Albert Sandler

Albert Sandler (2nd June 1906 - 29th August 1948) was the fifth child of seven surviving (out of 11 born) to a Lithuanian Jewish father and Russian Jewish mother. His father, a slipper maker, had led his family away from the pogroms of Lithuania one year prior and settled, like countless other Jewish emigres of the late 19th century, in a two room flat in London’s East End. It was there that Albert — Abraham in Yiddish, Aby for short — was born and raised.
Sandler grew up in poverty, with his older brother Jack describing a family that knew “more dinner times than dinners.” Albert nonetheless was given his first violin — a three-quarter sized, 16 shilling instrument purchased by his parents in an East End pawn shop — as a present for his 11th birthday. He received his first lessons from Jack, together with his younger brother, Harold. (Harold would also become a professional musician, as would their sister, Jennie, a piano-accordion player.) The family made incremental improvements to Albert’s instrument as they were able to afford them, buying him an instrument case, then a mute, and finally proper strings. Albert soon surpassed Jack, and the family paid for lessons from two pupils of the Hungarian-born virtuoso Jakob Grün: first Hans Wessely, and later Kalman Ronay, whom he came to regard as his most important teacher. By 12 years old Albert had secured a position in a local cinema orchestra, working from the time he got out of school in the afternoon until past ten at night for five shillings a week. The experience brought the young violinist in touch with a varied repertoire which would allow him to play to any room and become the foundation of his career as a bandleader. “I have no fixed programmes,” he would say in 1929; “I play what I think will suit the audience who happen to be present, and what I myself feel like playing.”
Sandler spent more than two years studying at the Guildhall School of Music before climbing the ladder in a series of engagements around England. He was first hired by the food conglomerate of Sir Joseph Lyons, whose company operated multiple fashionable locations about London including the Maison Lyons and the Lyons’ Corner Houses. Sandler drew sufficient attention in these locations to merit promotion to orchestra leader at Lyons’ most prestigious restaurant, the Trocadero. He remained there until Arthur Beckwith vacated the musical directorship of the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne. Management of the Grand Hotel opted to hire Sandler away from Lyons as their musical director following an introduction from Dutch violinist David de Groot, at that time himself a popular restaurant band leader and leader of the Picadilly Orchestra. This gig — Sandler’s first as bandleader in a landmark establishment — boosted his profile dramatically, thanks especially to regular BBC Radio broadcasts of his concerts there. Indeed, Sandler later admitted “no doubt that had there been no wireless, few people would have been aware of the existence of Albert Sandler.”
(Read more on JMirvish)
==Links to Peel==
Peel played Albert Sandler Trio's 'Kashmiri Song (Four Indian Love Lyrics)' for the Peelenium 1904. However, Albert Sandler was not even born in 1904. In fact, he was born in 1906. The song may have been added to the Peelenium, because of the difficulty in finding some 1904 recordings from the BBC Library. 
Peel mentioned on his 08 June 1999 show that he received a message from someone whose great-uncle was Albert Sandler, when the track was played as part of the Peelenium.
==Shows Played==
;thumb|220x220px1999
*25 May 1999: Kashmiri Song (Four Indian Love Lyrics)
==External Links==
*JMirvish
*Discogs
Category:Artists