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Featured Artist |
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Jimmie Lunceford |
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The date was Saturday, May
22nd, 1933. The place was Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and
the event was the annual Navy Ball. Two bands were playing that night.
On the bigger bandstand, with the fancy decorations, was Guy Lombardo's
Orchestra. On the smaller, sparsely decorated bandstand was a somewhat
unknown but very talented big band: the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. Lunceford's orchestra was a sensation and almost created a riot. By
the end of the evening, the attendees (mostly college kids) ignored Lombardo
and his "sweet" music but couldn't get enough of Lunceford's swing and
driving rhythms.
"It was a night we'll never forget", said Crystal Lunceford, Jimmie's
wife, "It was Jimmie's first break in the big time." The next day, the
band was all the talk of band bookers in New York City. After this
gig, the band went on to play the Lafayette Theatre, the Apollo Theatre and
the Cotton Club. The rest, as they say, is history.
The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra was one of the top bands of the Big Band
era. Lunceford's Orchestra was very popular and entertaining, but in many
respects, it is vastly under appreciated today.
Lunceford had a formal background in music and was also a fine
athlete and coach early in his career. His combined musical talents,
discipline and drive led to the creation of a band that contemporary
observers rated near the top with Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
Although Lunceford's band could not boast of a top soloist, the
individual band members and ensembles were top notch and always well
rehearsed. In addition, Lunceford used great musical arrangements,
particularly those written by the famous Sy Oliver (who was eventually hired
away by Tommy Dorsey) and Eddie Durham (who went on to arrange for the Count
Basie Orchestra). |
The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra was famous for what was known as the
“Lunceford bounce” (or the “Lunceford beat”) and that “bounce” really
appealed to dancers of the swing-era (although non-dancing jazz music
critics of the day sometimes had a problem understanding the “bounce”).
Lunceford's orchestra was a "show" band and they unabashedly played
music that was designed to please swing dancers (as well as listeners). The
band used the visual as well as the music to entertain, playing while the
saxophones swayed from side to side, the trombones sliding in an opposite
direction and the trumpets tossed in the air, caught just in time to start a
riff. The band's showmanship and appearance was widely known during
the swing era, and many bands tried to imitate Lunceford’s music, style and showmanship, to include Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and Glenn Miller. But nobody was
really successful in capturing the essence of the Lunceford orchestra.
At it's peak in the late 1930's, the band
boasted of a number of sidemen that had been with the band almost since its
arrival on the scene as legitimate big band orchestra in the early
1930's. This included a
powerhouse
rhythm section second to none, consisting of Eddie Wilcox, Moses Allen,
Al Norris
and Jimmy Crawford on piano, bass, guitar and drums. Trumpet players included Sy
Oliver, Eddie Tompkins and Paul
Webster; Elmer Crumbley, Russell Bowles and Eddie Durham on trombone;
and Joe Thomas, Willie Smith, Earl
Carruthers, Dan Grissom and Ed Brown on saxophone. |
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Lunceford died unexpectedly in 1947 while the band was touring in the
northwest United States and the orchestra broke up permanently in 1949.
Lunceford's early death, and because the band's superb showmanship is lost
on record, has meant that a lot of people don't realize that the Jimmie
Lunceford Orchestra belongs in the pantheon of swing with Basie and
Ellington. |
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Some of Lunceford’s classic songs include: |
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o T'Ain't What You Do (Its the Way That
You Do It)
o
It's Time to Jump and Shout
o Lunceford Special
o
For Dancers Only
o
Rhythm Is Our Business
o
Four or Five Times
o My
Blue Heaven
o
He Ain't Got Rhythm
o
Posin'
o
I'm Nuts About Screwy Music
o
Harlem Shout
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Click
here for a YouTube clip of a 1936 movie short of the great Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra.
Of note is the band playing
"Rhythm Is Our Business" and "Nagasaki". |
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For more information about music from the swing era,
click here. |
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Questions about Hepcats edvents? Contact Mike Richardson,
info@Luv2SwingDance.com; 859-420-2426. |
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