The Music of Jimmie Lunceford: John Lewis & The American Jazz Orchestra

THE AMERICAN JAZZ. ORCHESTRA

John Lewis, Conductor.

Trumpets: John Eckert, Virgil Jones, Bob Millikan

Marvin Stamm, Byron Stripling.

Trombones: Eddie Bert, Jimmy Knepper, Benny Powell, Dennis Wilson

Reeds: Danny Bank, Jerry Dodgion, Bill Easley, John Purcell, Loren Schoenberg.(Jerome Richardson replaces Easley on "Belgium Stomp," "For Dancers Only," "Uptown Blues," and "Annie Laurie.")

Guitar: Howard Collins. Piano, celeste: Dick,Katz.

(John Lewis plays piano on "I Wanna Hear Swing Songs" and "Organ Grinder's Swing.")

Bass: John Goldsby.

Drums: Dennis Mackrel.

Vocal on "Margie": Doc Cheatham.

The witty, ebullient music of Jimmie Lunceford was

a world onto itself during the Swing Era With its

dynamic backbeat and bravura arrangements of

unlikely songs, the Lunceford band possessed

exceptional charm -- it could seem calculating and

ingenuous at the same time. Yet because it was

short-lived and so much a part of its period, the

Lunceford approach is often overlooked by

modern listeners. One reason, perhaps, is its

penchant for fey singers and novelty songs, which

require a taste for irony if not whimsy What

Lunceford occasionally lacked in profundity,

however, he made up for with "three P's" of his

own: Punctuality, Precision, and Presentation He

had the nattiest show band of the day, with smartly

tailored musicians waving derby mutes and tossing

their instruments into the air, but he never lapsed

into the fake party-hat conviviality of the cornpone

hacks whose ensembles were known as Mickey

Mouse bands On the contrary, Lunceford used his

three P's to augment the elements of great jazz:

swing, audacious writing, and heady solos. To

these he added the suggestion of a Panglossian

conviction that the music he celebrated (American

music in all its motley) was as good as music could be

Unlike the other figures associated with distinct big

band styles, Lunceford had little direct impact as

composer, arranger, or instrumentalist. In

assigning him authorship of the Lunceford sound, we are acknowledging his formidable shrewdness

as a bandleader. This regal-looking disciplinarian

knew the kind of talent he wanted, and how to find

and exploit it. He was a master at delegating

responsibility while maintaining overall control If

the Lunceford sound reached its apogee in the

writing of his most gifted arranger, Sy Oliver, the

fact remains that neither Oliver nor such talented

musicians as Trummy Young, Joe Thomas, Willie

Smith, and Jimmy Crawford, not to mention lesser

luminaries such as Ed Wilcox, Paul Webster, and

Eddie Tompkins, would ever again create as

memorable a body of work as they did in his

orchestra Oliver went on to write many superb

arrangements for Tommy Dorsey and others, and

Trummy attained international tribute as a member

of Louis Armstrong's All Stars, but their defining

works belong to the Lunceford era.

Lunceford was born in Missouri in 1902, and

attended high school in Denver, where he studied

with Wilberforce J. Whiteman, Paul Whiteman's

father A graduate of Fisk University along with

Eddie Wilcox and Willie Smith, he enrolled at City

College in New York for further study. Lunceford

played alto sax professionally for several years and

was proficient on the other reeds, as well as guitar,

trombone, and flute, though he kept his playing to

a minimum after founding his orchestra He formed

the Chicksaw Syncopators in 1929, while teaching

school in Memphis, and recorded two sides for

Victor Not until a northeast tour, culminating in a

residency at the Cotton Club in 1934, did

Lunceford begin to acquire a national reputation.

By that time the man responsible for perfecting the

Lunceford sound was Melvin James Oliver, who

preferred to be known as Sy.

