Jimmie Lunceford – born June 6, 1902 in Fulton Mississippi – was a jazz and
swing saxophonist and bandleader during the big band era. While born in Fulton,
his family moved to Oklahoma City when he was seven months old. The family
relocated to Denver, Colorado, where he began learning several instruments.
Lunceford attended high school and studied music before he began to play alto
saxophone in a local band. In 1927, he was working as an athletic instructor at
Manassas High School in Memphis and founded a student band, which eventually
became the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. He be...