Important People From Itawamba County – An Essay On James “Jimmie” Lunceford

Teddy Haffey, 17
ICDC Jr. Leadership
“Important People From Itawamba County”

James "Jimmie" Lunceford
Known as "the King of Syncopation," James Melvin Lunceford was a musical pioneer and powerhouse during the "Swing Era" of the 1930s and 40s. He was born near Fulton, Mississippi on June 6th, 1902 to James and Beulah Lunceford. The family moved within a year of his birth to Oklahoma City before eventually moving to Denver, Colorado. During his time there growing up, Jimmie received musical training in high school from Wilberforce Whiteman, the father of the famous musician and bandleader Paul Whiteman. There he learned and played the alto saxophone for his school jazz band.

Upon graduating he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to enroll at Fisk University, where he received a bachelor of arts degree. He then continued and finished his education at the New York City College in New York before moving back to Tennessee. There he became a language, music, and primarily, a physical education teacher at Manassas High School in Memphis.

While there he formed his band that was initially known as the Chickasaw Syncopators from musically gifted and already talented students and faculty in 1927. Though that was the original name, it later got changed to the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra, being also known as Jimmie Lunceford's Harlem Express, when they went professional in 1929. The band gained notoriety quickly, and within the year was recording for Victor Records in 1927 and 1930.

They gained much fame when they began traveling and touring throughout 1927 to 1932 before settling in New York to play for the Cotton Club from 1933 to 1934, replacing the highly regarded Cab Calloway Band. During 1934 they had very little success continuing to record with Victor, even though they wrote and released renowned jazz songs like, "White Heat," and, "Jazznocracy," among others. When the opportunity came through a lost deal, they signed to Decca where they had huge success and gained the majority of their national recognition for their very intricate and catchy orchestral arrangements to swing rhythms, originally called "Lunceford Beats." With songs like, "Tain't What I Do," "Rhythm Is Our Business," "Four Or Five More," and many more widely celebrated songs for their new, "hot" style that was easily danced to and full of merriment, the band's fame and success was prevalent and nationally recognized during this time. In 1940 they lost that deal as well, but they began recording and publishing for Majestic through a new deal with that label.

Of course, not all of their success was solely due to the leadership of Mr. Lunceford. He hired and worked with many giants of the music industry of the time. Sy Oliver was a nationally recognized arranger, composer, and lyricist, and Eddie Duram is one of the first recorded professional electric guitarists and was an already recognized trombonist and songwriter. Along with working with them in the band, they used the legendary composing stylings of the Cotton Club's own Duke Ellington in making their own recordings of his masterful works in their own style. An interesting thing to consider also in Jimmie's career is even though he was fluent in multiple instruments, he rarely actually played with the orchestra after they went professional, preferring just to conduct and manage the show.

The band had twenty hit recordings in the nine years of peak exposure and performing from 1934 to 1942. Not only was the band known for its exquisitely unique syncopated music and skill in playing it thoroughly to the exact beat, it was also known for the stage shows that they put on while they played. Having costume changes, choreography, comedy acts, and many other elements, they brought a lively and exciting experience to their audiences. Such audiences mainly included ballrooms and major colleges' dances, where they usually performed a one night show before getting back on the road. The band also recorded music for many movies and films, while also featuring in a few, including Blues in the Night in 1941. They were continually touring, but from most accounts the band lost many of its premiere members during the last few years due to morale being low and the members feeling overworked and underpaid.

On July 12th, 1947, Jimmie Lunceford collapsed at an autograph signing in Seaside, Oregon while on a tour of the Pacific Northwest. He passed away in the ambulance carrying him to the hospital due to a heart attack. He was only forty-five years old. Lunceford was known for his strong health and rigid workout regimen, which was attested to by his bandmates. He said that he never quit being a coach, even after leaving teaching athletics. And with the racial strains of the time, it is recorded that the owner of the restaurant where the band ate was racist in his business. The other band members also fell ill after eating, all except one who refused to eat. All this and other circumstantial evidence led it to be rumored that Jimmie may have been poisoned, leading to his collapse and then subsequent heart attack. It was Jimmie who fought to be served after they were originally refused at the restaurant by demanding the waitress get the manager, to which he conceded to let them have only beef sandwiches. As the band leader, he would obviously be the main target in something of this nature. No investigation was launched though, so we may never know the truth. Perhaps he was just prone to heart problems that caught up to him and he and the band happened to eat some accidentally improperly cooked food. He was taken back to Memphis to be buried in Elmwood Cemetery, where thousands of mourners came to participate in the service honoring and remembering the King of Swing. The band did continue to tour and perform after his death for a few years, but eventually dissolved in 1949.

To this day Jimmie Lunceford and his band are still highly regarded and respected as one of the greatest bands in swing and jazz of all time. Their songs are still played, revered, and used as examples of some of the greatest swing songs in the genre's history. Jimmie Lunceford was a defining creator of the genre, and thanks to him many thousands more people from all walks of life, ages, cultures, and colors enjoyed dancing the stress of life and the times away to the catchy 2-4 beat that swept the nation.References:

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Jimmie Lunceford. Encyclopædia Britannica. Here

Marx, R. (2017, May 6). The mysterious death of bandleader Jimmie Lunceford. HuffPost. Here

Nager, L. (2017, May 26). Jimmie Lunceford. Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Here

Senior, A. (2021, June 5). Jimmie Lunceford. The Syncopated Times. Here

Sullivan, W. (2024, June 11). Jimmie M. Lunceford (1902-1947) Here