And the Bands Played on: An Informal History of British Dance Bands

by Sid Colin

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and cheerful book on the history of dance bands in Britain. Sid Colin, in later
years was a television writer who enjoyed a collaboration with Frankie Howard (so
the book has a lot of nudge, nudge, wink, wink style humour) but
his younger years were spent as a musician and a singer with some of the top bands.
This is a loving tribute to "the boys in the band" - a lot of interesting gossipy info,
some of it very new to me - ie the songs that bands played at the dancing venues were
not the same as they recorded. Songs played at the Mayfair, the Ambassador or the
Savoy were songs where the band could not put their own original stamp on, they
were at the mercy of the club managers or else songs were requested by the patrons,
often wanting to hear the same songs over and over. Records gave individual artists
a chance at some virtuoso playing. Chapters deal with naughty all night cabarets, the
craze of dancing instructors and the "slow, slow, quick, quick, slow" tempo of the
martinet Victor Sylvester.

[Shaun Hand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming and informative account of the big band era of the 1920s and 1930s, with a specific focus on London.

One thing I have to say is that it ambles along nicely until the last two paragraphs, when it suddenly starts going on about "Glenn Miller necrophiliacs" and the Holocaust. Quite the last-second change of tone!