Born in Michigan in 1910, and raised in Ohio, Oliver

was the son of two music teachers who groomed him in the three areas he successfully pursuedarranging, trumpet playing, and singing. After an apprenticeship with the territory bands of Zack

White and Alphonso Trent, he submitted a few pieces to Lunceford, whose orchestra impressed

him with its attention to detail. As soon as he

relocated to New York, in 1933, he was recruited

full time by the Lunceford organization.

Oliver's influence on the band has occasionally been disputed, mostly by Oliver himself. It is

certainly true that the band displayed something of its characteristic elan before he joined up. One of his predecessors, Eddie Wilcox, was particularly

admired by the Lunceford musicians for the way he

scored the saxophones. Oliver was quick to point

out that people often credited him with Wilcox's

work. Yet when he referred to himself as merely "the band's Boswell, " insisting, as he did in a 1946 interview with George T. Simon, that he "couldn't

write, it's just that those guys played so well, " he was being modest to a fault. Oliver gave the band

wry humor with his unpredictable instrumental juxtapositions, bold voicings, and frequent

changes in tempo. His writing was rich with ideas and precision techniques, including unison trombone smears and trumpet shakes, staccato

passages, baritone sax voice-leading, and a vital bass line. The results shone with disarming clarity.

Whereas Henderson and Basie occupied a treble

ground, the

Lunceford band, like Ellington's, pulsated with bass. It was Oliver who insisted on

the illusory two-beat rhythm that became

Lunceford's primary trademark.

Many of the band's major soloists contributed

arrangements as well, notably Wilcox, the very

influential Eddie Durham, Willie Smith, and Joe Thomas. Many of them sang, often in trios, but the ballad crooning was usually entrusted to tenor Dan

Grissom, and Trummy Young proved his mettle

with the jazzier vocals. In the late '30s and early

'40s, after Oliver was lured away by Dorsey, the band enjoyed a new infusion of talent with the

arrival of arrangers Billy Moore and Gerald Wilson, who went on to become one of the leading bandleaders of the postwar era; and trumpeters

Freddie Webster, a profound influence on Miles

Davis and other modernists, and Snooky Young, the most influential lead trumpeter in jazz history.

Yet just as the band achieved a new momentum, it began to fall apart. Trouble in paradise began with

Lunceford's tightness with a buck. The grueling

one-nighters caused resentment, especially when

musicians were denied paid vacations. One by one, the key members left.

Still, Lunceford persevered through the war years.

He died of a heart attack, in 1947, while signing autographs. For more than a year, Wilcox and Thomas assumed the reigns of leadership, but without Lunceford's spark, the band succumbed to mediocrity. Yet the Lunceford sound proved not only durable but ubiquitous. By hiring Oliver, Dorsey made that sound his own. Gerald Wilson introduced the Lunceford approach into the Dizzy

Gillespie band of the 1940s, further developing it in

his own orchestras. Stan Kenton used Lunceford

as the model for his early style (and even appropriated "Yard Dog Mazurka" for his

"Intermission Riff"). Arranger Billy May employed

Lunceford's sonic boom on numerous sessions of the 1950s, for Frank Sinatra and others. The orchestra Count Basie developed and sustained during the last 30 years of his career was

sometimes jokingly referred to as Basie's

Lunceford band because of its startling precision.

(When Basie first came East in 1936, he was crushed by Lunceford in a battle of the bands. "We

just weren't ready for Jimmie at the time, " he observed later. "His band was too rugged for any of us.") Today, the Lunceford sound summons forth a Swing Era of fantasy-a world without

depression or war, but rife with inspired lunacy,

elaborate skill, boundless energy, and immeasurable optimism.

