麻豆约拍

Brian Matthew continues to celebrate the golden age of British dance bands, throwing the spotlight on bandleaders Carroll Gibbons and Ray Noble.

Carroll Gibbons was an American who came to Britain in the 20s and made his life in Britain as leader of London's Savoy Hotel Orpheans. Ray Noble, on the other hand, was a talented British bandleader and composer who, after success in the British recording studios, crossed the Atlantic. Here, he forged a new career in New York and Hollywood, on radio with George Burns and on film with Fred Astaire.

Both men were elegant sophisticates, both led HMV's New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, and both composed successfully. Brian Matthew tells their sometimes intertwined stories with the help of music; the archive words of Noble and others; and observations from Michael Law, the leader of today's Piccadilly Dance Orchestra which continues to keep the music of Gibbons and Noble alive.