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| Jimmy's band leaders |
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In 1930 at the age of 21 Joe Loss formed his first eight piece band to play the Astoria Ballroom in the west end of London. He was very successful and his growing reputation led to him becoming relief leader at the very exclusive Kit Kat club. In 1933 he began doing BBC outside broadcasts from the Kit Kat club, and made his first records with Jimmy Mesene as vocalist. Jimmy left in 1934 and Joe Loss continued to lead a popular and successful dance band for nearly 60 years... |
Born in 1908 Nat did not form his own band until 1934. Prior to this he had played in many of the star bands of the thirties including Billy Cotton, Roy Fox and Lew Stone. The Georgians started as a small band within the Lew Stone band but when the Georgians were formed it used new personnel with Jimmy Mesene joining in 1935 on guitar and vocals. The Georgians played a lively mixture of dance music, jazz, novelty numbers and pure corn and recorded extensively. They were immensely popular until the outbreak of war when Gonella broke up the band. Jimmy Mesene made his last vocal record with them in 1939. |
After he left Joe Loss in 1934 and before he started with Nat Gonella in 1935 Jimmy Mesene seems to have been with the Teddy Joyce orchestra. He made several records that we know of although there could possibly be more. Teddy Joyce was nicknamed 'The stick of dynamite' due to his boundless energy, and he led a successful band at the Kit Kat restaurant in the mid thirties. He was born in Canada and unfortunately collapsed and died on stage in Glasgow in 1941 at the early age of 37. |
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The earliest Jimmy Mesene recordings were made with Percy Chandler's Band in June 1931, when Jimmy was about 23. They were issued on the Piccadilly label (right). Not a lot of information is known about Percy Chandler but what little there is seems to suggest that he was never wholeheartedly committed to the music business. He recorded with Al Bowlly amongst others but made only a handful of records in 1930 and 1931, mostly for the Piccadilly label. He must have been an accomplished pianist because he led a quartet at Quaglino's restaurant during 1930, a high society nightspot in London's West End. This group was good enough to broadcast on several occasions for the BBC in 1930 as 'Percy Chandler's Quaglino Quartette'. Chandler's first love was yachting and his love of the sea led to him joining the Royal Navy as a full-time career. He eventually retired from the Admiralty as a Third Commander. When he recorded with Jimmy Mesene in 1931 he was already part time in music - he was a member of the London Corinthian Yacht Club and from then on he was only ever on the periphery of the music scene. Terry Brown, (writing in Memory Lane, Issue 153), believes he was a 'fixer' arranging bands for his high society friends when they needed one. He is known to have provided the band for a number of society charity events, the last being in November 1936. There is no further trace of him musically after this date presumably because of his commitments to the Royal Navy. It is suggested elsewhere that Chandler may have led bands on the cruise ships before joining the Royal Navy. He possibly also recorded as 'The Cunard Dance Band' and 'White Star Syncopaters'. Jimmy Mesene fans will remember him for giving Jimmy his first chance on record. |
 Percy Chandler recorded on the Piccadilly label  George Glover and Teddy Joyce recorded on the Sterno label |
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While working with Joe Loss Jimmy made a handful of records with George Glover and his orchestra. George Glover was a multi instrumentalist who had played in the bands of Billy Cotton and Harry Roy. He then led his own band for a short time in the mid thirties before emigrating to Australia. |
From 1938 until 1953 Billy Thorburn recorded almost 300 songs under the name 'TheOrgan, the Dance Band and Me'. It was a radio and recording band only and in 1942 Jimmy made what we believe to be his last recording with them. |
Pat Smuts Pat Smuts (tenor sax) and Harold Hood (piano) played alongside Jimmy in Nat Gonella's Georgians. Jimmy wrote a lovely song 'The greatest mistake of my life' in 1937 under the name James Netson and these two musicians accompanied him in a haunting, melancholy recording. |
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Please have a look around the site and see whether you have any information that we might like to add: Front page... Biographical notes and recollections... Book excerpts... Memory Lane excerpts... Known pen names... Songs written by... Discography - alphabetically... Discography - chronologically... What Jimmy means to me... Gallery... Contact us... |
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