0:00:07 > 0:00:09SWING MUSIC PLAYS
0:00:16 > 0:00:19I've always been captivated by the sound of swing jazz.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22The fact that you can't hear it without wanting to tap your feet
0:00:22 > 0:00:27or that glorious, brassy big-band sound that is so evocative
0:00:27 > 0:00:30of its era and a moment of dazzling musical freedom.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Now, in the 21st-century, London is swinging again
0:00:34 > 0:00:39and a whole new generation of dancers are rediscovering
0:00:39 > 0:00:41the joys of the jive and the jitterbug.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50We might think of swing as White music for White audiences but
0:00:50 > 0:00:54beneath that story lies a remarkable tale of race politics in society.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59In the late 1920s, a handful of trailblazing West Indian musicians
0:00:59 > 0:01:03arrived on these shores and they helped shape the sound of the era.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06I thought it was high time we looked at this neglected
0:01:06 > 0:01:07chapter in musical history
0:01:07 > 0:01:11and rediscovered the Black musicians who really made Britain swing.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29The music that came to define an era in Britain had its roots in Harlem.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33In the 1920s, African-American artists began experimenting
0:01:33 > 0:01:38with musical ideas and created their own radical new sound.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40I think we're looking at a truly revolutionary,
0:01:40 > 0:01:45incendiary moment in human music history and from the earliest
0:01:45 > 0:01:49examples of freed slaves playing music in
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Congo Square in New Orleans and the blues and those traditions,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56those things coming together, there was, if you like,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00just an infectious mix of music that was destined to take over the world.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Every kind of music has its own groove, and swing is that
0:02:14 > 0:02:18particular groove that is within jazz that makes you want to tap your feet.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26As Duke Ellington famously said,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29"It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing."
0:02:32 > 0:02:36For years, the British had swayed politely to the sound of light music
0:02:36 > 0:02:38at afternoon tea dances.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42But these were swept aside by the sheer energy of Black American jazz
0:02:42 > 0:02:45which not only inspired exciting new dances
0:02:45 > 0:02:48but helped diminish painful memories of the First World War.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59# All aboard
0:02:59 > 0:03:01# Dead of night express... #
0:03:01 > 0:03:05British audiences became hungry to experience the sort of music
0:03:05 > 0:03:07and musicians that were thrilling Harlem,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and it is this vibrant, transformational moment in history
0:03:10 > 0:03:14that Stephen Poliakoff explores in his new drama series for BBC Two.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16# ..Wind blows round the steeple
0:03:16 > 0:03:18# Empty world and... #
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Dancing On The Edge follows a fictional Black swing band
0:03:21 > 0:03:23as they dazzle London's high society.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26# ..The midnight train a-whistling... #
0:03:26 > 0:03:29The Victorian, Edwardian world that had led to this terrible slaughter
0:03:29 > 0:03:33and tragedy was being, you know, repudiated in all sorts of ways.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36The new was worshipped and this was part of the new -
0:03:36 > 0:03:40this excitement and rawness and sexual energy was part of it.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49This fascinating moment in time when jazz music became fashionable amongst
0:03:49 > 0:03:51certain members of the aristocracy,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53the ruling elite and the Royal Family,
0:03:53 > 0:03:59and both visiting American Black jazz musicians and home-grown -
0:03:59 > 0:04:02all the people that made their careers here. And I thought that was
0:04:02 > 0:04:07an extraordinary insight into that time and a different angle on what,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11obviously, is a period famous for racism, anti-Semitism
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and all sorts of darkness.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Do you think the fact that these were Black musicians appearing
0:04:16 > 0:04:19for the first time, was that, how much of that was part of it?
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Did they bring their own inflection to the music or was it just
0:04:22 > 0:04:25the fact that for that audience to behold an all-Black band
0:04:25 > 0:04:28was something, as you say, such an exotic spectacle in itself?
0:04:28 > 0:04:33Well, it was unusual at that time in London hotels.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36# My night-time dreams and desire... #
0:04:36 > 0:04:39The '30s, because of the terrible tragedy of the First World War,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42embraced the new in all sorts of ways.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45# Burning cinders in the midnight sky
0:04:45 > 0:04:49# My heart is a-pounding and a-pumping and a-thumping... #
0:04:49 > 0:04:50It's very sexy, that music.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54I think we forget, we don't tend to think of that music that way.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56That does bring us full circle. It is very sexy.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01That is precisely why a lot of these people were drawn to it at the time.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07What a gorgeous little singer. I do love this jazz sound, don't you?
0:05:07 > 0:05:13It was a very vibrant time in the music scene in London.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Dancing On The Edge draws its inspiration from the real
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Black musicians and entertainers who arrived in London in the 1930s.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29At that time, the sight of Black faces on Britain's streets
0:05:29 > 0:05:31was still something of a rarity.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34But two men in particular, both from the West Indies although from
0:05:34 > 0:05:37very different backgrounds, would manage to break through
0:05:37 > 0:05:41the boundaries and have a profound impact on London's musical culture.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49Leslie Thompson, an innovative musician and celebrated trumpeter
0:05:49 > 0:05:52and Ken Snakehips Johnson,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56a brilliant dancer and charismatic bandleader.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59When Ken and Leslie joined forces to create Britain's first Black
0:05:59 > 0:06:03swing band, it was the beginning of both musical and social change.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05The possibilities of that were cut short
0:06:05 > 0:06:08when their story ended in tragedy at the height of the Blitz but,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12while it lasted, their phenomenal success was an inspiration to
0:06:12 > 0:06:15others and the birth of a new era where Black musicians
0:06:15 > 0:06:18could take centre stage for the first time.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21This is the untold tale of two extraordinary men
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and the legacy of the music he helped create.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34It was like being in heaven, the music like that.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36It lifted one, you know,
0:06:36 > 0:06:38all the people, the dancers, the musicians.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40It lifted you completely, you know.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45You left a club or whatever feeling a different person,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49feeling satisfied and very happy with life, you know.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57It was a renaissance of Black music at that period at that time.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03It was the birth of West Indian Black British music.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Musicians today still find something enticing in the Black British music
0:07:09 > 0:07:14of the 1930s and are drawn to its infectious swing.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Musically, how radical was their stuff?
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Was it coming... Was there a direct through-line from American swing
0:07:21 > 0:07:24and American jazz, or were they creating their own British sound
0:07:24 > 0:07:26that also had that Caribbean flavour to it?
