Many
bands of the past
attempted to create their
own style, some more
successfully than others.
Perhaps one of the most
distinctive styles of all
time belonged to Billy
Ternent. Indeed, the
phrase 'that unmistakable
sound' will always be
synonymous with him on
broadcasts and records.
Billy
Ternent took up the
violin at the age of
seven and his first job
was with a trio at a
North Shields cinema when
he was 12. At 16, he was
conducting a cinema
orchestra on a circuit
run by George Black. He
made his first broadcast
with a sextet from a tea
room in Newcastle, later
playing at the famous
Kit-Kat Club in
Piccadilly. It was
probably his long spell
with Jack Hylton and his
Orchestra (1927 to 1939)
that really brought him
to the public's
attention, during which
time he acted as Deputy
Conductor and principal
arranger. Many well-known
bandleaders were better
managers than they were
musicians some
bands even regarded their
conductor as a liability!
Not the case with
Frederick William
Ternent, who was a fine
and much respected
musician who could, and
sometimes did, play every
instrument in the
orchestra. This was very
useful to Jack Hylton,
who was able to use him
whenever a player was off
sick.
In
September 1939, Billy
Ternent was appointed
conductor of the BBC
Dance Orchestra or 'The
Dance Orchestra' as it
was then called. He
conducted the first ITMA
broadcasts with Tommy
Handley, worked on
'Variety Bandbox', and
had a weekly slot on 'Music
While You Work'.
When he resigned from
this post in 1944, he
handed over the baton to
Stanley Black, who
conducted the band until
its demise in the early
fifties.
Billy Ternent and his
Orchestra - Butlins
Clacton 1950s
At
this point Billy Ternent
formed a new band with
which he went on tour.
The band's signature tune
was 'Shes My
Lovely', from the musical
'Hide and Seek'. This,
however, attracted some
complaints due to the
fact that the opening
glissando, to some
people, sounded like the
start of an air-raid
warning! Nevertheless, it
remained the signature
tune of Billy Ternent and
his Orchestra for many
years to come. The
original 1943 Decca
recording featured the
singing of
actor/guitarist Ken
Beaumont,
who was later to find
fame on the radio with
his sextet.
The
secret of Billy Ternent's
success was the
combination of the superb
musicianship of both
leader and players,
coupled with having
created one of the most
distinctive styles in
broadcasting. It was a
seemingly old-fashioned
style, using a
tenor-dominated saxophone
section with a strong
vibrato (perhaps
reminiscent of Guy
Lombardo) and a trumpet
section which was
frequently required to
play muted passages with
rapid triple tonguing
a sort of
'stuttering' effect
possibly inspired
by the American band of
Hal Kemp. The overall
effect, however, was
original and required a
musical expertise far
above that of the average
palais player; indeed,
the top session men Billy
used found the
arrangements to be very
challenging.
Billy
Ternent and his Orchestra
- Fort Dunlop 1953
The
late Roger Moffat, best
known for his humorous
presentations of the BBC
Northern Dance Orchestra,
often comp?red Billy's
programmes in later
years. On one occasion he
told Ternent on air,
"You are very
old-fashioned."
"No Im
not," Ternent
retorted, "Im
very modern!"
Actually, this was in
some ways quite true
because even though the
arrangements (penned by
Ternent himself) alluded
to styles of the past,
they were highly complex
even
sophisticated.
Roger
Moffatt was in the habit
of engaging Billy Ternent
in conversation during
the broadcasts
most of it was scripted
but not always. Indeed,
some of his ad-libs
displeased the BBC and
eventually cost him his
job.
On
one occasion Roger
Moffatt said to Billy
Ternent, "Hey Bill
I hear that
theyre taping these
broadcasts down at the
Foreign Office! You know
when your lot go 'uh uh
uh uh,uh uh,uh,uh'
all staccato like on the
trumpets? Well, they
think you're transmitting
coded messages to a
foreign power!"
Despite
the 'holocaust' in radio
music when, in the
sixties, most dance bands
and light orchestras were
unceremoniously dumped by
the BBC, Billy Ternent
and his Orchestra
survived, broadcasting
regularly until the
mid-seventies.
Billy
Ternent, who was born in
Newcastle on 10th October
1899, died on 23rd March
1977, but this amiable
Geordie can still be
remembered through his
legacy of 78s and
long-playing records (now
available on CD),
spanning a long and
distinguished career.
Listen
to Billy Ternent and his
Orchestra
55 minute
radio programme from 1974
Listen
to Billy Ternent and his
Orchestra
45 minute
radio programme from 1969
introduced by Roger
Moffatt
Listen
to Billy Ternent and his
Orchestra
playing 'Goodnight
Sweetheart' by Ray Noble
(45 second
clip)
MUSIC
WHILE YOU WORK at 3.30
p.m. on 13th March 1950
Played by Billy Ternent
and his Orchestra
Calling
All Workers (Sig)
You Forgot to Remember
My Thanks to You
Kiss Me Sweet
Long Long Ago
The World is Waiting for
the Sunrise
Best of All
Boa Noite
A Rose in a Garden of
Weeds
Lovers Lane Has
Everything
The Harry Lime Theme
Is It True What They Say
About Dixie
Calling All Workers (Sig) |
Coates
Berlin
Gay
Drake
Brown
Lockhart
Dewar
Warren
David
Denson
Karas
Lerner
Coates |
|