London Swing Orchestra
On VE Day 1985 Graham Dalby was invited to form a dance orchestra to perform for a charity event at The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in London, to celebrate forty years of peace in Europe. Following the initial and partial success of this band, the group was named by the Warburg's Bank Chairman, Sir David Scholey. The original band was called Graham Dalby and The Grahamophones.
After playing at a few society parties, the band was invited to play at a large event at The Congresse Halle in Berlin, sharing the bill with James Last and his Orchestra and the Motown artist Gloria Gaynor. In January 1986, the band accepted a demanding cruise gig on board a Scandinavian Silja Line ship, the *Wellamo*, during which time they played four sets a day for five weeks. During this time, the BBC Music Archives Department sent out original stock arrangements for the band to learn, so that, by the time they returned to England, the orchestra was prepared to approach a publishing and recording company. In 1986, a contract was signed between Graham Dalby and Edward Kassner on behalf of Kassner Publishing and President Records.
The first album was produced at Pye Studios in London in 1987, entitled "We're Tops On Saturday Night", and was released on vinyl and cassette. The album included a first-published song by Graham Dalby, titled 'I'd Sooner Be A Crooner', which was released as a single and was later used in 1988 by BBC Television as the title of a forty-minute TV documentary about the orchestra and its roots in the Golden Age of British dance bands between the wars. This is available to view on YouTube.
Following the BBC television publicity, the Orchestra was invited to perform at many international arts festivals, including the Henley Festival of the Arts, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Molde Jazz Festival (Norway), and the City of London Festival. Subsequent recordings with President Records followed: "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" in 1988 (cat. no. PCOM1097), "Teddy Bear's Picnic" (BBC Radio 2 Children in Need single with Gloria Hunniford), "Let's Do It Again" in 1990 (cat. no. PCOM1108), and "Transatlantique" in 1993 (cat. no. PCOM 1128). From these albums, Dalby wrote and arranged "Sooner Be a Crooner", "Hair of the Dog", "Vo-Do-De-O Dodo", and "Thinking of You", all published by Kassner President.
The film *A Handful of Dust*, starring Alec Guinness and based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, featured a scene with Graham Dalby and the Orchestra at the Café de Paris playing his composition "Sooner Be A Crooner". This was overwritten by George Fenton's orchestral score, although the visual scene remains.
In 1995, Graham Dalby and his Orchestra were commissioned to record a comprehensive series of Ballroom Dance albums at Abbey Road studios. Some fourteen albums (including compilations) were recorded on the *Let's Dance* series, ranging from Foxtrot to Jive and even Spanish Paso Doble. They were distributed by BMG and many are still available worldwide, e.g. *Let's Dance The Jive* (cat no.LTD102711). The three-album set *Dancing Neath The Stars*, issued in 2005, was released without Graham Dalby's knowledge or approval.
In 1994, Graham Dalby wrote and presented *What Ho! Wodehouse*, a musical biopic, for BBC Radio 2's *The Arts Programme*. During this, Graham Dalby interviewed the Heritage Secretary Iain Sproat (author of *Wodehouse at War*, d.2011) and, arguably for the first time on air, proved that accusations against author P.G. Wodehouse of collaboration and treason during WWII were unfounded and that P.G. Wodehouse had no case to answer. This was subsequently toured live with the Orchestra around British theatres, including Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
"You're the Cream in My Coffee" was used as the evocative and period-convincing theme song for *The Mrs Bradley Mysteries* in the late 1990s. It was recorded and sung by Graham Dalby and The London Swing Orchestra in a recreation of Jack Hylton's 1928 version. External Links Mrs. Bradley Mysteries on IMDb (Graham Dalby music consultant / music advisor / ... (5 episodes, 1998–2000)
In 1997, Graham Dalby recorded *The Great Legends of Jazz and Swing* at Abbey Road Studio for EMI Records and performed the last number by a British dance band in British Hong Kong at 11:45 on The Peak on 30 June 1997. It was "Mad Dogs and Englishmen". The album was re-issued in 1999 as *Swing Classics* on EMI. Thereafter, the Orchestra was renamed and rebranded as The London Swing Orchestra.
In 2000, Graham Dalby and his orchestra were asked to play for H.M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's 100th birthday at Windsor Castle and later featured in a BBC documentary 'The Queen Mum and Me' shown on BBC1 during the Laying in of State of The Queen Mother in 2002.
In 2004, Graham Dalby formed a large orchestra and chorus, renamed The Esterhazy Orchestra, for the 500th Anniversary of The Royal Warrant Holders Association. He programmed and conducted an elaborate performance of five hundred years of Royal patronage through music, in which The London Swing Orchestra also performed.
In 2005, to mark the 200th Anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar, the Orchestra performed on board HMS Warrior just next to HMS Victory.
In 2012, Graham Dalby, to mark twenty-five years of recording, compiled and re-recorded an Anthology of Swing Music with The London Swing Orchestra of four albums of music from 1920–1965 in association with Upbeat Recordings upbeatrecordings.co.uk.
In 2015, to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Orchestra, they were invited to perform live on BBC Radio Two in a VE Day programme with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
In May 2017, the London Swing Orchestra performed at a large gala event in Geneva for Action Innocence.
The London Swing Orchestra currently has 80 tracks available to listen to on Spotify, and they continue touring theatres and festivals, which in 2017 includes Bletchley Park.
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