Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions

The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra was one of the most popular African-American big bands of the swing era. Its emphasis was on showmanship, impeccably played ensembles, danceable tempos and strong melodies. While it lacked the major soloists of the pacesetting swing bands such as those of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, it featured many capable players (including altoist Willie Smith, tenor-saxophonist Joe Thomas, trumpeter Sy Oliver, and trombonist Trummy Young) who were also quite capable of taking a joyful vocal individually or as members of a glee club. And in Oliver, Ed Wilcox and Eddie Durham, Lunceford had influential arrangers. When one thinks of the choreography of Glenn Miller’s orchestra or the use of high-note trumpeters by Stan Kenton, it is easy to trace those colorful elements back to Lunceford.

The out-of-print seven-CD Mosaic set The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions has all of the orchestra’s recordings from 1934-38 and 1941-45; the band was signed to Vocalion during much of 1938-41 and those sessions have since been reissued by Sony/Columbia. Despite the dated vocals of Dan Grissom on some numbers, quite a few memorable performances are included among the 146 songs including “Rhythm Is Our Business,” “Four Or Five Times,” “Swanee River,” “Organ Grinder’s Swing,” “For Dancers Only,” “Margie,” and dozens of underrated gems.

It will cost a bit to track this set down but it is certainly worth it.

Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions
Mosaic MD7-250

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.

Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.