this page first published by John Wright, 22 Sept 1998
last update 14 March 2005vintage@jabw.demon.co.uk

Melody Maker

1933

The Detector

...I am certain that the most prejudiced reader will not disagree with me when I say that the broadcasts of the new Monseigneur Band have been, in a sense, staggering. Naturally everyone expected something extra good, but I doubt if many were prepared either for the extraordinary high degree of instrumental finesse or the really intelligent selection of programmes which is being evinced.
The leaders of our broadcasting bands have always been shy of modern or futuristic music, and have usually played for safety all the time where the selection of programme is concerned. Now Lew Stone has come along and with one bold sweep cast all this prejudice aside by showing everyone that he is not afraid to feature such classic compositions as 'Blue ramble', 'Maniac's Ball' and 'Black Jazz', put over with every ounce of the verve and precision for which the star personnel is already famous.

John Wright's note:
The titles mentioned had recently been written and recorded by Americans Duke Ellington and Gene Gifford/Casa Loma Orch. Lew Stone had obviously played these titles during broadcasts but he didn't record them. Were the arrangements too similar to the originals, or too advanced to be commercially acceptable to Decca? It is our loss that we'll never hear those arrangements but we can hear what Lew was capable of in the recordings he did make of his arrangements of 'Solitude' and 'Blue Jazz'(the latter with Stanley Black).

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