0:07:26 > 0:07:30When you hear the ways in which they phrase,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32if you hear at the phrasing within the trumpets,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36there's very subtle, almost calypso-like resonances happening.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44# Dah, bah, bah, doo-dah-bah, bah-doo, bah-dah. #
0:07:44 > 0:07:47There is a kind of slightly more relaxed
0:07:47 > 0:07:50but still very insistent awareness of the groove that is
0:07:50 > 0:07:53distinct from the African-American tradition and, as I say,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57in a way that predates anything that we have.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The rhythm is, of course, a really important element of that -
0:08:00 > 0:08:03the syncopated, offbeat rhythms
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and that sort of driving pulse that was, of course,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07great for dancing as well.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10# Doo-dah, doo-dah doo-dah, doo-dah. #
0:08:10 > 0:08:12Everything is played on the up beat.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19And then you can imagine that going on, a kick drum might
0:08:19 > 0:08:21throw in some syncopated beats on top.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23# Dah, boom, boom, dah-dah, doo, doo
0:08:23 > 0:08:25# Boom, dah-dah, dah-dah Boom, boom. #
0:08:25 > 0:08:28SWING MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Leslie Thompson first picked up the euphonium
0:08:45 > 0:08:46at his orphanage in Jamaica.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48From the start, he showed great promise,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and he continued to play after joining the West India Regiment
0:08:51 > 0:08:53of the British Army.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Jamaica was part of the British Empire and the Army gave him
0:08:56 > 0:08:59an opportunity to escape the economic deprivation of the time,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02come to Britain and get a prestigious music education.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I've come to the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall
0:09:15 > 0:09:19in Twickenham to hear about one talented musician without whom
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Black British swing might never have taken off.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Leslie arrived here in 1919, aged just 17 and I've heard about
0:09:28 > 0:09:32a precious school record book that shows just how talented he was.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Leslie Thompson came here, there's a record.
0:09:36 > 0:09:42The entry from Kneller Hall, we can see the West India regiment
0:09:42 > 0:09:47that's two dittos so you have Eccles, Mclean and Thompson, 68.
0:09:47 > 0:09:5568, Thompson. And they joined Kneller Hall on 13th of April 1919.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00And left the beginning of December the following year, 1920.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05And Leslie's instrument here was the euphonium and the other two,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07clarinet and cornet.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12And you can see fair, fairly good comes to Leslie Thompson.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13Very high!
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Very high. And there isn't another very high.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19There's very good and there's fair but there's no other very high.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21So is it fair to say that Leslie Thompson was
0:10:21 > 0:10:23pretty exceptional as a musician?
0:10:23 > 0:10:24Yes. Oh, yes. Yes.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27The document here in Twickenham says "euphonium" but I know
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Leslie had violin lessons. So there's violin before he came to England.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34He played trumpet or cornet.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38I suspect he played the trombone before he came to England.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42By the time he settled in England in 1929, he could play the cello,
0:10:42 > 0:10:47the string bass, trumpet, trombone, clarinet.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49You name it, he'd learnt them all
0:10:49 > 0:10:51because he was going to be a professional musician.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55In many ways, Kneller Hall was an ideal environment in which
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Leslie could flourish but this was also a time when
0:10:58 > 0:11:00racial discrimination was widely accepted in Britain.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03And within the Army, there were strict limits
0:11:03 > 0:11:04on what he could achieve.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07He so much enjoyed his time at Kneller Hall
0:11:07 > 0:11:10and so much enjoyed the opportunities that had come his way,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13he spoke to his colleagues and said,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16"Oh, I want to go for the Bandmaster Certificate."
0:11:16 > 0:11:20And he asked around about applying for a Bandmaster,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23about being sent back to Kneller Hall as a bandmaster,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and it was pointed out to him that bandmasters are officers
0:11:26 > 0:11:29and the King's regulations, the British Army forbade
0:11:29 > 0:11:33any Negro or person of colour holding the King's commission.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38If you were Black, you couldn't be an officer in the British Army
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and it came to Leslie as a big blow.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47His ambition crushed, Leslie returned to Jamaica
0:11:47 > 0:11:50where he would remain until 1929.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01The man with whom Leslie would eventually form
0:12:01 > 0:12:04his all-Black swing band, Ken Snakehips Johnson,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07was from an entirely different background.
0:12:07 > 0:12:08The son of a government minister,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12he grew up amongst the privileged classes in British Guyana.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15And in 1929 he was sent here, to William Borlase School
0:12:15 > 0:12:18in the quaint English town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23The plan was for Ken to finish his schooling and then
0:12:23 > 0:12:27train for a respectable profession, maybe medicine or the law.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Young Ken, on the other hand, had different ideas.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35Within just a few years of arriving here, Ken would be intoxicating
0:12:35 > 0:12:38London audiences as a dancer and bandleader but meanwhile,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42he quickly settled into ordinary school life.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Today he's still remembered fondly
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and serves as an inspiration for students at the school.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53It's extraordinary to see, 1930, Ken is very much the only
0:12:53 > 0:12:58Black face here. Do we have a sense of how he reacted to that?
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Do we have a sense of how he dealt with those challenges?
0:13:02 > 0:13:04He was a really good student.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08He had enough courage to really participate in school.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12He didn't mind where he was from and what was expected of him.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15He just sort of... He fit in really strangely well.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19I think just by the fact that he felt confident enough to join these teams
0:13:19 > 0:13:22and his team-mates were so supportive of him,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24I think that he was well accepted.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27MUSIC: "Tuxedo Junction"
0:13:27 > 0:13:31We'll never know for sure just how accepted Ken felt here
0:13:31 > 0:13:34but one thing's for sure, nothing held him back.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41It was whilst at school that Ken's interest in music really grew,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and although he played the violin here, as a young man of his time,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47it wasn't classical music that got him fired up.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51The teenage Ken Johnson loved jazz.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55He had a dream of becoming a dancer and that dream would eventually
0:13:55 > 0:14:00earn him the name Snakehips and draw him into the swinging London scene.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03MUSIC: "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"
0:14:03 > 0:14:05The fashion for tea dances with set steps had changed.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Innovation and freedom of expression would define the new jazz era.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11And dancing was more popular than ever.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Dancing after the First World War became a huge leisure occupation.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20And people were beginning to dance in a much more improvisational way.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Rather that following strict steps like you'd get for something
0:14:29 > 0:14:32like the waltz, taking on these new dances, like a foxtrot
0:14:32 > 0:14:35or a quickstep, and maybe being able to improvise much more
0:14:35 > 0:14:37and choosing the steps that they would do.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40At the same time, you've got the novelty dances.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Things like the grizzly bear and the turkey trot,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46that had their own little steps associated with them as well.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Whether it was the bumblebee sting or the Charleston,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52everyone was dancing. And to feed the nation's growing obsession,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56huge venues opened up, known as the Palais de Danse.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59These were huge, great, massive venues.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01And they put a band quite often at each end.
