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Product details
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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Chicksaw Stomp | |||
| 2. Memphis Rag | |||
| 3. In Dat Mornin' | |||
| 4. Sweet Rhythm | |||
| 5. Flaming Reeds And Screaming Brass | |||
See all 26 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Because You're You | |||
| 2. Chillun, Get Up! | |||
| 3. Solitude | |||
| 4. Rain | |||
| 5. Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down | |||
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See all 25 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 3 | |||
| 1. Running a Temperature | |||
| 2. He Ain't Got Rhythm | |||
| 3. Slumming On Park Avenue | |||
| 4. Coquette | |||
| 5. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down | |||
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See all 26 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 4 | |||
| 1. Ain't She Sweet? | |||
| 2. Well, All Right Then | |||
| 3. I Used To Love You (But It's All Over Now) | |||
| 4. Belgium Stomp | |||
| 5. Wham (Re-Bop-Boom-Bam) | |||
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See all 25 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
CD Description
Along with the bands of Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, the Jimmie Lunceford band was one of the outstanding black big bands of the 1930s and 1940s. All achieved enormous popularity and a measure of commercial success during those years. Yet while today the Fletcher Henderson band is primarily remembered for its significant breakthrough as a purveyor of extraordinary and, for their day, advanced performances of arranged big band music and for the boost Henderson's arrangement gave to Benny Goodman's career, Ellington and Basie are revered as major figures of jazz, few fans today remember much about Jimmie Lunceford, play his music or collect his records. This relative lack of latter-day attention might be attributable to Lunceford's tragically early death in 1947 at the age of 45. But this alone cannot be the cause of Lunceford's apparent dismissal from the collective memory of the jazz world. In this respect the Lunceford band might have been a victim of its versatility, the band functioned as a show band, a dance band and a jazz band, serving a musical menu of novelty tunes, sentimental ballads, music for dancing and spectacular "Flag wavers".
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This Proper four disc anthology, with the usual expert annotations, is the best possible introduction to the music of one of the greatest of swing bands. It traces the Lunceford orchestra's story from its recorded beginnings in the late 20's, through its greatest period in the 1930's and early 1940's (this comprises the bulk of the music) and ends with a couple of tracks from 1944 which complete the story but show a considerable decline in quality.
At its peak, Jimmie Lunceford's band combined unsurpassed ensemble precision, excellent soloists (Willie Smith, Joe Thomas and Trummy Young stand out for this listener) and brilliant arrangements from Sy Oliver and others. The band was driven by Jimmy Crawford's superb drumming and had a very distinctive and relaxed 'two-beat' rhythm - very flexible and not to be confused with the two beat monotony of so much dixieland music.
A superb anthology and one I can't imagine being surpassed. The remastering is excellent and packaging both compact and sturdy.
At its peak, Jimmie Lunceford's band combined unsurpassed ensemble precision, excellent soloists (Willie Smith, Joe Thomas and Trummy Young stand out for this listener) and brilliant arrangements from Sy Oliver and others. The band was driven by Jimmy Crawford's superb drumming and had a very distinctive and relaxed 'two-beat' rhythm - very flexible and not to be confused with the two beat monotony of so much dixieland music.
A superb anthology and one I can't imagine being surpassed. The remastering is excellent and packaging both compact and sturdy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As with a lot of the Proper box sets, this is an object lesson in just how music from the past should be reissued. Four C.D.'s, packed in a sturdy box, with full and accurate personnels and a lengthy booklet detailing the history of the band and the individual tunes selected. All the Lunceford classics are here, together with many lesser known numbers, all stretching from the very beginning to the very end of his career. Everything the Lunceford fan could conceivably want is here.
And I suppose that's part of the problem really, for this listener at least. The band was an arrangers' band, with many of the tracks being a bit showy with a lot of humorous or even cute vocals from band members. The band must have put on one hell of a show when you saw it but I'm not sure that 75 years later, that's why you would buy the records. It's all extremely expertly done, and to somebody interested in the techniques of big band arranging in the thirties this has much to offer.
There are plenty of instrumentals, and some very capable soloists, but everywhere they are subjected rigorously to the requirements of the band sound. Soloists include Trummy Young, Willie Smith, Joe Thomas and a whole host of trumpeters and the band also featured one of the greatest of big band drummers in Jimmy Crawford. However it must mean something that the most satisfying consistently of the soloists is Joe Thomas who was a decent full toned tenor saxist but not very much more than that.
I've had a bit of a blind spot about Lunceford for some years and I bought this set thinking some concentrated listening on my part might change that. Well, it didn't. A very good jazz C.D. could be made out of 20 or so of the instrumentals here, but too many of the other tracks are a bit short on substance and a bit long on show.
And I suppose that's part of the problem really, for this listener at least. The band was an arrangers' band, with many of the tracks being a bit showy with a lot of humorous or even cute vocals from band members. The band must have put on one hell of a show when you saw it but I'm not sure that 75 years later, that's why you would buy the records. It's all extremely expertly done, and to somebody interested in the techniques of big band arranging in the thirties this has much to offer.
There are plenty of instrumentals, and some very capable soloists, but everywhere they are subjected rigorously to the requirements of the band sound. Soloists include Trummy Young, Willie Smith, Joe Thomas and a whole host of trumpeters and the band also featured one of the greatest of big band drummers in Jimmy Crawford. However it must mean something that the most satisfying consistently of the soloists is Joe Thomas who was a decent full toned tenor saxist but not very much more than that.
