I came across some files of music from big London hotels in the 1920s era, mainly the Savoy, where the rich and glamorous of the day enjoyed themselves. Quite famous dance orchestras, the Savoy usually had two at the same time, maybe in different rooms. Their names are casually mentioned in literature of the day. So far I've only listened to a couple but it's quite weird how they will take a well known ballad and play it in a very up tempo style. Of course the recording standard of the time doesn't give you a true sound at all, so it sounds nothing like it would in reality, but you get some idea of how it was. I knew a guy who had played in one of those orchestras, Geraldo, a big name in England for a long time, but that would have been in the 1950s and Geraldo specialised in Latin American dance music I think.