The American Jazz Orchestra first performed an evening of Lunceford's music on May 5, 1988, in the Great Hall at Cooper Union. After visiting a rehearsal, Jon Pareles wrote in The New York

Times: "As John Lewis, [the AJO's] conductor, beamed from the podium, the horns rose to their feet to finish the last chorus, swinging their saxophones to the irresistible two-beat-and finishing up with grins all around. " It was one of the

band's most popular concerts. In the audience

were the brother and wife of Billy Moore and Sy

Oliver, respectively. Oliver had given Lewis, Loren Schoenberg, and myself a capsule music history

lesson and pep talk at a lunch some months

earlier, but was too ill to attend the performance;

he died three weeks later. Mrs. Lillian Oliver

subsequently made available to the AJO

arrangements that were the basis for an evening

devoted largely to his post-Lunceford years.

Another concert that grew out of that evening was

a retrospective of Gerald Wilson's music,

conducted by the composer.

Requests for a repeat of the original Lunceford

program were constant, and a slightly altered

version was presented on December 14, 1989.

John S. Wilson wrote in the Times, "great

Lunceford classics ... can still be heard on records.

But only a talented and devoted repertory group

like the American Jazz Orchestra can present them

in live performance. " By then, John Lewis, the

AJO's co-founder and music director, had decided

that our Lunceford interpretations should be

recorded as well, and plans were made for the

Orchestra's third recording project. A generous

grant from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and the abiding enthusiasm of MusicMasters

brought the AJO into the studio 14 months later.

No one has pledged more time and thought to the challenge of jazz repertory than Lewis, whose particular concerns include the interpretive adjustments necessary to effect a graceful transition from the dance hall to the concert hall, and the options in dealing with solos that have

become indispensable elements in classic arrangements. During rehearsal, he coached one

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musician, "Some solos aren't solos anymore,

they're part of the composition, like Ben Webster

in Ellington. Here it's Joe Thomas." Every piece

presents different problems. In this recording, a

few selections are modified or opened up. Most,

however, faithfully follow the original scores.

Lunceford arrangements are so tightly

constructed, with different chord progressions in

successive choruses, that it's often virtually

impossible to find places where you can insert or

extend Improvisations. When one musician noted

ruefully the difficulty of a trumpet passage that

sounded as though the phrasing were conceived for trombones, Lewis noted “Sy just wrote it that

way, and that’s part of the magic of what they did.

See if you can get it.” He quietly added, “This is our chance to make the case for our music. ”

"Lunceford Special " (1939) is one of Eddie

Durham's most celebrated arrangements, noted for the displaced accents (especially the turnback

sections), the tactful voicings of the brass section, and the roaring windup. All nine brass players are heard here, with Dennis Wilson adding his bass trombone to the tenor trombones of Eddie Bert, Jimmy Knepper, and Benny Powell, and Byron Stripling enlarging to five the core AJO trumpet section of John Eckert, Virgil Jones, Bob Millikan, and Marvin Stamm. After an introduction that introduces first the rhythm, then the reeds, and finally the brasses, the ensemble plays the first chorus. The rhythm section (Howard Collins, John Goldsby, Dick Katz, and Dennis Mackrel) is suitably plush as Stripling and lead altoist Jerry

Dodgion split the second chorus, followed by full

choruses by Powell and tenor saxophonist Bill

Easley (a chance for Lewis to open up the chart).

Mackrel rolls over a turnback, and Stripling plays

the high-note finale.

Mary Lou Williams' "What's Your Story, Morning

Glory?," a song later shanghaied for the pop hit "Black Coffee, " was the subject of a pointed but

seductive arrangement by Billy Moore (1940). Bill

Easley's clarinet comes wailing out of the intro to

state the 12-bar theme, leaving a two-bar fill for

the brasses, which in this performance number

only six: Stamm, Millikan, and Wilson are out. Virgil

Jones interprets the second chorus, and Loren

Schoenberg most of the third and fourth. Danny

Bank's powerful baritone is heard in the ensemble

passages -- here and, for that matter, everywhere.

