Cliff Townshend / The Squadronaires

[TYMPANON@xxxxxxx]

Interesting summary of Cliff's WWII band:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/review/350157.html

John William Kendall.


Are you able to remember the era of the great Swing Bands ?I am sure there 
are some old timers among Dooyoo members.You will probably remember Bands 
such as the world famous Glenn Miller 40 piece Army - Air Force Band, Tommy 
Dorsey, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman set incredibly high standards of 
musicianship. 


During the troubled days of World War II the British military forces also 
created dance and show bands and arguably the most talented and famous of 
these bands was The Squadronaires. As their name implies they were members of 
the Royal Air Force. 

The Squadronaires were formally known as the No. 1 Dance Band of the Royal 
Air Force. The musicians in the band came mainly from the Ambrose Orchestra, 
even the others had been with well-known bands who performed in London's West 
End. 

The band was actually formed during the dark days of World War II in 1940 and 
all the musicians wore Air Force blue and were given the exalted rank of 
Aircraftsman Second Class/General Duties the lowest rank in the RAF. Their 
pay was pretty low too ,only 3s 6d per day, but at least accommodation at the 
RAF School of Music at Uxbridge Middlesex was free! They were required to 
carry out normal station duties during the day and entertain with concerts 
and dances in the evening. 

Among the star players in the Squadronaires were the very talented trombone 
player George Chisholm, great trumpeters like Tommy McQuarter, Clinton 
"..froggy..." Ffrench and Kenny Baker, saxophone players Andy McDevitt and 
Jimmy Durrant, drummer Jack Cummings, guitarist Sid Colin, pianist Ronnie 
Aldrich and they were initially led by Jimmy Miller and later by Ronnie 
Aldrich. 


Also in the line up was sax player Cliff Townshend: he was the father of 
another very famous musician, Pete Townshend the leader of the world famous 
rock band, The Who. Pete's style of song writing and guitar playing secured 
him a place in the Rock Hall of Fame. 

Right through World War II and beyond, the Squadronaires entertained 
countless thousands of servicemen and servicewomen with their brilliant music 
which ranged from Dixieland to Jive. They played a mixture of contemporary 
dance music and jazz numbers. 


They were arguably the first of a number of service bands from the U.K. to 
really become famous during what is now being described as the "...Golden Era 
of Dance Music...". Other service bands included The Skyrockets (RAF), The 
Blue Rockets from the Royal Army Ordinance Corps and The Blue Mariners Band 
from the Royal Navy. 

They played great music during the Blitz, the Black-out, or when the 
Luftwaffe's bombers were on nightly bombing raids of cities in Britain. The 
squadronaires and other service bands contributed significantly to the morale 
of servicemen during such trying times. 

Musically they were highly talented. A concert broadcast on radio in January 
1941 led to a writer in Melody Maker describing them as "... The greatest 
dance band performance ever broadcast this side of the Atlantic...."The same 
columnist later on in 1941 in referring to another concert by the 
Squadronaires wrote "...This is the greatest jazz this country has ever 
produced...." 

The musicians were undeniably among the finest instrumentalists in Britain. 
At RAF bases, in hangars, works canteens, ballrooms and barracks all over 
wartime Britain, The Squadronaires made sweet music and kept the feet 
tapping. The servicemen loved this band -one of the very finest swing bands 
outside of the USA. 

The band reached a still bigger audience in the 1943 Powell -Pressburger 
movie The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which starred Roger Livesey.This 
helped make them a household name. 

After the ending of hostilities the RAF Music Services started to lose 
personnel as the so called duration men began to leave the Service. The 
members of the RAF Dance Orchestra decided to stay together as a civilian 
band using their well known unofficial title of "...The Squadronaires..." 

As a civilian band they quickly established themselves as one of Britain's 
leading dance orchestras. They toured extensively in the UK and broadcast 
frequently. However, there were one or two changes in the line-up with, eg, 
Jimmy Watson (trumpet) replacing Clinton Ffrench and Marty Levy (alto) took 
the place of Harry Lewis -the latter was the husband of Dame Vera Lynne, who 
incidentally often sung with The Squadronaires. 

The band played on with huge success under Ronnie Aldrich well into the post 
World War II era; they didn't disband as a civilian band until 1964. The 
Squadronaires made a large number of 78rpm records whilst their signature 
tune was There's Something in the Air,this was normally sung by Jimmy Miller.