0:15:01 > 0:15:02There'd be a stage at each end.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Inspired by American jazz music,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11White British big bands offered an anglicised take on that sound.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14This soon became the popular dance music of its day.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And meanwhile, exciting new technologies like the wireless
0:15:21 > 0:15:24and the latest record pressings also allowed some audiences
0:15:24 > 0:15:26to experience that authentic American sound.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49For the last nine years, Leslie Thompson had been
0:15:49 > 0:15:51back in his native Jamaica.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54He was making his living playing music in the silent movie theatres.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57But when the talkies arrived in 1929,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00his career was suddenly under threat.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03It was to Britain that he would turn
0:16:03 > 0:16:05to seek bigger musical opportunities.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10He came here to work as a professional musician.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16Which means dance bands, theatre, pit bands, show bands,
0:16:16 > 0:16:21perhaps making films, and that's what you could do.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Leslie hoped to make his living as a trumpeter.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29And like every other jobbing musician in London
0:16:29 > 0:16:30he headed to Archer Street.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33This narrow back street in Soho became a sort of unofficial
0:16:33 > 0:16:35labour exchange for freelance musicians.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39And with older musical players not suited to the new music,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42which exploded all existing rules,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45it became about the next generation coming through.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48And this is the block on which those new kids gathered.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59The scene was growing, and one musician remembers it well.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00It was like this.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04You turned up in Archer Street and it was packed from one end to the next.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And as you walked, you see guys used to put their hands up like that,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11"Got a gig for you." And this tells you how much,
0:17:11 > 0:17:16£5 or £10 or £15 as the case may be, by the hands going, you know.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And that's the way we used to get our gigs.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20MUSIC: "20th Century Blues"
0:17:20 > 0:17:25During the depression of the 1930s, Archer Street was a crucial hub
0:17:25 > 0:17:28where musicians like Leslie found work, from underground clubs
0:17:28 > 0:17:31to playing in the orchestra of huge West End musicals.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Leslie Thompson was a great musician. He played several instruments.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40He fit right in to the West End musical, stage musical scene.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44# Why is it that civilised humanity... #
0:17:44 > 0:17:47They wanted instrumentation that would
0:17:47 > 0:17:52give the flavour of jazz, of authentic jazz to a stage musical.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56He hooked up with CB Cochran, a great producer,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01did the early Noel Coward smashes on stage.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04So he was very well received.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07In the early 1930s, the finest American sounds were
0:18:07 > 0:18:11arriving in London, and jazz enthusiasts heard Louis Armstrong
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and Duke Ellington's pioneering recordings or saw them live
0:18:15 > 0:18:18when the bands came here on tour.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20MUSIC: "West End Blues" by Louis Armstrong
0:18:22 > 0:18:28In 1931, Leslie Thompson heard Louis Armstrong for the first time.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Armstrong is, you know, playing all these notes and pulling them
0:18:34 > 0:18:37out of this and that place of stratosphere and so on.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40I mean, you've got to be dead not to admire Armstrong, you know,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43and he did, he had that, he had that admiration.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45MUSIC: "Tiger Rag" by Louis Armstrong
0:18:54 > 0:18:56British audiences loved this stuff
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and wanted more of the authentic jazz sound from America.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03But in the context of the Great Depression and high unemployment,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06the Government passed legislation to safeguard British jobs
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and restrict visiting musicians.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Leslie could now play in the White British bands that emerged to
0:19:23 > 0:19:25fill the gap the Americans had left.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29But he was also increasingly aware of an emerging movement in New York
0:19:29 > 0:19:32that sought to empower Black people throughout the world.
0:19:38 > 0:19:39In 1914, Marcus Garvey set up
0:19:39 > 0:19:43the Universal Negro Improvement Association
0:19:43 > 0:19:46that encouraged Black people to celebrate their African heritage.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00As his organisation grew in power and influence,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Garvey came to London to inspire and rally the Black British population.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12It was at Speakers' Corner, here in London's Hyde Park,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16that Leslie Thompson would have seen Marcus Garvey in the flesh
0:20:16 > 0:20:21and heard his message of Black economic empowerment.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Leslie was moved by Garvey's words.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26He'd been prevented from becoming a bandleader in his regiment
0:20:26 > 0:20:29because of his colour, but he saw now that in the world of jazz,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32this could be the key to his success.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35He realised that his opportunity was going to be standing
0:20:35 > 0:20:36in place of these missing
0:20:36 > 0:20:38African-Americans and, in particular,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41as people were beginning to become more acquainted with Louis Armstrong
0:20:41 > 0:20:44as a performer, that he could stand in for Louis Armstrong.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47People were associating this new music, jazz, with Black people.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51And as Leslie said, there was song called My Face Is My Fortune
0:20:51 > 0:20:53and he was in the right place at the right time.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55He was a Black guy who played the trumpet in London.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02The teenage Ken Johnson was also drawn to the capital,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06where he was pursuing his dream of becoming a dancer.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Ken was ambitious and driven, and by 1934 he had even
0:21:10 > 0:21:15landed role as a nightclub dancer in the British film Oh, Daddy.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Ken had been learning from the best, and his celebrated dance teacher,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Buddy Bradley, helped him get the part.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Buddy Bradley who was an African-American choreographer,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31very, very famous and very popular in England in the 1930s.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Bradley was choreographing the top West End shows and film musicals.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39And audiences loved them.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Buddy Bradley also ran a dance school and everybody went to him
0:21:42 > 0:21:44to learn a few dance steps.
0:21:44 > 0:21:45And Ken would have learnt from him.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51So Ken Johnson was making a name for himself as a dancer,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53but he wanted more.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56And this ambition would take him all the way across the Atlantic.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03It's on record that Ken Snakehips Johnson visited New York in 1934,
0:22:03 > 0:22:09at the height of the popularity of the Cotton Club and the Black bands.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12MUSIC: "Zaz Zuh Zaz" by Cab Calloway
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20He'd met Fletcher Henderson,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23the most influential swing bandleader of the mid-30s.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Mr Henderson said, "Ah here, here's a baton, can you conduct the band?
0:22:27 > 0:22:31"Go ahead. See, that's easy. When you go back, you should get a band.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33"You could make some money."
0:22:36 > 0:22:38So that's all the encouragement he needed.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Ken returned to Britain with a new nickname and a new career.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46He was now Snakehips Johnson - bandleader.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52He's young, handsome and he had aspirations of really making it.
