Geraldo always employed
the very best of musicians, he had a
policy of delivering high quality musical
performances, whatever the genre of
the music to be played. Like Ted Heath,
who played in Geraldo’s Orchestra on
some of the tracks on this record, he
was a strict disciplinarian who would
have no nonsense if it affected the
quality of performance.
I found it amazing
that so many of his sidemen became band
leaders in their own right, Harry Hayes,
Nat Temple, George Evans, Ted Heath,
Eric Delaney, Harry Gold and trumpeter
Eddie Calvert are just a sample! Geraldo
was also a very astute businessman and
his agency work meant that he supplied
bands to every British cruise line,
to the extent that the musician’s were
known as Geraldo’s navy.
He always tried to
be ahead of public taste, firstly by
introducing Latin American music to
the UK and then anticipating the need
for a larger swing based dance and concert
band.
The music on this record
dates from 1933 to 1948, the orchestra
of course ran for much longer, and he
was still active in the 1960’s and gave
occasional concerts right up to 1970.
He died in 1974, whilst on holiday in
Switzerland.
A key figure in his
band was his brother Sid Bright, like
Geraldo (or Gerald Bright, which was
his real name) he was a pianist. Sid
was also an excellent arranger and it
was his work for his brother that gave
the band it’s distinctive sound.
The record, which has
been enhanced by some excellent work
by the LIVING ERA team presents the
band in many of it’s phases, dance band
to Latin band, to ‘pop’ band of the
day and to big swing band. The later
bands benefit from the excellent drumming
of Eric Dalaney.
Not being a great fan
of vintage dance bands, it was the post-war
recordings I found most interesting
Rhapsody for Reeds still sounds remarkably
fresh and the Ivor Mairants tribute
to Charlie Christian ‘In Charlie’s Footsteps’
shows what a master of the guitar Ivor
was. The 1946 session which included
Artistry in Rhythm and Eager Beaver
from the Kenton library, demonstrates
that the band was well up to dealing
with what was regarded as advanced material
in those days. The Basie style arrangement
of Taps Miller shows the band in fine
form, I particularly liked the saxes,
lead by the redoubtable Dougie Robinson
and with Keith Bird another fine musician
on Tenor.
Many of Geraldo’s singers
went on to great things Jim Dale and
Eve Boswell, although from a later era
of the band than is represented here,
became stars in their own right. Ten
vocalists are included on the album
including Monte Rey, Carole Carr, Al
Bowlly and Cavan O Connor.
Geraldo was an important figure in
the music world and this collection
of his work will, I am sure, bring back
a lot of happy memories.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
LIVING ERA CD AJA 5558
