Bert Ambrose led one of the top British dance bands of the '20s and '30s, an orchestra that, although primarily performing dance music, also included some jazz in its repertoire. This definitive two-CD set has 52 of the band's best performances from the 1933-1939 period, with the first disc focusing on jazz and the second being a little more pop-oriented (although also including some strong jazz). With such fine soloists as trumpeters
Max Goldberg and
Tommy McQuater, clarinetist
Danny Polo, altoist/clarinetist
Sid Phillips, and (by 1939) trombonist
George Chisholm,
Ambrose's orchestra could swing as hard as any English band of the time. Among the many highlights are "Cotton Pickers' Congregation," "Copenhagen," "Swinganola," "Streamline Strut," "Swing Patrol," "Deep Henderson," "Jeepers Creepers," and quite a few
Raymond Scott novelty songs. The only flaw to this reissue is that the music is not reissued in chronological order, but otherwise this is a perfect introduction to
Ambrose's music.