Schoenberg was asked to play his part an octave

higher than in the original arrangement, because

Lewis felt that the tenor tended to get lost "down

there. "

"Belgium Stomp" (1939), a perfect example of a piece that can't be opened without major surgery,

is a key original by Billy Moore, the pianist and composer hired as Oliver's replacement; he later

wrote for Tommy Dorsey and Charlie Barnet, before moving to Europe where he toured as

accompanist for the Delta Rhythm Boys. Here he shows exceptional foresight in form and substance. Not only are no two choruses alike, but

the A section of the theme is embellished differently each time -- it's the kind of thing Charlie

Parker later did in "Confirmation. " Listen to the

boplike trumpet figure in the second A section.

Howard Collins' acoustic guitar is heard at the

outset, and the curiously conflated trombone solo

is by Eddie Bert --12 bars at the top and eight after

John Eckert plays the notated release.

Schoenberg begins his eight-bars with a

handsome pick-up, and Stripling plays the high-

notes before the ensemble cools down with a riff.

On this selection, seven brasses were assembled

(Millikan and Wilson are out).

"I'm Alone With You" (1939) was contributed by

Bud Estes, but you may recognize more than a

ghost of Benny Carter's 1933 "Lonesome Nights."

If not, you can hear a definitive performance of

Carter's early triumph on his album with the

American Jazz Orchestra, Central City Sketches.

More than 30 years after Lunceford's record was

issued, Estes apologized to Carter for

appropriating his melody. All eight brasses

(Stripling is out) are muted in the opening passage.

Lewis, rehearsing the articulation of each quarter note, instructed, "Something ought to happen inside those notes." As befits an arrangement

inspired by Carter, the saxophones are much

featured. The twin tenors of Easley and

Schoenberg are heard in unison before all the

reeds amble in for the release. Dodgion plays the

transition, introducing the reeds for another half chorus, and Millikan plays the second release. In

the final episode, with all the winds scored, the

saxes have to play four measures in one breath.

Yet the whole performance is eminently relaxed-

-thanks in part to the serene and steady playing of

the rhythm section.

The most influential arranger brought in to fill the

opening left by Sy Oliver was Gerald Wilson, who

also took over Oliver's seat in the trumpet section.

He was 20 when he joined Lunceford; two years

later he wrote two formative works, "Yard Dog

Mazurka" and "Hi Spook" (1941). The former, a

collaboration between Wilson and Roger Segure,

is the piece Stan Kenton appropriated, and is often

cited as a precursor of arranging styles that became prominent in the '50s. The AJO performance may prompt a reconsideration of the piece, considering Lewis' dramatic modification of

the tempo. "They speeded it up for the record.

That happened a lot, " he reminded the Orchestra.

"If you play it too fast, it gets nervous. This way is

much earthier, more persuasive. "

"Yard Dog" begins with drums, part of a 16-bar

introduction in which the baritone sax hooks up

the figures played by the nine brasses. Mirroring

the intro, the first chorus displays the reeds first

(Dodgion's decisive lead alto is unmistakable) and

then the brasses. A six-bar riff extension sets up

the second chorus, improvised by John Eckert,

subtly using a plunger mute; Dodgion and the

saxes claim the release; Eckert completes the

chorus. A four-bar transition (Marvin Stamm leads

the brasses) sets up a surprise turn-a sultry vamp,

that continues into the third chorus. Here Eddie

Bert takes the trombone solo, a spot originally

dominated by his idol Trummy Young, who willed

him the instrument Eddie now plays; Collins strums

the release Stripling wails the high notes in the

concluding episode, his final sustained note

topping Paul Webster's climax on the original

record

After a rehearsal of "Hi Spook, " Lewis suggested

to Stripling that he save the high notes for the

record: "I don't want to see blood all over the

place. " Once again, the tempo is adjusted to

underscore dynamics and drama, and, incidentally,

approximates a feeling more in keeping with

Lunceford's live performances than the one he

recorded Wilson's mischievous style is in evidence

from the outset-a 13-bar intro. The chorus

structure begins conventionally, but turns out to

have an 11-bar release and a 13-bar finish Bank

firmly anchors the ensemble, and Dodgion shapes

the tremolo buzz in the first chorus. The exuberant

improvisers are Easley, Powell, and Dodgion In his

blazing finale, Stripling doesn't sound at all

constrained by the responsibilities of interpreting a

score

"For Dancers Only, " a big hit record for Lunceford in 1937, is the first of four Oliver arrangements in this program, and one of the four selections that were flexible enough to allow expansion. The piece is not the usual 32-bar song with a bridge, but rather an eight-bar chorus that is altered throughout the performance. In the third chorus, a second theme is introduced, generally known as

