Why Do They Fall For the Leader of the Band?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 765, 19 March 1954, Page 8

Why Do They Fall For the Leader of the Band?

J. W.

GOODWIN

tells how the High Court in

| London settled this problem i}

S the leader of a dance band a supef personality or a mere musician? Does he "wag his arms" at his band or use the booktmaker’s system of ternote control while he has a drink with a titled guest? Why is he there at all-unless it is to collect £300 a week? These were some of the questions asked in the Queen’s Berch Division of the High Court in London during five days when Paul Adam, a dance band leader, was claiming £5234 damages. He alleged loss of reputation and prestige and breach of his year’s contract by the Astor Club, Berkeley Square. Paul Adam said that he relied on his personality to influence the musicians and if he left them, they played on without him. However, Mr. Justice Jones compared him with "a certain distinguished character who led his regiment from behind." Paul Adam went into the witness box and described his technique thus: "I call the names of the ttine, give two beats, and the band starts playing automatically by itself." Cross-examined by Mr. Gilbert Beyfus, Q.C., for Astor Enterprises Ltd., he added that a symphonic orchestra depended on its conductor, but a dance band did not. Mr. Beyfus: Does Mr. Ambrose conduct his band?-No. Do you. mean to say he stands there like a tailor’s dummy?-I would not like to say that. : What do you do?-TI stand up and sing... Forget your singing. Do you just stand up and do nothing?-I don’t just -~----

stand up and wag my arms around like this. (Here Adam demonstrated.) Mr. Beyfus: Otherwise you do nothing at all?-I rely on my personality. What is your importance? -According to the remuneration, people seem to think a leader is important. Adam added that his demeanour was an influence over the band, but there was no influence over their playing beCause that had been rehearsed. The expressions were written on the music which did not change and was the same tempo all through. Mr. J. Nahum, Q.C., for Adam, said that the band leader felt it part of his duty to act as host, but he denied a suggestion that his only function was as a drinking companion. Out of his £300 a week, he paid £157/19/- to the other nine in the band. That Personality The question whether a band leader is more than a personality occupied most of the second day of the hearing. Others were in court to hear themselves classified as instrumentalists who were "usually insignificant people," personalities, or figureheads and business men. _ The deputy-leader of Adam’s band said: "I could conduct the band, but I could not be Paul Adam. His personal- ity is projected to the people." He added that Billy Cotton was in the "figurehead" class-"he is not a musician." I Mr, Beyfus: We are not talking about musicians, but about band leaders. Aca nn

cording to you, he need not be a miusician to be a band leader?-That is 80, Adam told counsel he was an artist. "There is only: one side to your profession, but there are. many to mine. I play the violin and the piano and have studied music." Mr. Beyfus: And croon? I croak a little. Perhaps I put it rather high when I said croon,

a father intermediate term?-I would never call myself a crooner. So it was because of your playing and conducting that you got something like £140 a week?-Don’t forget my personality. There are plenty of better musicians than I am who do not. get £140 a week. When counsel for the night club suggested that- band leaders got swollen: headed ‘and acted like prima donnas, _there was laughter as Adam retorted: ."I could reverse. that and say it applies to any profession." "Tea for Two" By the third day the court had heard much night club slang. It understood about customers being "put in Siberia’ or the worst part of the room, it knew what a club promoter meant when he said "Paul is my china"-~as one lawyer temark€d, it was a fragile relationshipen

it had been told a lot about music, but it had heard none, When the music did go round and round. and come out in the High Court, it was not from a musician, a music criti¢, or from a Musicians’ Union official, all of whom gave evidence, but from a Queen’s Counsel. Adam’s counsel, Mr. J. Nahum, questioned a professional dance music critic who said that a band leader had no time to correct a wrong note during a performatice. fp Mr, Nahum: Suppose the band were playing "Tea for Two’? ...He hummed a few bars, then broke off, saying, "I can’t sing." ec ea: ce Mr. Justice Jones, who had sat unmoved the previous day when Adam asked rather tersely: "How can one compare a court with a night club?" thought it wise to interrupt hefe, saying that he appreciated the point. The music critic added that, once rehearsals were over, a leader’s job was to "look pretty" and greet patrons. Most "personality leaders" came on the bandstand late and left early. "A leader’s no use Without prestige; it’s all he’s got." Tall and Dark The Musicians’ Union official said that there were only six of seven bard leaders who "set the stamp" in ‘London night clubs. He cited Ambrose, Jack Harris, Harry Roy, Lew Stone, Maurice Winnick, Sidney Lipton, Roy Fox and Frank Weir. : Asked how he would define this type of band leader, he replied that a club might want a man of great personal charm like Ambrose or someone tall, dark, and handsome like Paul Adam. Did band leaders feel themselves important? he was asked, "Yes, bécause they are paid such high wages. They must be important,’ said the union official. "Band leadets are considered the life and soul of the party in a subdued, rather blasé, sort of way." Some of the clients also had their say. One from Belgrave Mews declared that "it-was a definite asset with one’s lady friends" if Adam came to one’s table for a drink. Another remarked that Adam produced an air of gaiety and appeared to be enjoying himself. "The band also seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I think that’s a rare thing in night clubs," he added amidst laughter. Evidence from three dance band leaders enlivened the fourth day of the (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) hearing. Felix King, Abraham Walters (Don Carlos), and Frank Weir each said he considered it his duty — sometimes reluctantly — to remain on the stand while his band was playing, controlling it either by conducting ar playing an instrument. Frank Weir, asked whether people in night clubs knew what band was playing, replied: "When one is drinking in a night club one never knows whether the dance band or rumba band is on." "One suggestion is that the leader can be like a tic-tac man, sitting in a remote corner of the room, drinking with guests, and signalling to his band," said counsel for the club. "IT have never seen anyone trying to do it," said Frank Weir. In the end, Pau! Adam did not succeed, as was suggested, in establishing a new charter for band leaders by which he could "spend his time drinking, preferably with a peer of the realm, in a remote corner of the room, controlling his orchestra either by the method of the bookmakers in a tic-tac system, or by some sort of wireless." The judge left no doubt that he considered "the idea of a band ieader projecting his personality upon the audience and not on the band is the veriest rubbish."