Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Leslie Allen was born on August 29, 1902 in Ealing, London, England and at the age of 3, he and his family moved to Canada. As a child, he played clarinet alongside his father in the Queen’s Own Rifles Band and later learned to play the saxophone. He performed with the dance bands of Burton Till and Luigi Romanelli and in 1922 worked briefly in New York City before travelling to England in 1924 as part of a band of fellow Canadians recruited by Hal Swain. Intending his band to play at the Rector’s Club in London, once there, he found it closed.

The band found a residency at the New Prince’s restaurant in Piccadilly and became The New Princes Toronto Band. Under this name, they recorded for Columbia Records for eighteen months with Allen serving as alto saxophonist and occasional vocalist. Between 1926 and 1927, Allen joined several of his NPTB colleagues on a European tour where they performed as Dave Caplin’s Toronto Band under the leadership of banjoist Caplin.

After returning to England in 1927, Allen spent the next five years playing and singing with several leading British dance orchestras, including those of Carroll Gibbons, George Melachrino and Geraldo and making a number of freelance recordings, with duets with Al Bowlly.

In 1932, he joined Henry Hall’s BBC Dance Orchestra as a featured vocalist and enjoyed national hits with The Sun Has Got His Hat On and Auf Wiedersehen My Dear. Parting ways with Hall in 1934, he began a solo career, scoring hits with Tell Me Tonight, Love Is The Sweetest and the children’s ballad, Little Man You’ve Had A Busy Day on which his wife Anne and son Norman had speaking parts.

In 1935, he starred in the musical comedy Heat Wave, subsequently formed his own bands, the Les Allen Melody Four and the male voice singing group, Les Allen & His Canadian Bachelors, with fellow countrymen lead singer Jack Curtis, tenor Herbie King, and baritone and arranger Cy Mack.

During World War II, Les travelled and entertained Canadian troops. After the war, he played the juvenile lead in the 1945 revival of Miss Hook of Holland before returning to Toronto, Canada in 1948, where he started a second career in the office supply trade. Retiring in 1971, alto saxophonist and vocalist Les Allen transitioned in Toronto on June 25, 1996.

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