Everything about Jimmie Lunceford totally explained
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford (
June 6,
1902–
July 12,
1947) was an
American jazz alto
saxophonist and
bandleader of the
swing era.
Lunceford was born in
Fulton, Mississippi, but attended school in
Denver and earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree at
Fisk University. In
1927, while teaching high school in
Memphis, Tennessee, he organized a student band, the
Chickasaw Syncopators, whose name was changed to the
Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra when it began touring. The orchestra made its first recording in
1930. After a period of touring, the band accepted a booking at the prestigious
Harlem nightclub,
The Cotton Club in
1933. The Cotton Club had already featured
Duke Ellington and
Cab Calloway, who won their first widespread fame from their inventive shows for the Cotton Club's all-white patrons. Lunceford's orchestra, with their tight musicianship and often outrageous humor in their music and lyrics made an ideal band for the club, and Lunceford's reputation began to steadily grow.
Comedy and
vaudeville played a distinct part in Lunceford's presentation. Songs such as "Rhythm Is Our Business", "I'm Nuts about Screwy Music", "I Want the Waiter (With the Water)", and "Four or Five Times" displayed a playful sense of
swing, often through clever arrangements by
Sy Oliver and bizarre lyrics. Lunceford's stage shows often included costumes, skits, and obvious jabs at mainstream white jazz bands, such as
Paul Whiteman's and
Guy Lombardo's.
Despite the band's comic veneer, Lunceford always maintained professionalism in the music befitting a former teacher; this professionalism paid off and during the apex of
swing in the
1930s, the Orchestra was considered the equal of
Duke Ellington's,
Earl Hines' or
Count Basie's. This precision can be heard in such pieces as "Wham (Re-Bop-Boom-Bam)", "Lunceford Special", "For Dancers Only", "Uptown Blues", and "Stratosphere". Arranger and trumpeter
Sy Oliver gave the orchestra its trademark two-beat rhythm. The band's noted saxophone section was lead by alto sax player
Willie Smith. Lunceford often used a
conducting baton to lead his band.
The Orchestra began recording for the
Decca label and later signed with the
Columbia subsidiary Vocalion in
1938. They toured
Europe extensively in
1937, but had to cancel a second tour in
1939 because of the outbreak of
World War II. Columbia dropped Lunceford in
1940 because of flagging sales. (Oliver departed the group before the scheduled European tour to take a position as an arranger for
Tommy Dorsey). Lunceford returned to the Decca label.
The orchestra appeared in the
1941 movie
Blues in the Night.
In
1947, while playing in
Seaside, Oregon, Lunceford collapsed and died from
cardiac arrest during an autograph session. Allegations and rumors circulated that Jimmie had been poisoned by a fish-restaurant owner who was unhappy at having to serve a
"Negro" in his establishment.
Legacy Orchestras after 1947
Band members, notably
Eddie Wilcox and
Joe Thomas kept the band going for a time but finally had to break up the J.L.O. in 1949.
In 1999, Dutch-born band-leader Robert Veen and a team of musicians set out to acquire permission to use the original band charts and arrangements of the Jimmie Lunceford canon. They reconstituted the band and secured the rights use the Lunceford name.
The Jimmie Lunceford Legacy Orchestra official debuted in July 2005 at the
North Sea Jazz Festival.
Selected discography
in-print as of November 2007; || = deleted as of November 2007.
- Stomp it Off (1934-1935 Decca recordings) (GRP CD) ||
- Swingsation (1935-1939 Decca recordings) (1998 GRP CD) ||
- Lunceford Special (1939 Columbia recordings) (ca 1975 Columbia LP) ||
- Rhythm is Our Business (1933-1940, both periods and record companies, successively) (ASV CD)
- For Dancers Only (GRP/Decca) (1994) ||
- Jukebox Hits: 1937-1947 (Acrobat) (2005)
- Life is Fine or Quadromania (Membran/Quadromania Jazz) (2006)
Further Information
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