0:22:52 > 0:22:59Coming from, what you would call traditional middle class background,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03he really wanted to be a posh star, I think.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08The jazz craze spread through London's West End
0:23:08 > 0:23:11and high demand created more opportunities.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Many West Indian musicians came to seek their musical fortunes
0:23:14 > 0:23:18in the UK and a small but thriving artistic community sprang up.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Earl Cameron, then a budding young actor,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24came over from Bermuda, attracted to the scene.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27The Jig's Club. You ever heard of the Jig's Club?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- I have, yes. - That was the real hang-out.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35Tractors, Bateman Street, Soho. La Java club on Old Compton Street.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Jazz. All jazz music, first class musicians.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Yorke de Souza. You know York de Souza? He was a pianist.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46I knew them all. I knew them all, yeah. That's what London was like.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54You were in competition, of course, but you were friends.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56You got to know most of them, anyway.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Or if you didn't get a chance to meet them,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01because they played within such a band,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05you had a respect for them and you wanted to meet them.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Among this lively community, Ken Snakehips and Leslie Thompson
0:24:09 > 0:24:11met and hatched a plan that would
0:24:11 > 0:24:13put their complementary talents to good use.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17In 1935, drummer Happy Blake put a West Indian band together
0:24:17 > 0:24:19to play at his Cuba Club.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21And now Ken and Leslie dared to dream of forming
0:24:21 > 0:24:26an all-Black British swing band that could really make it to the top.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30I think the partnership of Leslie Thompson and Ken Snakehips Johnson
0:24:30 > 0:24:35was really very dynamic, bringing together the musicianship of Leslie -
0:24:35 > 0:24:38who was, by all accounts, a brilliant musician,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42highly respected and regarded - and Ken Snakehips who had this
0:24:42 > 0:24:45enormous star quality, this stage presence
0:24:45 > 0:24:49which brought the audience to him, wherever he was playing,
0:24:49 > 0:24:50or whoever he was playing to.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Whether it was the upper classes or the working classes,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56it attracted them to him.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58With their own roles clear,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Ken and Leslie set out to find the finest Black musicians around
0:25:02 > 0:25:06to form the band and turn a bold dream into reality.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09In 1936 they launched the Emperors of Jazz,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12the first real Black British swing band.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16The 14-piece group included Jamaican trumpeter Leslie Jiver Hutchinson.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I met up with Jiver's daughter, singer Elaine Delmar,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22who still has the original photograph of the band.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26And this is a picture of Ken Johnson's band.
0:25:26 > 0:25:27I love it because...
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Oh, there's my father.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35And there's Leslie Thompson, Yorke de Souza on piano,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Bertie King, and on guitar here was Joe Deniz.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42- They were a very good-looking band, weren't they?- Weren't they?
0:25:42 > 0:25:44- They're immaculate.- Beautiful.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49The Emperors of Jazz were a disparate mixture of
0:25:49 > 0:25:52African, Welsh, Jamaican and London-born players,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55all united by their colour. Well, almost.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58I love this picture in particular as well because they've got these
0:25:58 > 0:26:00two trombonists who are White
0:26:00 > 0:26:02with their not very good blacked up faces.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05They've put on a little, a little Egyptian on their faces.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Black trombonists were apparently hard to come by
0:26:09 > 0:26:12so the initial line-up of the Emperors of Jazz also included
0:26:12 > 0:26:16two White English boys, who blacked up to fit in with the band.
0:26:16 > 0:26:17White impostors aside,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20the Emperors were offering something completely new.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22This was something unique.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25This was something that hadn't happened before.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30This was a Black British/Guyanese, young, charismatic guy
0:26:30 > 0:26:33fronting a band. And that had never happened.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36The Black musicians and bandleaders that people had been exposed to
0:26:36 > 0:26:39before had all been African American visitors.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Behind the scenes, Leslie as musical leader
0:26:41 > 0:26:45put the band to work rehearsing in Soho's Gerrard Street.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48When they were rehearsing this music for the first time,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51all these American charts that they'd managed to bring over,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54musicians would come and sort of huddle round the rehearsal room door
0:26:54 > 0:26:57and sort of listen to them because it was this new sound.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59It was this new feel to the music.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02He speaks in particular of trying to get the lift and swing
0:27:02 > 0:27:06in the rhythm section so he would grill the rhythm section
0:27:06 > 0:27:09to try and get that feel right.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13After nearly two months of tough rehearsals, the band were ready
0:27:13 > 0:27:14to put themselves out there.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17From London to Liverpool, the band toured the country.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21And by late 1936, audiences were lapping them up.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Much of their success was due to the sheer thrill of their music,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28but their timing also helped, as White British audiences were now
0:27:28 > 0:27:31ready to enjoy the talents, and the novelty,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33of an all-Black swing band.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38MUSIC: "Tap Your Feet"
0:27:40 > 0:27:42The band had got the swing, and the image,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46what they needed now was a residency in one of the swanky London clubs.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49It would have to be a big club. A dancing club
0:27:49 > 0:27:52had to be big, and that meant dinner, that meant review,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55that meant starting probably at 11.00 and playing until the
0:27:55 > 0:27:59sun comes up or something, for the very rich who didn't have to get up.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08Within weeks, Ken Johnson had got the fledgling Emperors of Jazz
0:28:08 > 0:28:12a six week trial at London's oldest swingerie, the Old Florida Club
0:28:12 > 0:28:15here in what was then South Bruton Mews.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18For the first time, each member of the ten-piece band
0:28:18 > 0:28:22would have steady work and wages in a high-class London joint,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25without having to scramble for short-term contracts,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28one off gigs, or touring the length of the country.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35The band began their residency on New Year's Eve in 1936,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and they quickly became a roaring success.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57For the first time, the Emperors of Jazz were bringing
0:28:57 > 0:29:01a home-grown, infectious, Black, American-style swing
0:29:01 > 0:29:05to British dance floors and White audiences were enthralled.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16Reports at the time attest that this was just the swingingest band
0:29:16 > 0:29:19in London, not just because they were Black, but because they played
0:29:19 > 0:29:23the music with, I guess, positivity and insistence and a belief.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26You've got to remember that the West Indies is closer
0:29:26 > 0:29:27in proximity to America as well,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31so a lot of these musicians would have spent time in North America,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33they would have spent time hearing Ellington up close
0:29:33 > 0:29:37and getting a sense of the source and transmuting that to an audience.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48The band had broken through race, class and societal barriers
0:29:48 > 0:29:51and were doing better than either of its founders had hoped.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56As bandleader, Ken was growing into the role of showman
0:29:56 > 0:29:59and drawing in the high class audiences.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03Snakehips, his charisma was a major factor in him fronting the band.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06But he wasn't musical.
