During the 1920s, many American dance bands visited Britain and Europe. Experienced collector and researcher, Joe Moore, has been investigating these tours and uncovers many new details in a series of articles being published here. The first 2 were orginally published in the magazine "OK For Sound" which, sadly, ceased publication at the end of 2004.

No. 1: The Southern Rag-A-Jazz Band                                                                                       August 2004

No 2: Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra                                                                                                       October 2004

No 3: Isham Jones And His Orchestra                                                                                        March 2005

No 4: Paul Specht and his Orchestras, Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5                               April 2006, updated December 2006

A WORD (OR SEVERAL….) ON VISITING BANDS....by Joe Moore

It is interesting to note the Isham Jones band were granted Work Permits to come here in 1925, but the Ray Miller and Paul Specht Orchestras were not. As the Twenties wore on, more Work Permits were to be refused, in one or two cases by what seemed to be somewhat arbitrary decisions.

The visits of American musicians to work in England were clearly not entirely welcome in certain quarters here. One early (and well-known) objection was by the music hall star George Robey, who had the Original Dixieland Jazz Band removed from the revue “Joy Bells” in April 1919, apparently on the grounds they got more applause than he did! It is difficult now to ascertain just what policy existed then for the granting of Work Permits, and who may have objected or not. Variety wrote about this subject fairly frequently during the Twenties, but even they could not give a clear picture of who was opposing the use of “foreign” musicians.

The bandleader Paul Specht seems to have suffered most in this direction, having been refused Work Permits on at least two occasions. There is still much research to be done on this subject in general, but it is clear that Specht did not entirely help his own case. From about mid-1924 until sometime towards the end of 1926 he was the Musical Director for both the Kit Cat Club and the Piccadilly Hotel. In July 1924 he was refused Work Permits for the Carolina Club Orchestra, a band under his management at the time. (These were later granted after Specht’s protest at the highest level in America.) In retaliation he brought over the Canadian Club Orchestra in 1925. Its members all being Canadians, they were classed as British subjects in those days and therefore the question of Work Permits apparently did not arise.

Specht also encouraged the drafting of the Willis-Vaile Bill in America, which (had it become law) would have imposed restrictions on English artists visiting that country. As suggested in my article on Vincent Lopez, Jack Hylton does seem to have had considerable influence even then, although he was clearly not “anti-American” as such. It is perhaps a little more than coincidence that by the end of 1926 Specht had been replaced by Hylton as Musical Director at the venues mentioned. Given that Hylton had bands under his management at both establishments, he could hardly be blamed for trying to protect his own interests and those of his musicians.

A very interesting subject... Click to find out more about the sensitive matter of Work Permits.                         December 2006

Joe has identified that the following American bands visited England in the 1920s & 30s and some may be featured in future articles here The ones in green are still not confirmed:

If you have any additional information on either the published or to-be-published bands regarding their European tours, don't hesitate to contact me via my email address and I will pass all information onto Joe.