Renowned British bandleader Bert Ambrose entered the world in London during 1897 and began studying violin at five years old. In 1917 he sailed for New York City, where he promptly joined the house ensemble at Reisenweber’s Restaurant. Soon afterward he took a chair as sixth violinist with the orchestra at the Palais Royal’s Club de Vingt; within months the ensemble named him its musical director. He held that post for three years until the proprietor of London’s ultra-chic Embassy Club persuaded him to return to England. He stayed until 1922, when he again crossed the Atlantic to direct the band at the Clover Gardens restaurant. The Embassy Club quickly enticed him back once more, and he remained through 1927, at which point he accepted the post of musical director at London’s Mayfair Hotel. The year before, he had made his first recordings for Columbia, later working also for Brunswick, Gramophone, and the fledgling Decca label.
By 1928 the orchestra featured trombonist Ted Heath, guitarist Joe Brannelly, saxophonist Perley Breed, trumpeter Sylvester Ahola, pianist Leo Kahn, and drummer Max Bacon. When the BBC inaugurated remote broadcasts from the Mayfair ballroom the following August, the group rose to become one of Britain’s most celebrated ensembles. In autumn 1933 the band returned to the Embassy Club for a three-year engagement, after which it resumed duties at the Mayfair. During spring 1938 Ambrose’s orchestra took up residence at the Cafe de Paris, a booking that introduced singer Vera Lynn to the public; the group otherwise remained largely inactive for the remainder of the decade. In late 1939 it went back to the Mayfair, yet by the next spring most of its principal instrumentalists had entered military service. Following the war Ambrose kept performing on the club circuit until 1956, when he shifted his focus to artist management; he died on June 18, 1971.
