Lew Stone
| Lew Stone | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Louis Steinberg |
| Also known as | Lew Stone |
| Born | 1898 London, England |
| Died | 1969 Roehampton, London, England |
| Genres | British dance band, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Bandleader |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Associated acts | Nat Gonella & His Georgians |
Lew Stone (1898–1969) was a bandleader and arranger of the British dance band era, and was well known in Britain during the 1930s.
Stone learned music at an early age and became an accomplished pianist. In the 1920s, he worked with many important dance bands. Some arrangements attributed to Stone can be heard on particular records by the Savoy Orpheans (1927) and Ray Starita and his Ambassador's Band (1928).
During 1927–1931, Stone's arrangements for the Bert Ambrose Orchestra made it virtually the best in Europe. The HMV discs are today sought after as much for those arrangements as for the superb instrumentalists or vocals.
Stone continued to work with other bands like Jack Hylton's and Jack Payne's BBC Dance Orchestra, and he also took several top musicians into the studio to make a few recordings that were issued on the Duophone label as 'Lewis Stone and his Orchestra'.
Roy Fox's Band opened at the Monseigneur Restaurant in 1931 and Stone took up the position of pianist and arranger. When Fox became ill in October he was sent to Switzerland to rest and Stone assumed leadership of the band. The main vocalist at the Monseigneur was the very popular Al Bowlly who had already sung on over 30 recordings.
Stone began to use other band members for vocal refrain and this proved successful, particularly when trumpeter Nat Gonella sang "Oh! Mo'nah". Sales of the record Decca F.2763 were huge and may have kept Decca in business.
When Fox returned to London in April 1932, he found that his band was the most popular in the city. A contemporary article in The Gramophone magazine described events.
In 1932, Stone also worked with a studio band and several recordings were issued on the flexible Durium Records featuring vocals by Al Bowlly, Sam Browne and Les Allen. Some of the arrangements on Durium were by Stan Bowsher.
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