Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era, when people were dancing the Lindy Hop. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Benny Carter, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, Bunny Berigan, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Jimmie Lunceford, and Django Reinhardt.
Isham Edgar Jones was an American bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term applied to purpose-built dance halls in Britain and Commonwealth countries, which became popular after the First World War.
Alan Dell, born Alan Creighton Mandell, was a BBC radio broadcaster, associated in particular with dance band music of the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s.
The Irish Showband was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the 1950s to the 1980s, with its peak in the 1960s. These bands typically featured seven to ten members, including a rhythm section, a brass section with various combinations of trumpet, saxophone, and trombone, and were fronted by lead singers, sometimes engaging in comedy skits. Their repertoire spanned rock and roll, country and western, dixieland jazz, big band tunes, Irish Céilí dances, Latin, folk, and more. Showbands were noted for their live energy, chart-topping covers, and sometimes choreographed performances. Originally touring within Ireland, successful bands later performed in Britain, the US, Canada, and on the German nightclub circuit and U.S. military bases in Europe.
George Edward Heath was a British musician and big band leader.
Benjamin Baruch Ambrose, known professionally as Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose became the leader of a highly acclaimed British dance band, Ambrose & His Orchestra, in the 1930s.
Elizabeth 'Elsie' Carlisle was an English female singer both before and during the British dance band era of the 1920s and 1930s, nicknamed "Radio Sweetheart Number One"; according to AllMusic, she was "beyond a doubt the most popular radio performer in England in the '30s." Carlisle has also been described as "British radio's first woman crooner". She was prolific in the recording studio, and cut over 300 sides between 1926 and 1942.
Sam Browne was an English dance band singer, who became one of the most popular British dance band vocalists of the 1930s. He is remembered for singing with Jack Hylton and with Ambrose and his orchestra, at the Mayfair Hotel and Embassy Club, with whom he made many recordings from 1930 to 1942. Browne also worked with several other popular dance bands from the time such as Lew Stone and his band, and Billy Cotton and his band. Browne was most famous for his duets and variety performances with the singer, Elsie Carlisle.
Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss was a British dance band leader and musician who founded his own eponymous orchestra.
Charles Leonard Kunz was an American-born pianist and band leader who worked in Great Britain during the British dance band era, eventually becoming a well-known solo pianist.
The Squadronaires is a Royal Air Force band which began and performed in Britain during and after World War II. The official title of the band was 'The Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra', but it was always known by the more popular title "The Squadronaires".
Louis Stone known professionally as Lew Stone was a British bandleader and arranger of the British dance band era, and was well known in Britain during the 1930s. He was known as a skillful, innovative and imaginative musical arranger.
Jack Jackson was an English trumpeter and bandleader popular during the British dance band era, and who later became a highly influential radio disc jockey. The BBC's nickname "Auntie" is often credited to Jackson.
Malcolm Richard Laycock was an English radio presenter who hosted jazz, big band, and dance band programmes for BBC Radio 2 and the BBC World Service.
John Wesley Vivian Payne was a British dance music bandleader who established his reputation during the British dance band era of the 1930s.
The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain. In 2009, it was named by the Brecon Jazz Festival as one of twelve venues which had made the most important contributions to jazz music in the United Kingdom.
Mecca Leisure Group was a British business that ran nightclubs, hotels, theme parks, bingo parlours and Hard Rock Cafes. During the 1960s, Mecca was a centre of entertainment with numerous nightclubs throughout major United Kingdom towns and cities. Mecca ballrooms were used for the BBC TV show Come Dancing. Eric Morley was a general manager of dancing at Mecca Leisure Group and was involved in the Miss World competitions.
Max David Bacon was a British actor, comedian and musician. Although he was British-born, his comedic style centred on his pseudo-European, Yiddish accent and in his straight-faced mispronunciation of words.
