Charleston
Ted Heath's First American Tour!
London Records LL 1564
1957
From the back cover: The road to fame is notoriously difficult and fraught with pitfalls. This is especially the case in the world of entertainment, The tastes and whims of the public are as variable and fickle as the English weather, and when an artist has finally won the battle of reaching the top, he or she finds that there is another to be waged immediately that of staying on top.
No one has yet negotiated the road to success without experiencing difficulties, frustrations and bitter setbacks and disappointments. Most have to start from the bottom and climb laboriously out of the hampering mists of obscurity. Talent is of course a prerequisite for genuine fame, but it is not sufficient to ensure success by itself. It must be coupled with an indomitable tenacity of purpose which can withstand all the blows and adversities which assail it.
A few artists reach the top overnight with the rapidity of meteors through some lucky fluke and without experiencing the unpleasant but invaluable lessons of attaining their goal the hard way. Such cases are exceptional and seldom achieve permanent recognition; they usually plummet back into the depths of obscurity with even greater speed.
Ted Heath is certainly not one of these seven day sensations. Few stars can have encountered so many obstacles during the course of their careers;" even fewer could have overcome them and continued the struggle with such undaunted determination. Misfortune and adverse circumstances still dogged his progress after he had won widespread acclaim in Britain as a bandleader, and bankruptcy and total ruin confronted him constantly.
Ted was born on March 30, 1902, in the quiet south London suburb of Wandsworth, at that time rich with the architectural legacies of the Victorian era. His musical grounding at the age of twelve was one of the soundest obtainable-trombonist in a brass band. The aftermath of World War I brought depression to Britain, and Ted found himself amongst the numerous ranks of the unemployed. His trombone stood him in good stead during this hazardous period, and he earned a meagre, precarious living by busking in the London streets.
His fortunes improved in 1920 when he obtained employment with Jack Hylton, and he gained a top-line engagement in 1925 playing trombone in a group led by Al Starita under the aegis of Jack Hylton at the famous Kit-Cat Club. He stayed at this venue until 1928, playing opposite several first-class visiting American bands such as those of Vincent Lopez, Ted Lewis and Paul Whiteman. In 1928 he joined Bert Ambrose's orchestra at the Mayfair Hotel, and remained there continuously until 1935 when he moved on to Sidney Lipton's orchestra at Grosvenor House.
During these pre-war years Ted's services were regularly in demand for recording sessions. One of the most notable of these occurred when he was asked to join Hal Kemp's visiting American band for a recording date. The brass line-up included trumpet star Bunny Berigan, and Ted's presence augmented the section to four-a unique innovation at that time. Ted also recorded with other famous pre-war leaders like Rudy Vallee, Van Phillips, Jay Wilbur and Ray Noble.
When World War II commenced, dancing in the West End was temporarily suspended, but on its resumption Ted returned to Grosvenor House with Maurice Winnick's group. Then, in 1940, he be- came a member of Geraldo's orchestra which earned itself a glowing reputation with its sterling work during the grim war years. After Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war, U. S. bands came to London, and Ted heard them and met their leaders.
The big band swing generated by Glenn Miller fascinated Ted. The full-bodied brass sound was reminiscent of his early brass band days. The fascination gave birth to an ambition, and Ted decided to form a big swing band of his own. He freely admits that he must have been mad at the time. He was forty years old, a married man with a comfortable home and four children, and a highly regarded musician with excellent connections. Yet such was the power of his dream that, with the full support of his wife Moira, he sacrificed his well-ordered routine and security for the perils of pioneering a musical policy hitherto unprecedented in British circles, and Ted Heath and his Music were heard for the first time on a B. B. C. broadcast in 1942.
Thus began the painfully slow climb to fame. Ted sought to popularize his chosen brand of music without compromising with commercialism, and vividly discovered the magnitude of such a task. Only top-line sidemen were good enough to implement his musical policy, and these musicians naturally commanded top rates. In addition to this, the overheads were phenomenal, and Ted often finished a successful date only to discover that his expenses had exceeded his fee. The band consistently topped "Melody Maker" polls and won itself a large, enthusiastic following, but still financial difficulties, worsened by sheer bad luck, bedeviled its security. Two of Ted's hit parade compositions, Lovely weekend and Gonna love that guy, brought in regular royalty cheques, which assisted matters to some extent, but the band continued to win fame and acclaim with its finances perched precariously on the proverbial razor's edge.
It was not until comparitively recently that Ted was at last able to enjoy his widespread success without being continually harassed by financial bugbears. And his present glory certainly atones to a degree for his previous trials and tribulations. A crowning achievement of 1956 was his tour of the States, where he delighted capacity audiences everywhere with his stylish music, thereby confounding the carping critics who are forever maintaining that British standards of musicianship are inferior and will always remain so. Ted and his boys proved conclusively that they can hold their own with the foremost, and the fact that a return visit to the States has already been arranged indicates that Transatlantic audiences share the same opinion. This album, comprising a musical tour of the States, showcases the band at its accomplished, versatile best, and will delight the legions of Heath fans on both sides of the Atlantic.
– NIGEL HUNTER
On The Alamo
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
Stars Fell On Alabama
You're In Kentucky (Sure As You're Born)
Georgia On My Mind
Charleston
Carolina In The Morning
I'm Coming, Virginia
Beautiful Ohio
St. Louis Blues
Louisville Lou
Lullaby Of Broadway
