Al Bowlly, Fred Elizalde Band - I'm sorry, Sally (1928)

Albert Allick 'Al' Bowlly (January 7, 1899 April 17, 1941) was a popular British Jazz singer in the United Kingdom during the 1930s, making more than 1,000 recordings between 1927 and 1941. Bowlly was born in Mozambique to Greek and Lebanese parents who met en route to Australia and moved to South Africa. He was brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He was killed by the explosion of a parachute mine outside his apartment in Jermyn Street, London during the Blitz.

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Federico "Fred" Elizalde (Dec.12,1907 - Jan.16,1979) was a Spanish classical and jazz pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader.

Elizalde was born in Navarra, Spain. His wealthy family owned several plantations in the Philippines. He studied at the Madrid Conservatory and then at St. Joseph's College, London and Stanford University in the 1920s. He took composition lessons under Ernst Bloch at Stanford, and gave up law temporarily for music, leaving the school in 1926. He then embarked on a career as a jazz bandleader, leading the Stanford University Band at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles while he studied composition. He recorded with the Cinderella Roof Orchestra in 1926, then returned to England, where he entered Cambridge University in the fall as a law student. This lasted only a year; soon after reaching England, Elizalde formed a new band which became highly successful and influential on the development of British jazz music in the late 1920s. Elizalde criticized British dance music for its Viennese qualities, and sought to bring more American principles of rhythm to the British scene. He recorded with his band in 1927 under several ensemble names for Brunswick and Decca. In his run at the Savoy Hotel in London, his band featured many of the best players in early British jazz, including Norman Payne, Jack Jackson, and Harry Hayes, as well as Americans such as Chelsea Quealey, Bobby Davis, Fud Livingston, Adrian Rollini, and Arthur Rollini. The band was voted best popular dance orchestra in Melody Maker in 1928. Concomitantly, Elizalde also composed works which melded jazz and European concert music elements, including The Heart of a Nigger (1927) and Bataclan (1929).

Elizalde broke up his band in 1929 just after a poorly received tour in Scotland and the onset of the Great Depression, which necessitated the return Stateside of many of his American sidemen. He led a new group at the Duchess Theater in London in 1930, but later that year returned to Manila to accept a position as conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. He conducted in the 1930s in Biarritz, Paris, and Madrid, and recorded for the last time in 1933 on a brief return trip to Britain. While in Spain he studied under Manuel de Falla and fought in a Basque regiment under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

Wounded and decorated during the war, he first emigrated to Manila then moved to France, where he lived under confinement in a house near Bayonne under the German occupation. During this time he composed extensively; works include an opera on the life of Paul Gauguin, a violin concerto, a string quartet, and a piano concerto. In 1948 he returned once again to Manila, where he conducted the Manila SO again, founded the Manila Little Symphony Orchestra, and became president of the national radio broadcasting company. He did some conducting in Japan but did little work outside of the Philippines through his 1974 retirement. Outside of music, he was an excellent sharpshooter and won gold medals as captain of the Philippines shooting team in the 1954 Asiad.


Al Bowlly, Fred Elizalde Band - I'm sorry, Sally (1928)

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Music

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• Al
• Bowlly
• Fred
• Elizalde
• Band
• 1928
• 20

[charliebubblesoar]

Al Bowlly is the hottest singer of all time. What a heart throb!

[Corrie121]

Great post. Wonderful Al Bowlly rendition.

Thanks for sharing.

[taofoundation]

I am in love with his music as long as I can remember, lost al lhis records in a fire :( Thanks sooo much for sharing !!

[taofoundation]

I am in love with his music for as long as i can remember , lost all his records in a fire, thanks soo much for sharing !!

[poindexterqueef]

What a great song!

[bill3murr]

super!