"Christopher Columbus, " after the famous Fletcher Henderson record. Yet by all accounts Oliver

sketched the piece before Henderson's record was

released Despite the title, the number was a

highly popular showpiece for listeners as well as

dancers, with its dramatic rhythms and changeups Gerald Wilson has recalled a moment when

the "brass would play a series of triplets, then we'd

all throw our horns up in the air and twirl them before we resumed playing " One night at Loew's

State in New York, Wilson's trumpet sailed up, up, and away, nearly crowning a member of the

audience "I've been a little scared of triplets ever

since. " The soloists are Dodgion and Jones. Lewis opened it up at the alto solo to allow each of them an additional 24 bars For much of that episode, the winds lay out and you get a particularly good

demonstration of why Dick Katz is regarded as an

exemplary accompanist Jimmy Knepper plays

lead during the trombone trio. For the glorious climax, Stamm directs the four trumpets (Stripling is out) and Millikan does the high-note work

Snooky Young was 20 when he joined the Lunceford band At his first session, he recorded a solo on "Uptown Blues" (1939) that became an instant classic. After playing it with the AJQ one night, Jon Faddis vowed to show a transcription to Young, who for many years has been lead trumpet in the Tonight Show orchestra, and dare him to play it The immensely effective head arrangement became the band's second theme. John Lewis keyed the AJO performance to the original tempo:

"It's hard to play a slow blues, harder than if you played it fast. Every beat has to explode. The challenge is to try and make that tempo and keep

it for the whole performance. " After the intro, Dodgion plays two choruses in homage to Willie Smith. Then Stamm radiantly interprets Young's two-chorus invention, backed by the saxophones.

His is the only trumpet heard in this selection, and he helps make certain that every beat explodes.

Oliver's adaptation of the traditional tune "Annie

Laurie" is one of his supreme creations (1937), an orchestration that manages to exemplify the band's almost colloquial two-beat style and penchant for ripe melody, while incorporating the rigors of virtuoso ensemble work and ingenious

solos. Here the original solos by Joe Thomas,

Trummy Young (who could forget his daring entrance?), and Paul Webster have thoroughly

fused with the composition. A difficult piece, it

offers a thrilling climax complete with flashfire

trumpet figures and descending arpeggios ( the

influence of Louis Armstrong is apparent here)

played by the saxes. The solos are expounded by

Schoenberg and Knepper, each man ripping his

two-bar pick-up with admirable clout, and Stripling, who outdoes himself in the ride-out. The

brasses number six, and the trumpet trio (Millikan

playing lead, Eckert, and Stripling) is heard to

especially good advantage after Schoenberg s

first appearance --waving hats against the bells of

their horns. The whole ensemble swings like mad.

Earl Hines. Dodgion performs the theme, originally

played by Ted Buckner, followed by a two-bar

guitar break. Trummy's contribution is divided

between two men: Bert does his interpretation of

the famous trombone solo. Singing the lyric is the

inimitable Doc Cheatham, who at 86 was honored

in a memorable tribute concert at the 1991 JVC

Jazz Festival. Doc appeared at one of the first AJO

concerts to do this number, and he has made it his

own-singing some words, speaking others, and whispering still others. He gives his own courtly zing

to the word, "Baby!" The arrangement is so graceful

you might be surprised to learn how hard it is to get

the correct articulation. Each note was sculpted

during rehearsal, with the ensemble ever mindful of

Lewis' admonishment not to "exaggerate anything. "

