Friday, May 28, 2010

Geraldo & His Orchestra


Another 78 from the boot sale recently. Enjoy Yourself has been covered many times - in recent years by The Specials. I seem to remember C'est Si Bon being a big hit in the 50's but not sure who by.

Wikipedia says -

"He played piano and organ and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He started his career as a pianist playing for silent films.
Geraldo became a major figure on the British entertainment scene for four decades, having fronted just about every kind of ensemble and influenced the successful careers of numerous top singers. For his broadcasts he varied the style of his orchestra quite considerably, and a particular series Tip Top Tunes (employing a full string section alongside the usual dance band) enjoyed great popularity. Several commercial recordings were made, spotlighting the considerable arranging talents of the young Wally Stott (better known in the US as Angela Morley) .
Over the years, most of the UK's top musicians played with Geraldo's orchestra, including Ted Heath, who played first trombone in the orchestra before leaving to form his own band and the guitarist Ken Sykora, later to become a respected radio personality.
In the 1950s he composed the start-up music for Scottish Television. Entitled Scotlandia, it was heard virtually every day for over thirty years at the beginning of programmes.
Geraldo died from a heart attack while on holiday in Switzerland in 1974. In 1993 a new Geraldo Orchestra, directed by trombonist Chris Dean, toured the UK provinces."


Geraldo & His Orch. - C'est Si Bon

Geraldo & His Orch. - Enjoy Yourself

5 comments:

KD said...

re: "I seem to remember C'est Si Bon being a big hit in the 50's but not sure who by."
Eartha Kitt had hit with "C'est Si Bon". Maybe that's who you're thinking of.

Wastedpapiers said...

Ofcourse - how could I forget! Thanks KD.

KD said...

Specials, The - Enjoy Yourself:
http://accordionguy.blogware.com/_attachments/2799347/The%20Specials%20-%20Enjoy%20Yourself.mp3

Eartha Kitt - C'est Si Bon:
http://cubikmusik.typepad.com/files/01-cest-si-bon.mp3

Anonymous said...

Here's a wikipage on C'est si bon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%27est_si_bon

vikingbones said...

Here's a wiki for C'est si bon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%27est_si_bon