Jimmie Lunceford Legacy Orchestra

Jimmie Lunceford will long be remembered as the leader of a swinging big band that rivaled on record, and exceeded in person, the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. His band differed from many of the other big bands of the 1930s and 1940s in that Lunceford's group was noted less for its soloists than for its ensemble work. Furthermore, most bands of the period used a four-beat rhythm while the Lunceford Ork developed a distinctive two-beat swing often played at medium tempo. The unique sound became known during the Swing era as the Lunceford two-beat. The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra as it finally [and famously] came to be known formed in 1934 and established itself as THE house band of Harlem, NYC"s legendary "Cotton Club".
Among the artists who came up from the ranks or performed as solo artists with the band were; Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Sy Oliver, Snooky Young, Eddie Wilcox, Paul Webster, and Cab Calloway. Jimmie passed away on December 12th 1947...band members, notably Wilcox and Joe Thomas kept the band going for a time but..alas..had to break up the JLO in 1949.

In 1999 Dutch-born [and brilliant!] sax-man and band-leader Robert Veen teamed up with a passionate ensemble of dedicated musicians to acquire the exclusive rights to use the original band charts and arrangements of the Jimmie Lunceford canon and sole permission to use Jimmie's name.."The Jimmie Lunceford [Legacy] Orchestra".
The first official debut of the reformed/reborn J.L.L.O. took place in July 2005 at the North Sea Jazz Festival [Europe's biggest]. In February 2007 they performed at Amsterdam's fabled Paradiso Club.The JLLO added to and consolidated its membership, as well as it's repertoire for much of 2007... rehearsed like crazy, and recorded 16-tracks for their new CD - Rhythm Is Our Business, the first truly "Lunceford" recording in almost 60 years. The current line-up features Brooks Tegler on drums, The Peeters' Sisters [think Andrews Sisters!] and American born EMCee & "Crooner", Mr. Shai [pronounced 'Shy'] Shahar on vocals.