0:30:06 > 0:30:07He wasn't a musician.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13I've met several, over the years, I've met several of the musicians
0:30:13 > 0:30:17in that group, and one of them said to me that Ken Johnson
0:30:17 > 0:30:20couldn't tell B flat from a pig's foot.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24So you're not looking at Ken Johnson as being a musical director.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33But Leslie's musical rigour meant the product
0:30:33 > 0:30:35was as good as its promise.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44On one level, it appeared a harmonious partnership,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47but the two men were very different characters.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Leslie the committed, idealistic musician
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and Ken the shrewd and ambitious charmer.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Don't forget, a lot of the band leaders then didn't play anything.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Didn't need to, or even if they could play an instrument,
0:31:01 > 0:31:05they didn't play it in front of the band.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07Yeah, and he could dance, and very handsome.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12Ken's drive married to Leslie's musicianship had brought them
0:31:12 > 0:31:14to the verge of huge of success.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16# It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it
0:31:16 > 0:31:18# It ain't what you... #
0:31:18 > 0:31:20But no-one could have predicted what would happen next.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Leslie Thompson and Snakehips clearly wanted very different things.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28We have no way of knowing the complexities
0:31:28 > 0:31:30of the relationship between the two men.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33By all accounts, they were trusted friends who worked well together.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37But as fame and fortune beckoned, Ken made a move
0:31:37 > 0:31:40to legally cut Leslie out of the running of the band.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45He did that because he realised the band wasn't legally incorporated.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49It had been done on a handshake, as far as we know.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54So they signed a contract and made the band a formal legal entity.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57- Without Leslie Thompson. - Without Leslie Thompson.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00That's got to hurt if you're Leslie Thompson.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Yes, a room full of silence here.
0:32:04 > 0:32:10Perhaps looking ahead to the future, for a band of that kind
0:32:10 > 0:32:13to sustain itself, it needed a figurehead
0:32:13 > 0:32:16and Leslie Thompson couldn't be the figurehead.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21It had to be Ken Snakehips. So there the conflict must have started.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27What it was in effect, was that Johnson stole Leslie's band
0:32:27 > 0:32:31but it would have been open for negotiation, I think.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34I think it would have been open for negotiation
0:32:34 > 0:32:37and Thompson chose not to follow that path.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42On paper, Ken was triumphant.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45He had the lucrative contract for a residency at
0:32:45 > 0:32:47one of London's top venues.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51But he also had one minor problem, there was no band.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54All but two of the line-up had left with Leslie,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57and Ken now urgently needed new musicians.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01He sent word back to the West Indies
0:33:01 > 0:33:04where he knew the very best players in the business.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06Now he needed these men and he could offer them
0:33:06 > 0:33:10their big break on the British scene.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13A new line-up, a new band and a new name was born.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18Ken Snakehips Johnson and his West Indian Dance Orchestra.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21They certainly looked the part but without Leslie, the musical leader,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24the question was, would they be good enough?
0:33:24 > 0:33:27They could hold their own against the American musicians?
0:33:27 > 0:33:29Oh, absolutely. Oh, no doubt about that.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31Especially the guys from Jamaica.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33They were extremely well-trained musicians.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35Oh, they could hold their own, yes.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37Had they gone to New York instead of London,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40they would have got in the big bands, I think, over there.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53It was just a few days after Snakehips' new recruits stepped
0:33:53 > 0:33:56off the boat from the West Indies, that Ken's orchestra got their
0:33:56 > 0:33:59first glowing review from Britain's leading jazz newspaper,
0:33:59 > 0:34:00Melody Maker.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Ken looks not unlike Cab Calloway at the mike, what with his long,
0:34:08 > 0:34:12lean, lanky figure, white, swallow-tailed, evening suit,
0:34:12 > 0:34:13white tie and white shoes.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15Ken goes all out to make the Old Florida
0:34:15 > 0:34:18as much like a New York club as possible.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24The residency at the Old Florida Club
0:34:24 > 0:34:25really opened doors for the band.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29The public knew where to find them and began seeking them out.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32And the new West Indian group were well and truly on their way.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34SWING MUSIC PLAYS
0:34:41 > 0:34:45By 1938, the success of the band seemed unstoppable.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49In April 1939, they nabbed and new residency at Willerby's,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51another local high society venue.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The whole of London was swinging by now
0:34:54 > 0:34:56but a threat was around the corner.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01'This is the BBC Home Service. Here is a short news bulletin.'
0:35:01 > 0:35:05'The German Army invaded Holland and Belgium earlier this morning
0:35:05 > 0:35:09'by land and by landings from parachutes.'
0:35:09 > 0:35:13On 3rd September, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany.
0:35:19 > 0:35:20As war raged overseas,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24many London clubs shut their doors due to fear of bombing.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26In October 1939, Willerby's closed
0:35:26 > 0:35:29and the band were once again without a home.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31But just when things looked their bleakest,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33they landed the sweetest gig in town.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39The legendary Cafe De Paris was the exclusive,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42high society, cabaret nightspot of the age.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46So famous it had even featured as the Piccadilly Club
0:35:46 > 0:35:48in a celebrated 1929 film.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53It's a very interesting scene here especially
0:35:53 > 0:35:55because the club received Royal endorsement.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59You know, the Prince of Wales visited and there were all sorts of
0:35:59 > 0:36:03aristocratic, high society figures that would come here,
0:36:03 > 0:36:06again as much to be seen to be here as anything else.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10It was a venue that was very much part of that fashionable society.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15This venue had that very sort of special quality about it,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19I think, that really maybe people would aspire to come here
0:36:19 > 0:36:22and to be on that sort of level of society.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31The Cafe De Paris was also one of the only nightclubs
0:36:31 > 0:36:33that didn't close during the war.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Situated 20 feet underground, it was billed as bomb proof,
0:36:36 > 0:36:39"London's gayest, safest nightspot."
0:36:39 > 0:36:40What about dancing?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42This is really the first era
0:36:42 > 0:36:44in which people go to a swing club and swing,
0:36:44 > 0:36:49did that have an impact on what was happening socially at time?
