Word: lunceford
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...until noon the next day, when Eddie McGuire called him. Eddie met him that afternoon and they had some beers, ate dinner at a place near Culver City, drank some whiskey and finally ended up at Casa Mañana. They picked up some girls and danced to Jimmy Lunceford's band. Horn decided he was doing all right-having a swell time for the second night of furlough...
Obviously, the offerings of a Gutbucket Gus are gibberish to the uninitiated. What the Sweet Singers need by way of introduction is someone who can play good jazz on something approaching their own terms. And Lunceford, Basie, and Ellington are the men for that. A comparison of their recordings of popular songs with the effusions of the Sweet, Swing set is eye-opening. The gulf between Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train," and Miller's is immeasurable. The Ellington band's complete grasp of the spirit of the thing, its spontaneity, its "soul," if you will, make Miller's version...
...thing is, of course, not the tune, but they way the band plans in and around it. "Down by the Old Mill Stream" is as ancient and hoary a piece as you'll find, but Lunceford's version of it on Decca shows such imagination and ingenuity that the tune, while recognizable at all times, is a secondary consideration. Earl Hines's "Jersey Bounce" on Bluebird is comparatively unknown, yet it is probably the most vivid and happily-conceived version ever put to wax. So try a direct comparison on well-known songs if you want to find the gateway...
Even if arrangements and soloists were not enough, I'd disqualify Miller purely on the grounds of spirit. The band puts on a good show, waving those horns around on "In the Mood," but Lunceford did it much better, and made better music to boot. The men play crisply and cleanly; there's too much perfection as a matter of fact. But none of it adds up to spirit...
...Lunceford record is blues with soup-and-fish on--a majestic, almost top-heavy, arrangement smoothly played with the firm rhythmic background characteristic of this band. The result is satisfactory, but the lyrics aren't given the rich, vibrant interpretation they get from Al Morgan these spring evenings down at the Savoy, where Sabby Lewis's boys often play over their heads backing him up. That authentic, low-down atmosphere of the blues loses itself in the dressiness of the performance...