LUNCEFORD, Jimmie.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Promotional photograph signed by Lunceford and his Orchestra; From the collection of Rolling Stones drummer and jazz aficionado Charlie Watts, with his posthumous bookplate: a fine image of Lunceford, inscribed by him, "Best wishes from Jimmie Lunceford, 10/24/35", and signed or inscribed by 15 of his band members; paired with a striking, stylish image of Lunceford's men brightly lit low from the front, casting sharp, angular shadows on the wall behind.Band members signing here are Russell Bowles, Paul Webster, Elmer Crumbley, Edie Tompkins, Jimmy Crawford, Joe Thomas, Moses Allen, Billie Smith, Ted Bucknar, Gerald WIlson, Earl Carruthers, Jimmie Young, Dan Grissam, Eddie Durham, and Al Norris. "Lunceford's orchestra is doomed always to be remembered behind Ellington and Basie as the great also-ran band of its day. Part of the reason for that is its sheer class. There were no special idiosyncrasies which lifted the Lunceford orchestra away from the consistent excellence to which it aspired. Its principal arrangers … created superbly polished, interlocking sections which made their records exude a professional élan" (Cook & Morton, p. 913). Lunceford died at 45 in 1947 when he collapsed suddenly: rumours persist that he was poisoned by a racist restaurant owner who was lethally reluctant to feed his band.The photographer of the band image, Gordon Conner (a pseudonym of Henri Willis Dhentt), ran a successful studio in Cleveland in the 1930s and 1940s, specializing locally in sh

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