0:36:49 > 0:36:52Yes, it did, because England at that time, you know,
0:36:52 > 0:36:57we've always been a very conservative country, conservative with a small C.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00So to let your inhibitions down what best place to go
0:37:00 > 0:37:03but the Cafe De Paris or some West End nightclub
0:37:03 > 0:37:05and shed your inhibitions.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Just as working class people would have gone to the pub
0:37:08 > 0:37:11on a Friday night and had a singsong round the piano.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19During the war, clubs like the Cafe de Paris were more popular than ever
0:37:19 > 0:37:22as thousands of Londoners danced on.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24The uniform was a great social leveller,
0:37:24 > 0:37:29and for those who could afford it, this once exclusive nightclub
0:37:29 > 0:37:32now welcomed a far broader clientele.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37Everyone wanted the same thing, to escape the dreary everyday hardships
0:37:37 > 0:37:40of the war and to live every day as if was your last.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49At the Cafe De Paris,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Snakehips' orchestra could rule the society dance floor.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56But there was another huge advantage to the club.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00In the 1930s, BBC Radio exposure had become a crucial step up
0:38:00 > 0:38:04in any serious dance band's career. The next generation of producers
0:38:04 > 0:38:07were now picking up on the new jazz sounds
0:38:07 > 0:38:11and had the power to turn a band into a household name.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15The Cafe De Paris was one of the few venues where bands
0:38:15 > 0:38:18could record directly for BBC Radio broadcast.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Now, people across the land could hear the swingingest music
0:38:24 > 0:38:27in the comfort of their own homes.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30RADIO TUNES
0:38:30 > 0:38:35MUSIC: "It Was A Lover And His Lass"
0:38:35 > 0:38:39People had to let down their guard and shed their inhibitions.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Certainly during the war, people like Ken Snakehips Johnson
0:38:42 > 0:38:46would have encouraged that with his music on the wireless.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50And that must have been wonderful for people to listen to.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55# It was a lover and his lass
0:38:55 > 0:38:59# With a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no... #
0:38:59 > 0:39:02To escape from the war when that came about
0:39:02 > 0:39:05and the bombing and the air raids.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08What a wonderful way to escape from that reality.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13Ken Snakehips Johnson's orchestra were in solid rotation
0:39:13 > 0:39:15in the late night slot on the airwaves,
0:39:15 > 0:39:20reaching a peak audience of over 3.5 million listeners in April 1940.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25And the band even managed to get on an early television recording.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29He became a huge personality and associated with radio.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Even before the war, his radio career is really important
0:39:33 > 0:39:36because it did bring him to that mass audience.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Snakehips may have stepped on a few toes along the way,
0:39:42 > 0:39:44but he was fast becoming a celebrity.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49By 1940, his group had been voted number one swing band in Britain.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53Snakehips was interviewed by radio journalist Una Marson for her series
0:39:53 > 0:39:58Calling the West Indies on the BBC's Empire, now World, Service.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01UNA: 'So, you left London a tap dancer and returned a band conductor?
0:40:01 > 0:40:04- KEN:- 'Well, Una, I first had to convince London that
0:40:04 > 0:40:07'I could conduct as well as I could dance.
0:40:07 > 0:40:08'How did you set about it?
0:40:08 > 0:40:13'When I got over here, I got a band together, nearly all Jamaicans.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17'We were billed as The Jamaican Emperors of Jazz and we got
0:40:17 > 0:40:21- 'stage engagements in various cinemas in the country.- Yes?
0:40:21 > 0:40:24'Then after a year, I reorganised the band with West Indians
0:40:24 > 0:40:27'from all the important islands in the West Indies,
0:40:27 > 0:40:28'a real West Indian band.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31'And this new venture led you where?
0:40:31 > 0:40:33'Well, again we were very lucky.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37'We got a contract to play at a smart West End club, the Florida.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41'We stayed there for two years and made some very good contacts.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44'And of course you started broadcasting.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48'Yes, at the end of those two years in 1938.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50'And so, then, you really felt established?
0:40:50 > 0:40:52'I'm glad to say we did.'
0:40:52 > 0:40:56PACEY SWING MUSIC
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Thanks to the reach of the BBC broadcasts,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11news of Ken's fame spread far and wide.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14Back in Guyana, he had this big name.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17He had done very, very well so therefore he was to me
0:41:17 > 0:41:21an inspiration, you know, and I thought, "Well, one day."
0:41:21 > 0:41:24I used to say to myself, I said, "Well, one day I'm going to
0:41:24 > 0:41:27"go to Britain and I'm going to be like Ken Snakehips Johnson."
0:41:27 > 0:41:31And the audience used to say to me, "Oh, shut up, boy." You know.
0:41:31 > 0:41:32I said, "No."
0:41:32 > 0:41:34What sort of impact do you think he had
0:41:34 > 0:41:36on the British swing scene in general?
0:41:36 > 0:41:38Oh, I can't tell you.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41It... He had a great, great impact because,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43if you imagine in those days,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46here was this guy and he stood, dapperly dressed,
0:41:46 > 0:41:51in front of them and conducted. And he was a one-off.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55And this was the thing that inspired not only the British people here
0:41:55 > 0:41:59but a lot of us in the West Indies or wherever we were.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02And so that is what inspired me no end to try
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and come to this country and see if I could do similarly.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16The young Ken Johnson had worshipped great African-American bandleaders
0:42:16 > 0:42:19like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22But now Britain now had its own bandleader who could stand
0:42:22 > 0:42:24shoulder to shoulder with his heroes.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26You can't underestimate the importance
0:42:26 > 0:42:28of a front man like Ken Johnson.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30I mean, looking at someone like James Brown you can say,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34although he didn't compose in terms of the dots, compose the music,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37he knew exactly what he wanted and he'd ask the musicians
0:42:37 > 0:42:38to emphasise specific things.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41And in terms of being able to translate the complexity,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44the intricacy of that music to an audience in a way that would
0:42:44 > 0:42:48make them want to dance, you really can't undervalue that.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51# Sometimes I wonder... #
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Ken the front man was also a shrewd manipulator of his own brand,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57and posed as the star on the front cover of
0:42:57 > 0:42:59the most popular sheet music of the era.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03# ..The melody
0:43:03 > 0:43:06# Puts my reverie... #
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Elaine Delmar still has some of the original publicity shots.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16This is a wonderful one. Ken Snakehips again.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19- Yes, yes.- Clearly Ken is the star.
0:43:19 > 0:43:25- Yes.- 1936.- Had a great deal of style, didn't he?- Certainly did.
0:43:25 > 0:43:30- Look at that.- Yeah. And this one's "To my pal, Leslie".- Wow.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37At the height of their success, the orchestra's elegant,
0:43:37 > 0:43:41white-tailcoat-suited bandleader was living a charmed life.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45Ken was making good money in some part on the backs of
0:43:45 > 0:43:47some of his musicians.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51That's the way it was then. And he lived in the West End.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54He could walk to work. He dressed well.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56He could dine at the Embassy Club
0:43:56 > 0:44:01and then walk on over to the Cafe De Paris and lead the band.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04MUSIC: "Tuxedo Junction"
0:44:11 > 0:44:12UNA MARSON: 'Tell me, Ken,
0:44:12 > 0:44:14'what would you say is the secret of your successes?
