Here's a classic example of my introduction to jazz and swing music in my early childhood -by my Dad. As a musician himself, he always considered the Lunceford Orchestra to be 'up with the best', and seldom given the recognition they deserved. Knowing him, it was probably the precision and tight phrasing of the various sections that impressed him so much. I think this precise orchestration of "Rose Room" (arranged by Willie Smith; alto sax and clarinet) is probably the finest on record, it certainly captures an important developmental stage in the history of 'swing' and popular music.
Jimmie Lunceford Bio
James Melvin Lunceford aka Jimmie Lunceford; leader, saxophone, arranger; born in Fulton MS on the 6th of June 1902, died on the 12th of July 1947, while on tour in Seaside, Oregon. Jimmie Lunceford will long be remembered as the leader of a powerful, swinging big band that rivaled on record, and exceeded in person, the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. His band differed from many of the other big bands of the 1930s and 1940s in that Lunceford's group was noted less for...
