The Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Al Dubin & Harry Warren - Arr. Gerry McColl

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams - This is a transcription and arrangement from the 1934 recording by Ambrose and his Orchestra and specifically adapted for our UK Dance Orchestra line-up.

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a 1933 hit song with lyrics by Al Dubin and music by Harry Warren. Al Dubin and Harry Warren wrote "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" for the 1934 film Moulin Rouge. Dubin's daughter considered it "the theme song of his life". Constance Bennett performs the song onscreen in a sequence choreographed by Russell Markert. It was a hit that charted on Variety's Top 10. It was widely arranged and recorded by many bands since that time.

Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (11 September 1896 – 11 June 1971), known professionally as Ambrose, was an English bandleader and violinist. Ambrose became the leader of a highly acclaimed British dance band, Ambrose & His Orchestra, in the 1930s.

Sam Browne (26 March 1898 – 2 March 1972)[1] was an English dance band singer, who became one of the most popular British dance band vocalists of the 1930s. He is remembered for singing with Jack Hylton and with Ambrose and his orchestra, at the Mayfair Hotel and Embassy Club, with whom he made many recordings from 1930 to 1942. Browne also worked with several other popular dance bands from the time, such as those led by Lew Stone and Billy Cotton. Browne was most famous for his duets and variety performances with the singer Elsie Carlisle.

Gerry McColl - arranger (1937-2017) was born in Glasgow in 1937. He was in the RAF, as a conscript, from ’55 to ’57, and learned Trombone in a station (voluntary) band. After demob, the music bug got him and he joined an Army band in 1959, as a trombonist/guitarist. In 1989 he left the Army as Director of Music of the Band of the Life Guards, in the rank of Major.

This particular transcription was requested in 2012 and made by Gerry McColl and follows the form of the original Ambrose recording closely whilst was also adapted for the line-up of the Footloose Dance Orchestra in the UK. In the 20s and 30s it was common practise for bands to 'adapt' music to suit their own particular line-up and add or embelish instrument parts accordingly.

Music Notation - Sibelius 7.1
Sounds - Noteperformer 5
Audio Mastering - Bandlab
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