0:44:14 > 0:44:17- KEN:- 'Now you're asking a rather difficult question.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20'Let me see, I myself am all for swing music
0:44:20 > 0:44:24'and I have a fine lot of musicians, young fellows who don't merely
0:44:24 > 0:44:29'play for pay, but who enjoy every minute of their work.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39'Their enthusiasm is infectious and has stamped the style of the band.'
0:44:45 > 0:44:47Snakehips was now a household name,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51but what had become of his former partner Leslie Thompson?
0:44:51 > 0:44:55Well, Leslie would never again lead his own band.
0:44:55 > 0:45:00but he was a respected musician, in high demand on the London scene.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Leslie was playing the double bass with Edmundo Ross.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12They played sambas and rumbas
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and what we now like to call Latin American music.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19The band would play and there would be the rattles on the flared shirts
0:45:19 > 0:45:20and stuff like that.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Taking dogs for a walk, I think it would be, musically.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27But, you know, they earned a living out of it and had a lot of fun.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29Ross was very, very successful.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34War was under way in Europe but in early 1940
0:45:34 > 0:45:36it was yet to be felt on London's streets.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40In the capital, people were taking their fun where they could find it.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44In this heady atmosphere, the disagreements of the past were
0:45:44 > 0:45:48left behind and Ken and Leslie were forging their own paths.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Edmundo, Leslie and the band were soon broadcasting at least
0:45:51 > 0:45:55once a week from The Criterion Theatre, here in Piccadilly Circus.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59While just around the corner, Ken Johnson and his orchestra
0:45:59 > 0:46:01were playing at the Cafe De Paris.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03The two bands continued to play, and broadcast,
0:46:03 > 0:46:05just streets away from each other.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09Until the Blitz shook London's nightlife to its core.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15On September 7th, 1940, Hitler launched the first night
0:46:15 > 0:46:17of bombing raids on British cities.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21The plan was to demoralise the population into submission.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25One became very philosophical about the war.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28You had no choice, the war was on.
0:46:28 > 0:46:33You go to sleep, you might wake up the next morning, you might not.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35Just depends where the bombs will drop.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39But London refused to be demoralised,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43and its gayest, safest nightclub kept on swinging.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46Around 9.30pm on the 8th March, 1941,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Snakehips was having drinks with friends
0:46:49 > 0:46:51at the Embassy Club on Regent Street
0:46:51 > 0:46:53before his show at the Cafe De Paris.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56An air raid was raging, and his friends urged him to stay,
0:46:56 > 0:47:00but Snakehips was determined to get to the Cafe for his show.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04He dashed through London streets as the bombs were falling,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06and made it just in time for his set.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12That night, one of the Luftwaffe's targets of attack was the busy
0:47:12 > 0:47:15area between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square,
0:47:15 > 0:47:17right in the heart of London's West End.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20At 10.00 the band began to play.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23They started with their signature tune Oh, Johnny.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26But just moments later, they were interrupted.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31Two high explosive German bombs had hit the Rialto Cinema
0:47:31 > 0:47:33directly above the Cafe De Paris.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36And although this famous nightclub was supposed to be bomb proof,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38being so far underground,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41one bomb landed directly in front of the stage.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48I was in the Corner House in Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50You're on the Corner House, Lyons Corner House.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53It was a place myself and a couple of guys used to hang out
0:47:53 > 0:47:56almost every evening, got there about 11.00.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58We heard the bomb drop.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02The whole of London shook like that, the West End anyhow.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07And while we were sitting there we said, "Well, somebody's been hit."
0:48:07 > 0:48:09And a girl, I always forget her name,
0:48:09 > 0:48:13I think her name was June or Joan. She was from Tiger Bay.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18She used to sing in front of the band. And she came in crying.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23And she said, and she was in absolute tears, shaking, said,
0:48:23 > 0:48:28"Ken's dead, Ken's dead. The bomb came in."
0:48:28 > 0:48:31She told me this night, the bomb hit this dance floor right here.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36It came right through from the roof, this rocket. Did you know about that?
0:48:36 > 0:48:37Through the cinema.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40It came all the way down and then hit the...
0:48:40 > 0:48:42It exploded on the dance floor.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Standing at the front of the stage,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Ken Snakehips Johnson was killed instantly.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Like so many thousands of innocent Britons,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Johnson lost his life in the Blitz, his ambitions destroyed.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07The bomb left the Cafe De Paris in ruins, and devastation in its wake.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11At least 34 people died in the night club that night,
0:49:11 > 0:49:12with over 80 injured.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18It was chaos and a lot of people died.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22Ken died, of course, and one of his band members died,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Baba Williams, a tenor sax player.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28But Elaine Delmar's father Jiver Hutchinson was
0:49:28 > 0:49:31one of the luckier ones who escaped unscathed.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35Your dad was here. How does that make you feel?
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Well, I'm so thrilled that he survived it.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42It's kind of weird, isn't it?
0:49:42 > 0:49:44SHE LAUGHS Weird.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48He talked vaguely about the bombing here in the Cafe De Paris
0:49:48 > 0:49:52and I think he was one of the few to survive that.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54He was very, very lucky.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Apparently, he was found playing in another club.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59He got out of here and was playing somewhere else.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02So I imagine he might have been in shock.
0:50:02 > 0:50:03I don't know.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08The aftermath was just dreadful and what happened was awful but
0:50:08 > 0:50:13the loss of lives was terrible but the loss of Ken was just really
0:50:13 > 0:50:18unbearable because no Black British bandleader had got as far as
0:50:18 > 0:50:23he had and he was immensely popular and loved by the British public.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29But the British public didn't really have time to mourn.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31As Hitler's Luftwaffe pounded London,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34more men were called to fight for King and country.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37In 1942, Leslie Thompson was conscripted and served
0:50:37 > 0:50:41as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, defending Britain's South coast.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Back in London, Ken was gone
0:50:43 > 0:50:47but in his short career his band had really shown Britain how to swing.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50And now, that music was needed more than ever,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54as Londoners sought escape from the grim realities of war.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Give me Harry Parry!
0:50:56 > 0:50:58Harry Parry was already a household name
0:50:58 > 0:51:02but when he snapped up Ken's Black musicians, pianist Yorke de Souza,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05guitarist Joe Deniz, and trumpeter Dave Wilkins
0:51:05 > 0:51:07for his Radio Rhythm Sextet,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11they would become one of Britain's great wartime swing bands.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15It was the Radio Rhythm Club. And they were on all the time.
