Dance Bands (big Bands)
From about 1925 to 1946 the most popular form of music in the UK was that produced by Dance Bands. The British Bands never quite adopted the kind of "Swing" music that was generally associated American "Big Band" jazz. It was quite tame compared to American jazz and was generally more sweet. Billy Cotton had perhaps the longest fame, as he still had a prime-time TV programme until the late 60s. The fame of Ted Heath lasted until 1964. Fans tended to divide them into "Sweet" (Ambrose, Geraldo and Victor Silvester) and "Hot" (Harry Roy, Nat Gonella). Jack Hylton's band was "hot" until 1933, then became sweeter as their success grew. Some of the lead singers enjoyed fame on their own. Most famous was Al Bowlly and Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson.
Read more about this topic: Early British Popular Music
Famous quotes containing the words dance and/or bands:
“The banners flashing through the trees
Make their blood dance and chain their eyes;
That bugle-music on the breeze
Arrests them with a charm’d surprise.
Banner by turns and bugle woo:
Ye shy recluses, follow too!”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)