[Dixielandjazz] Ambrose]

[David W. Littlefield]

Stan Brager wrote
>When I was young I bought someone's record collection and found several
>78s by Ambrose & His Orchestra. Among my favorites were: "Night Ride",
>"Wood And Ivory" both written and arranged by reedman Sid Phillips who
>wrote most of the band's original works. In the band at one time or
>another were Ted Heath and George Chisholm on trombone and Danny Polo on
>clarinet. I read somewhere that Benny Goodman took a couple of lessons
>from Danny Polo.

A terrific collection of Ambrose is AVID: "Swing is in the air", AMSC 690.
This is a 2-CD set; it has the Sid Phillips compositions/charts. 

Unfortunately, it omits my favorite Ambrose track, one of my desert island
favorites, Bert Barnes'
"Embassy stomp". It's on Vocalion "Power house: Ambrose, vol. 2" CDEA 6011.

The Ambrose band is a 1930s British big band; not a swing band, but it can
romp and stomp with the best of them.


--Sheik
David W. Littlefield, Piano, Guitar, Banjo, Washboard  
http://americanmusiccaravan.com  DixFB VOL.2 (C, Bb) available
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eMail: dwlit at patriot.net