0:51:15 > 0:51:16They did very well.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20They had Yorke de Souza on piano but, of course,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23mainly the star was Dave Wilkins on trumpet.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35As the war intensified,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Ken's musicians helped keep the swing dream alive.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Clarinettist Carl Barriteau started his own
0:51:42 > 0:51:44mixed swing orchestra in 1942.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49But Ken and Leslie had had an empowering vision of
0:51:49 > 0:51:52an all-Black band, and one man wasn't ready to let that dream die.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55'Leslie Jiver Hutchinson and his orchestra
0:51:55 > 0:51:58'will open their programme with Dr Heckle and Mr Jibe.'
0:51:59 > 0:52:01Jiver Hutchinson had been playing for
0:52:01 > 0:52:02some of the biggest White swing bands
0:52:02 > 0:52:05but in 1944 he gathered up some of his old band-mates
0:52:05 > 0:52:08to form his own, all-coloured orchestra.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12Leslie (Jiver) Hutchinson and his All-Star Coloured Orchestra.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17One of their first engagements. The RAF Benevolent Fund.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19He worked with many other bands
0:52:19 > 0:52:22- but I suppose that was a great selling point.- Yeah.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26And people, it was, it was quite a heavy, heavy weight to carry
0:52:26 > 0:52:29because people were always saying, "Leslie, get an all-Black band
0:52:29 > 0:52:32"because that will sell, that'll really sell."
0:52:32 > 0:52:34And that's what he did.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39And I guess this music was just so delightful to people that
0:52:39 > 0:52:42- people just wanted to dance and let...- Lift the people's spirits.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44Lift their people's spirits, exactly.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49MUSIC: "1945 Swing"
0:52:50 > 0:52:53Post-war Britain was very different place.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Swing had kept the nation's chin up and toes tapping
0:52:56 > 0:52:58through tough times.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01But now people were retreating into their homes to rebuild their lives
0:53:01 > 0:53:05and in there was a very appealing new kind of entertainment.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08Hello, Radio Olympia.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12This is direct television from the studios at Alexandra Palace.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18# Just looking at you... #
0:53:18 > 0:53:21In the 1950s, the way we lived our lives changed.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25New technologies in a freer, more aspirational society meant
0:53:25 > 0:53:29far greater choice both inside and outside the home.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32New musical styles were jostling for attention
0:53:32 > 0:53:35and rock'n'roll was just around the corner.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38The nation was now hooked on popular dance music
0:53:38 > 0:53:39and swing had started it all.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43MUSIC: "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley
0:53:43 > 0:53:45And what of the trailblazing duo
0:53:45 > 0:53:49who had brought Black British swing to the masses?
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Well, Ken's life may have been tragically cut short.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59But after the war, Leslie found himself back on Archer Street
0:53:59 > 0:54:00hustling for work.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05By the 1950s though, as he struck middle age,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08he'd fallen out of love with the music business.
0:54:09 > 0:54:15I think when he decided to pack up playing music, which was in 1954,
0:54:15 > 0:54:2030 years before he died, he had realised that the music industry,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24the entertainment industry is superficial
0:54:24 > 0:54:27and he wanted more than that.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32He was influenced by really two forces.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35One was the Garveyite, which was an inspiration to
0:54:35 > 0:54:39make something of himself and his...for his community.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43But also it must have been religious because he allied himself
0:54:43 > 0:54:47with the Anglican Church. But he worked with immigrants.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49That's what he wanted to do.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51He eventually became a parole officer
0:54:51 > 0:54:54and worked out of Pentonville.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58And he never again tried to create an all-Black British swing band?
0:54:58 > 0:55:00No, he... That was past, a different life.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07And his life was one of inspired service to others.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22In his later years, Leslie found peace in God
0:55:22 > 0:55:24and reward in his social work.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27But Ken Snakehips Johnson would never have a chance to
0:55:27 > 0:55:31look back and reflect on that heady swing age.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33Dead by 26, he was just one of many
0:55:33 > 0:55:37whose lives and promise were cut short.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41In the music press, Snakehips was mourned as a tragic loss.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44After his death, Ken's ashes were returned
0:55:44 > 0:55:47to his school chapel in Marlow, where they still rest.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Although he enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame,
0:55:54 > 0:55:55delighting London audiences
0:55:55 > 0:55:57and garnering critical acclaim
0:55:57 > 0:55:59from the likes of the BBC and Melody Maker,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Snakehips was never able to realise the full potential
0:56:02 > 0:56:04of his talent and ambition.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07If he hadn't been killed in a heavy night of bombing during
0:56:07 > 0:56:08the London Blitz, who knows what
0:56:08 > 0:56:10Snakehips might have gone on to achieve.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32'It certainly struck me his death, right here at Cafe De Paris
0:56:32 > 0:56:35'in the Blitz, connected to such a pivotal moment in British history.'
0:56:35 > 0:56:38And again, not necessarily being celebrated as such,
0:56:38 > 0:56:42I felt it was important to honour that story, the tragedy of it
0:56:42 > 0:56:45and the triumph that his music lives on, you know,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47through writing a song dedicated to him.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29One thing's for sure, Black British swing changed our musical landscape.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34And the remarkable individuals behind it, deserve to be celebrated.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38If people think of the '30s, they think of Jessie Matthews or
0:57:38 > 0:57:43Noel Coward or George Formby and obviously Gracie Fields eventually.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46And so it's a very, very different landscape to these
0:57:46 > 0:57:50incredibly arresting Black performers.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53So I think it's very important that we reclaim them.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00The rise to fame was meteoric and they really hit their peak
0:58:00 > 0:58:03at the point at which the band was destroyed.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10It's amazing when I think where they came from, and they came from
0:58:10 > 0:58:14the Caribbean and came to London, to the heart of Mayfair here, you know.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16And how they climbed up that ladder.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23It had a tremendous influence on me as a musician
0:58:23 > 0:58:25just to see a sense of lineage.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28It's quite difficult sometimes to contextualise yourself
0:58:28 > 0:58:30as a Black British musician
0:58:30 > 0:58:32and feel like you're either one or the other.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35To be aware that there was this trajectory of musicians
0:58:35 > 0:58:38playing the music well, way back in the '30s.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42If you have something to offer,
0:58:42 > 0:58:45and you go out with belief and it's genuine,
0:58:45 > 0:58:48you know, it's all there for us.
0:59:04 > 0:59:07Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd