin and occasionally trumpet, and was also the
main arranger for the band as well as helping out in the vocal trios! Stan
also arranged for Carroll Gibbons, Lew Stone and Jay Wilbur during the
1930s.
He died in October 1953 of Lung Cancer. |
|
|
Vic Andrews. (UK)
Banjo and guitar. Vic was in Jay
Whidden's band in 1930 and was present on the 6 titles the band recorded
for Decca. |
|
|
Jack Ansell. (UK)
Violin, director. Jack was the violinist director
of Louis Freeman's band, notably for the two Decca session in 1934. |
|
|
Joe Appleton. (UK)
Saxophone. Joe Appleton
played mainly tenor saxophone and recorded for Carl Barriteau in Early 1944 and also for Leslie
"Jiver" Hutchison later the same year. |
|
Billy Apps. (UK).
Alto saxophone. Here is
a timeline:
Sydney Kyte
and his Piccadilly Hotel
Band November 1932 - September 1934
Sydney Lipton and his Grosvenor House
Band September 1934 - February
1935
Sydney Kyte and his Piccadilly Hotel
Band
February 1935 - February 1936
Lew Stone and his
Band March 1936 - July 1938
Carroll Gibbons and his Savoy Hotel Orpheans
April 1941 - November 1942
Ambrose and his
Orchestra January 1943 - September 1945
Billy Apps also recorded
with Lew Stone at various times between 1940 and 1942, a period when Stone
only formed a band for recording and broadcasting and didn't maintain a
regular personnel. Also, between August and December 1937, Lew Stone lent
his band to George Elrick to start his solo career and the band made
recordings for Columbia under Elrick's name during this period. Apps also
recorded sessions for the Skyrockets, George Evans and
Josephine Bradley in 1943 and 1944. |
|
|
Joe Arbiter. (UK).
Saxophone. Joe Arbiter was a mainstay in Harry Roy's band almost from it's inception,
joining the band on alto-saxophone in August 1932 and staying until at
least December 1945. Prior to this he was in American banjoist Pete
Mandell's band from February to June 1930 along with another Harry Roy
stalwart, drummer Joe Daniels. |
|
|
Jerry Archer. (UK).
Drums. Jerry was the drummer in the Kentucky Revellers who allegedly made
recordings for Broadcast under their name, though, aurally, the recordings
are by Harry Bidgood's usual musicians. |
|
|
Bob Arden. (UK).
Vocalist. Bob Arden recorded with Joe Loss and his band between July 1940 and
July 1941 and for Ambrose and his Orchestra in late 1943 - early
1944. |
|
|
Ewart
Armitage. (UK).
Drums.
Ewart played in the Bradford (Yorkshire) band led by Joseph Swindin. The band
recorded 2 titles for the semi-private Teledisk label in 1935. |
|
|
Maurice
Arnold. (UK).
Piano, accordion, arranger. A member
of Johnny Rosen's band which played at
Lewis's in Manchester in the middle 1930s. The band recorded for Decca in
July 1935. |
|
|
Phil Arnold.
(America/UK)
.
Vocalist. Phil Arnold arrived in England at the start of 1928, remaining
until June 1929. He sang on a number of dance records, showing a bright
and lively sense of rhythm. Latterly he was part of a vocal trio with Les
Allen and Eddie Brandt called The Original Whoopee Boys. The
Melody
Maker magazine, in reporting his arrival in England mentions him
having already made many records in America, but I've never found any
examples of these, nor do I know what happened to him after June 1929,
presuming he returned to America. |
 |
|
Eric Arnott. (UK).
Trumpet. Eric
Arnott was the trumpeter in a small band led by Vernon Horrocks which made
one record in 1942 as a result of entering a
Melody Maker contest. |
|
|
J. Arnott. (UK).Violin.
Played
in Jimmy Kelleher's band at the Piccadilly Hotel which recorded for
Victory (7"), Imperial and Piccadilly in 1929. The band was taken
over by Jerry Hoey and it is likely Arnott was a member of this band too. |
|
|
John Arslanian. (UK).
Saxophone.
Arslanian played tenor saxophone for Ambrose from December 1941 until May 1942,
then for Mantovani until November 1944 when he joined Eric Winstone's
band. |
|
|
Gerry Arthur. (UK).
Trombone, singer.
Played for Herman Darewski in the late 1930s
before Joining Jack Payne's band. He subsequently became in great demand
by the big-name leaders for radio and recording work right up into the
1970s. He died in 1973. |
|
|
Les Arthur. (UK).
Drums.
Les was the brother of Gerry (above) and played drums, notably for
Geoffrey Gelder at Kettners restaurant in the 1920s. |
|
|
L. R.
Ashford. (UK).
Saxophone.
Ashford played tenor saxophone in Eddie Norris's band at the Ambassadors Club around
1930, when the band recorded a handful of sides for Piccadilly
records. |
|
|
Robert
Ashley. (UK).
Singer. Robert Ashley was an unlikely dance-band singer, being more of a concert
baritone with quite a robust voice. However, he sang on some recordings by Carroll Gibbons Savoy
Hotel Orpheans, Jack Payne's Band and Louis Levy's Gaumont-British
Symphony. |
 |
|
Al Ashton. (UK).
Guitar.
Played for Billy Ternant in 1944 |
|
|
J. J. Ashton. (UK).
Banjo.
Ashton belongs to the early part of the era, directing the Corner House
Ragtime Band which recorded for Winner in 1918. Whether he is related to
Al Ashton, I don't know. |
|
|
George
Ashwell.
(UK).
Saxophone.
George Ashwell played tenor and bass saxophone in Bertini's Band which was
resident at the Tower, Blackpool. He joined the band in late 1933. |
|
|
Wally Ashworth. (UK).
Double bass.
Played for Mantovani, joining the band in February 1942. |
|
|
Fred
Aspinall. (UK).
Piano & drums. In the Rust and Forbes discography, Fred Aspinall is shown as drummer in
Don Parker's Band from November 1925 until November 1926 and then pianist
in Fred Spinelly's Band from October 1927 to April 1928. |
|
|
Charlie
Asplin. (UK).
Bass. Charlie was a long-standing bass (usually sousaphone) player in Jack
Payne's band, joining while Jack was at the BBC in March 1930. He switched
over to double-bass in 1933 (Bert Groves was the tuba player from
then) and he remained in the band until mid-1936, but re-joined in 1939.
In late 1925 he had been a member of Bobbie Hind's band which recorded 2
titles for Aco. |
|
|
Jack
Atherton. (UK).
Violin.
Jack was a member of Jack Hylton's violin section during 1937. |
|
|
Asher "Tommy" Atkins. (UK).
Saxophone.
Played for Leslie Jeffries in 1925 & 1926, then as "Tommy "Atkins played
tenor saxophone in Dave Frost's band in 1930 and 1931, recording with the
band for Decca. |
|
|
Stan Atkins. (UK).
Bandleader. Born in 1902, Stan Atkins led a band which made half-a-dozen recordings
for "Teledisk" records in 1935 (horrendously rare!) and 8 sides
for Decca's "Music While You Work" series in 1944. He died on
October 11th 1973. |
|
|
Mickey Atlas. (UK).
Saxophone, vocalist.
Mickey was a member of The Krakajax in the 1930s. |
|
|
Alf Auburn.(UK).
Bass.
Played in Tommy Kinsman's band from late 1931 until the end of 1932. |
|
|
Fred Austin.
(UK).
Composer and conductor. Fred Austin wrote the novelty song "I'm Going
Back To Himazas" and sang the vocal on the recording made by Debroy
Somers' Band (also sang on the reverse side "Me and Jane In A
Plane") on Columbia 4506. |
|
|
Nat Austin. (UK)
Drums.
Nat was the drummer in the studio band formed for making some Sterno
records by saxophone player George Glover in 1933. |
|
|
Ronnie
Austin. (UK).
Saxophone, violin, arranger. Ronnie played saxophone, violin and arranged for the Reginald Williams
band ("The Futurists") in 1939. |
|
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Alec Avery. (UK).
Saxophone. Alec
played Tenor saxophone for Bert Firman at the Carlton Hotel in 1925 and
1926 before joining Debroy Somers' newly formed band in late 1926, staying
with Somers until 1930. |
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Dave
Axford.
(UK).
Double bass. Dave played bass in Fred Elizalde's big band which he was directing in early
1930 (sadly the only recordings were never issued), following which he
played in the Billy Mason band at the Cafe de Paris in early 1931 before
joining the Blue Lyres which Arthur Lally directed at the Dorchester Hotel
in the early 1930s. In late 1935 Axford replaced the ailing Tiny Stock in
Jack Jackson's band (also at the Dorchester Hotel). |
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