"l Wanna Hear Swing Songs" (1940) represents

something of a transition between two editions of

the Lunceford band, since the melody is by Sy

Oliver and the arrangement is by Billy Moore. It

begins directly with the song, no intro, tightly

voiced with Bank holding down the reeds and

Schoenberg surfacing in the release.Lewis opened

this one up, substituting his own piano for the vocal

chorus; as a result, the trumpet accompaniment, played by Stamm, which tends to get lost behind a

singer, now interacts with the piano as a duet.

Lewis' emphatic sound and, style continue for another chorus, with Stamm returning in the

Oliver's arrangement of the standard "Margie"

(1938) was a major record for Lunceford, and a

personal triumph for Trummy Young, who had recently joined the band after several years with

release. John Purcell s alto dominates the last

chorus though Schoenberg's tenor stops time for

the release, and they exchange a few phrases

before the ensemble, punctuated by Bank, ambles off in search of more swing songs.

Sy Oliver's uncanny adaptation of "Organ Grinder's

Swing" was one of the best selling records of 1936, and is

considered by many his finest achievement. As

early as 1937, the pioneering critic Hughes

Panassie singled it out as “perhaps” his favorite

Lunceford record, “a pearl” to be admired for its

slow ("radically different") tempo, "marvelous use of

contrasts " and "the most perfect you could

imagine. " He concluded, "it is absolutely impossible

to give an idea of this disc, of which it may truly be said that it is unique. " Consisting almost entirely of

eight ... bar segments, "Organ Grinder's Swing" is a

beguiling fantasy that derives much of its charm

from surprising instrumental combinations. Lewis'

version might be considered an impression of the

original, for he has expanded it to include a trumpet

dialogue, and substituted piano for guitar in one

episode -- the result, while true to Oliver, implies a common ground for Basie and Ellington as well.

The first three episodes follow Oliver's plan: clarinet and trumpet (Easley and Millikan) state the theme; muted trumpet and baritone sax (Eckert and Bank) develop it; celeste (Katz) embellishes it. In place of the guitar playing against the reeds, however, Lewis' piano .. imparts a bluesier hue. After the four

... bar interlude by clarinet and reeds, Eckert plays a

20 ... bar solo, constructed from the expected

eightmeasure section, plus the four-bar transition previously accorded the clarinet (and in which

Eckert is accompanied only by drums), and another

eight. This procedure is repeated precisely for a

solo by Virgil Jones. The two trumpet players now

engage in a battle of the plunger mutes,

exchanging episodes of eight-bars for 32

measures and of fourbars for 16. In a return to the

Oliverian script, the performance closes with

Easley and Millikan, followed by Bank and the

growling trumpets.

Notes By Gary Giddins

Gary Giddins, a staff writer for the Village Voice since 1973 and the author of several books and films about music, founded the American Jazz

Orchestra in 1985 with John Lewis and Roberta, Swann of The Cooper Union. His latest book is

Faces In The Crowd (Oxford, 1992).

The American Jazz Orchestra is non-profit

organization devoted to the presentation of jazz as

a living concert music. It performs an annual series of concerts in the Great Hall of The Cooper Union,

performing jazz classics as well as new works commissioned for the AJO. For more information, write Roberta M. Swann at The Cooper Union, 41

Cooper Square, New York, N.Y. 10003.

Partial funding for this recording has been provided by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust.

HT E MUSICALHERITAGESOC I E YT EST. 1960 Additional information about these recordings can be found at our website www.themusicalheritagesociety.com All recordings ℗ 1992 & © 2024 Heritage Music Royalties.

The Music of Jimmie Lunceford: John Lewis & The American Jazz Orchestra

THE MUS1C OF JIMMIE LUNCEFORD

THE AMERICAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA

THE AMERICAN JAZZ. ORCHESTRA