They had played what sounded to British ears like banjo, clarinet, cornet and trombone all channelling different melodies at the same time. So Britain created something of its own: the dance band, a regional variant whose seeds had been sown back in 1919 when the riotous Original Dixieland Jazz Band had arrived in London.
I n the 1920s and 1930s, boiling hot American jazz didn’t really suit the British reserve.
