| “You Set Me On Fire” Jimmy Lunceford and His Orchestra; Dan Grisson, vocal January 31, 1939 (Vocalion 4712 mx 24054) |
Jimmy Lunceford’s band was one of the more popular bands of the mid-to-late 1930s and was regarded by some as being in the same elite category as Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s orchestras.
Lunceford’s big break came in 1934 when his band was named the successor to Cab Calloway’s band as the house band at the Cotton Club in Harlem, thrusting him into national prominence.
Interestingly, this acclaimed orchestra evolved from a high school band that Lunceford started while working as a physical education and language teacher at the then-segregated Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
Lunceford grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he studied music under Wilberforce Whiteman, the father of bandleader Paul Whiteman. While attending Fisk University in Nashville, Lunceford played alto sax in student bands alongside another future bandleader, Andy Kirk.
In 1927, Lunceford formed a student band with his top music students called the Chickasaw Syncopators, named after a local neighborhood. The band’s talent was evident from the beginning. In December 1927, it was invited to record two sides, “Chickasaw Stomp” and “Memphis Rag,” during a Columbia Records field trip to Memphis. Both sides were issued on Columbia 14301-D.
The Chickasaw Syncopators recorded two additional sides during Victor’s June 1930 field trip to Memphis, “In Dat Mornin'” and “Sweet Rhythm,” both issued on Victor V-38141
That same year, Lunceford took the band on the road and eventually changed its name to the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra.
Sadly, Jimmie Lunceford died suddenly in 1947 at the age of 45 in Seaside, Oregon. Shortly before his death, Lunceford and several of his band members felt ill after eating at a local restaurant. Because the restaurant’s white owner was reportedly angered by having to serve black customers, speculation arose that Lunceford may have been poisoned. Apparently, however, no official investigation into the matter was conducted.
“You Set Me On Fire” was composed by Francis Colwell with lyrics by George MacKinnan. Andy Kirk also recorded a version of the song for Decca in 1939 with Pha Terrell on vocal.