I've had a bit of a blind spot about Lunceford for some years and I bought this set thinking some concentrated listening on my part might change that. Well, it didn't. A very good jazz C.D. could be made out of 20 or so of the instrumentals here, but too many of the other tracks are a bit short on substance and a bit long on show.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Rhythm - Their Business...
28 Dec 2009
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
5 stars, yo! So obviously I like it a lot. It can't get less - not with all of the great things on it. But I have to admit this set leaves me a little sad. The Lunceford band was, by acclimation, the third-greatest black big band of the Swing Era, with Ellington and Basie fighting it out for no.'s 1 and 2. And I'm not going to argue. But they really hit the heights only a few times. Off the top of my head, I'd name For Dancers Only, Well All Right Then, Uptown Blues, 'Taint What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It), Yard Dog Mazurka and a few more. There are some fascinating examples of excessive arranging chops - listen to Eddie Durham's arrangement of Hittin' The Bottle or Lunceford's own Stratosphere. There are some all - time Swing Era classics (Rhythm Is Our Business, Margie). There are some real curiosities (An Ellington composition - Bird of Paradise - never recorded by the Ellington band). But then there are many tracks which are really only OK at best. Lunceford hoed - or plowed - or something - a kind of middle ground. Duke and Basie's goals were always clear - the "voice" of those bands is unmistakable. But what was the Lunceford band, exactly? A "show" band? An arrangers band? It certainly wasn't a soloists band...
Gunther Schuller wrote an excellent chapter on the Lunceford band in his Swing Era book, although his Lunceford band and mine are not quite the same. Around 1939 the band seemed to streamline its style and get more interested in Urban Black Groove Music - never a favorite of Schuller's. In order to experience this side of this music, though, it's necessary to pick up the CD Jazz Hour - 3004 which contains stunning live performances of 'Taint What You Do and Well All Right Then. It is really a shame that more such performances either don't exist or haven't been issued. Once you've heard these tracks you'll realize what is missing here.
One thing that I don't like about Proper is that remastering doesn't seem to part of its plan. JSP boxes - which are also bargain priced - make such a big effort in this way. But the sound here, as on most Proper Boxes, is so haphazard. If you're really nerdy, you can recognize which original LP issue each track has been dubbed from. And there are a few different ones represented here, that's for sure.
So...Great arrangements by Sy Oliver, Eddie Durham, Eddie Wilcox, Gerald Wilson. Great playing by Willie Smith, Trummy Young, Jimmy Crawford. That 2-beat groove. The indomitable Snooky Young playing lead trumpet. Those classic vocal trios. Moments of great beauty. But a vague feeling of something incomplete hangs over the whole set. I love "entertainment" as much as the next guy. But sometimes I have the feeling that the need to entertain got in the way of this band's making the best music it was capable of.
Gunther Schuller wrote an excellent chapter on the Lunceford band in his Swing Era book, although his Lunceford band and mine are not quite the same. Around 1939 the band seemed to streamline its style and get more interested in Urban Black Groove Music - never a favorite of Schuller's. In order to experience this side of this music, though, it's necessary to pick up the CD Jazz Hour - 3004 which contains stunning live performances of 'Taint What You Do and Well All Right Then. It is really a shame that more such performances either don't exist or haven't been issued. Once you've heard these tracks you'll realize what is missing here.
One thing that I don't like about Proper is that remastering doesn't seem to part of its plan. JSP boxes - which are also bargain priced - make such a big effort in this way. But the sound here, as on most Proper Boxes, is so haphazard. If you're really nerdy, you can recognize which original LP issue each track has been dubbed from. And there are a few different ones represented here, that's for sure.
So...Great arrangements by Sy Oliver, Eddie Durham, Eddie Wilcox, Gerald Wilson. Great playing by Willie Smith, Trummy Young, Jimmy Crawford. That 2-beat groove. The indomitable Snooky Young playing lead trumpet. Those classic vocal trios. Moments of great beauty. But a vague feeling of something incomplete hangs over the whole set. I love "entertainment" as much as the next guy. But sometimes I have the feeling that the need to entertain got in the way of this band's making the best music it was capable of.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
a great big band
20 April 2011
Format:Audio CD
The Lunceford band was extraordinary and wonderful. Not the equal of the Basie band, nor in different ways, of the Ellington band, but still capable of superb music. The arrangements and ensemble work equal that of any other orchestra -- I was told that the trumpet section waved their mutes in unison. Highlights: the alto solos of Willie Smith, the tenor solos of Joe Thomas, and perhaps most of all the trombone work of Trummy Young, whose arrival in the band was a giant step forward. Underlying it all was the drumming of Jimmy Crawford, an insistent and supple driver of incomparable swing. Highlights of songs: Yard Dog Mazurka, Hi Spook, Easter Parade, Organ Grinder's Swing, Well Alright Then, and Belgium Stomp. The Proper Box sets are the best bargain around. See my other reviews...
7 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Best value investment
25 Jan 2008
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Such a well rounded band. But unlike most well rounded bands the JLO isn't just good, but they excel at everything!!! I think this is a must have if you're collecting Jazz and Big Band music from the 20's to the 40's.
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