| Biography: | One of the most popular Harlem bandleaders in the 1930's, Jimmie Lunceford was born in Fulton, Mississippi and joined his first band at the age of sixteen. He played the saxophone, flute, and piano, and began his professional career while a student at Fisk University. While teaching music at a Memphis High School, he assembled a nine-piece band which later became the core of his larger jazz orchestra, organized in 1928. Advertised as "the perfect swing band," in large part due to the leader's discipline and showmanship, Lunceford's orchestra competed for public favor with the leading "big bands" of the era, including those of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Lunceford replaced Cab Calloway as leader of the famed Cotton Club's house band in 1934. The "Lunceford Style" influenced many bandleaders and arrangers through the 1950s including Tommy Dorsey, Sonny Dunham, and Sonny Burke. Lunceford resided at 409 Edgecombe Avenue from 1936 until 1942. At the time of his death he was living in White Plains, N.Y. |
