I think Stephen Poliakoff's Dramatisation has to be seen like many productions , as firstly a Drama and not a documentary. I think the lead character has been inspired to an extent by Leslie Hutchinson (Hutch) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Hutchinson.
Not being part of 'Society' or around in the 1930s I cannot wholly comment.
Once my list of recorded music has been completed its fairly clear that of the 78s I have acquired and retained that the popular music in many households was a good mix of the Radio Dance Bands and popular film tracks along with 'comedy' records from the 1920s to the late 1940s. Music was often UK Band Leaders re-recording American writers material, and although many in my family would not attend dances , being strongly involved in independent religious movements in the 1920s , mum reminds me that one of her cousins ( there were about 44 to choose from ) , used to go to dances at the local Palais De Dance.
If the series awakes interest in the music of the time that I think is good, if it wanders into people taking a fictional dramatisation as fact then thats not good.
No doubt some will watch to ensure the microphones, dress styles etc are all correct for the era and year have been correctly represented.
OK 78 Cat's What do You think of this. Good or Sacrilege.
Dancing on the Edge the Official Soundtrack is out now
Decca Records is proud to present The Louis Lester Band, formed for the brand new BBC TV series Dancing on the Edge starting tonight on BBC2. Their debut release contains all the spectacular music from the five-part drama series by acclaimed writer/director Stephen Poliakoff.
Set in the early 1930s and starring some of the UK's finest big screen talent including Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, The Shadow Line, American Gangster) and Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Leap Year, A Single Man), Dancing on the Edge follows black jazz musicians, the Louis Lester Band, as they find fame amongst the parties and performances of London's upper class society. Adopted by the city's more progressive socialites, including members of the Royal Household, the band are seduced by an intoxicating mix of music, money and parties.
Click here to watch the fantastic video for Dead of the Night Express
Emerging at the forefront of an explosive musical movement, the band, fronted by singers Jessie (Angel Coulby) and Carla (Wunmi Mosaku) from the show - with support from some of the industry's finest session musicians - is inspired and based on the American jazz bands that came to London in that time - Louis Armstrong in 1932 and Duke Ellington soon after.
Behind the music is Emmy Award and BAFTA-winning British musician and composer, Adrian Johnston (Becoming Jane, Brideshead Revisited, Capturing Mary), whose original score provides the perfect backdrop for an extraordinary period of immense change.