The early bands often were employed by hotels, and many bore their employers' names, eg, in Montreal, the Windsor Hotel Orchestra (Harold Leonard and his Red Jackets) and Andy Tipaldi and his Ritz-Carlton Orchestra. Some black dance bands were also active in this era, among them Millard Thomas' Famous Chicago Novelty Orchestra (a US group) ca 1919- ca 1928 in Montreal, Randolph Winfield during the 1920s in the Maritimes, and Mynie (Myron) Sutton's Canadian Ambassadors and the Harlem Dukes of Rhythm during the 1930s in Ontario and Quebec.ĭance Bands at Hotels, Resorts and Other Venues Dance bands in this period recorded for Apex, Brunswick, Compo, Domino, HMV, Starr, and Victor. Others in the pre-1940s era were led in Toronto by Gordon Day, Jack Evans, Fred Fralick, Charles Musgrave, the Romanelli brothers, Stanley St John, and Gilbert Watson in Ottawa by Orville Johnston and in Montreal by Earl Melloway, Billy Munro, George Sims, Andy and Johnny Tipaldi (of the Melody Kings Johnny a violinist and Andy a banjo player who later, 1942-69, was president of the Musicians' Guild of Montreal, AF of M local 406) and in Vancouver by Lafe Cassidy, Len Chamberlain, Les Crane, Harry Pryce, and others. Among these early bands was the 10-piece group of Charles Bodley (1885-1953), formed in Toronto in 1908. However, the earliest dance bands in Canada, as in the USA, were small: 5 to 10 pieces, including the obligatory cornet (or trumpet), saxophone, violin, piano, tuba (or, later, string bass), and drums. Over the years the bands grew to as many as 20 pieces, comprising trumpet, trombone and saxophone sections, piano and/or guitar, string bass, and drums. Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen were successful in co-ordinating radio and touring and consequently became the only Canadian dance band of national significance other bands (eg, Trump Davidson, Bert Niosi, and Dal Richards) may have been known nationally by their broadcasts but, with few exceptions, rarely performed outside their home provinces. A Canadian band's sole means of wide exposure was national radio - at various times the CNR and CPR networks (which broadcast bands from the ballrooms of their hotels) and the CRBC and its successor, the CBC. In Canada the relatively small size of cities and towns, the distances that separated them, and the severity of the climate made impractical the kind of touring regimen that sustained many bands in the USA. They in fact were among the most popular dance bands of the era.
Only one Canadian organization attained international success - Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, based after 1924 in the USA. The best-known bands were of US origin, and these were no less popular in Canada.
Canadian band stars mocks audience free#
The radio programs offered free entertainment and a welcome escape from the desperate times. Their popularity peaked in the 1930s, despite or perhaps because of the Depression, when audiences crowded into dance halls or listened avidly at home to late-night dance band broadcasts. Groups of musicians which play for social dancing more specifically those bands in North America in the period 1900-50 which enjoyed great popularity through their radio work, recordings, and public appearances.