Ambrose Mayfair Hotel Orchestra, Sam Browne vocal - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (1931)

Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (Sept.15,1896 - June 11,1971) was an English bandleader and violinist. His professional name was officially Bert Ambrose, but he was universally known simply as Ambrose.

Ambrose was born in the East End of London; his father was a Jewish wool merchant. He began playing the violin at a young age, and soon after he was taken to the United States by his aunt he began playing professionally - first for Emil Coleman at New York's Reisenweber's restaurant, then in the Palais Royal's big band. After making a success of a stint as bandleader, at the age of twenty he was asked to put together and lead his own fifteen-piece band. After a dispute with his employer, he moved his band to another venue, where they enjoyed considerable popularity.

In 1922 he returned to London, where he was engaged by the Embassy Club to form a seven-piece band. Ambrose stayed at the Embassy for two years, before walking out on his employer in order to take up a much more lucrative job in New York. After a year there, besieged by continual pleas to return from his ex-employer in London, in 1925 he was finally persuaded to go back by a cable from the Prince of Wales: "The Embassy needs you. Come back - Edward".

This time Ambrose stayed at the Embassy Club until 1927. The club had a policy of not allowing radio broadcasts from its premises, however, and this was a major drawback for an ambitious bandleader; this was largely because the fame gained by radio work helped a band to gain recording contracts (Ambrose's band had been recorded by Columbia Records in 1923, but nothing had come of this). He therefore accepted an offer by the May Fair Hotel, with a contract that included broadcasting.

Ambrose stayed at the May Fair for six years, during which time the band made recordings for Brunswick Records, HMV, and Decca Records. This period also saw the musical development of the band, partly as a result of Ambrose's hiring of first-class musicians, including Sylvester Ahola, Ted Heath, Joe Crossman, Joe Jeannette, Bert Read, Joe Brannelly, Dick Escott, and trumpeter Max Goldberg.

In 1933 Ambrose was asked to accept a cut in pay at the May Fair; refusing, he went back to the Embassy Club, and after three years there (and a national tour), he rejected American offers and returned to the May Fair Hotel in 1936. He then went into partnership with Jack Harris (an American bandleader), and in 1937 they bought a club together (Ciro's Club). For 3 months they even employed Art Tatum there, some think the greatest jazz pianist who ever lived. Ambrose and Harris alternated performances in Ciro's until a disagreement led to the rupture of their partnership. Ambrose then worked at the Café de Paris until the outbreak of World War II, when he again went on tour. His major discovery in the years leading up to the war was the singer Vera (later Dame Vera) Lynn (b. 1917), who sang with his band from 1937 to 1940 and, during the war, became known as the "Forces' Sweetheart". Lynn married Harry Lewis, a clarinettist in the band, in 1939. Other singers with the Ambrose band included Sam Browne, Elsie Carlisle, Denny Dennis, Vera Lynn, Evelyn Dall.


Ambrose Mayfair Hotel Orchestra, Sam Browne vocal - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (1931)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bert
• Ambrose
• Sam
• Browne
• 1931
• 20s
• 30s

[clarebannerman]

Lovely ♪♫ ♥

[Corrie121]

Sweet and lovely. A nice addition to my Ambrose Playlist.

Thanks for sharing.

[guitgrl]

Great recording. Very good sound quality, too.  Thank you.

[UkesterBrown]

Nice!