Ambrose
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Born

  • 1897
  • London, England

Died

  • June 12, 1973
  • Leeds, England

Ambrose

Popular English orchestra leader best remembered for his traditional jazz and semi-swing groups of the 1920s and 1930s and for his long association with singer Vera Lynn. Bert Ambrose was born in London and moved to New York near the end of WWI, where he studied violin and played in a cinema orchestra. In 1917 he became musical director at the Club de Vingt, remaining there until 1920, when he was enticed to return to London to lead the Embassy Club Orchestra. He went to New York again in 1922 to take over as musical director at the Clover Gardens but stayed only a short period, again being enticed (he claims by a telegram from the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII) to return to London and the Embassy Club. He recorded for Columbia in 1923.

In 1927 Ambrose was offered the post of musical director at the Mayfair Hotel. This new orchestra was a big success, and they were offered a recording contract with Brunswick. The group also made an appearance at the London Palladium that same year. In 1928 regular broadcasts began on the BBC, helping to establish them as the most popular orchestra in Britain. That same year, they also made recordings for Gramophone. Unhappy with that label, Ambrose signed with Decca in 1929, where he continued to record until 1949.

In 1933 he returned to the Embassy Club, remaining there until 1936 when he once again took up residence at the Mayfair Hotel. In 1937 he briefly took over management at Ciro's before beginning a short stay at the Café de Paris, after which he went on tour. In the late 1930s he formed an octet with which he toured during a recording dispute that sidelined his orchestra. At the end of 1939 he again returned to the Mayfair Hotel with a full orchestra.

With the start of WWII Ambrose lost many of his musicians to the RAF. Struggling to find good replacement personnel, he finally decided to terminate his stay at the Mayfair in 1940 and concentrate on his octet again. Throughout the war and into the 1950s he continued to lead bands, eventually retiring in 1956 and turning to artist management. Ambrose alumni include Lew Stone, Ted Heath, Bert Barnes, Stanley Black, Kenny Baker and George Shearing. Bert Ambrose died on June 12, 1973, collapsing from a heart attack while in a TV studio in Leeds. (Some sources give June 18, 1971, as his date of death.)