Video: Jimmie Lunceford Brass Note Presentation On Beale Street

Brad Luttrell/The Commercial Appeal

James Thompson, president of the Manassas High School Alumni Association, accepts the Walk of Fame brass note for Jimmie Lunceford on Beale Street on Sunday. 7/19/2009

Tha Artivist Says: I Stumbled Across This Video While Doing My Purpose…I am glad that the efforts of many not named in this presentation, including yours truly, has lead to this moment of clarity this past summer, 7/19/2009, on Beale Street...I would have been there but I was en route driving back to Memphis from Knoxville and missed it by 30 minutes…The weird thing was it was hard to tell that a ceremony took place at all…When I talked to the folks and vendors in the vicinity they acted like I was from Mars and said nothing took place…However, one art vendor told me recognition for the late great Jimmie Lunceford was long overdue…Indeed…Also it is strange that some of the folks present were not active in helping me resolve the issue over two years ago when I sought them out…The Lord works and moves in mysterious ways and you can’t always tell what is in the hearts and minds of men…But there is so much be done…Jimmie Lunceford is truly a legacy of visionary activism not of stagnation or static…Rhythm not awards was his business! He was constantly on the move trying to innovate the music while at the same time trying to elevate his audience…The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Movement represents some of the best of that legacy as we are actively trying to get Jimmie Lunceford’s legacy off of life support and back in the arena of honor in the hearts, minds and everyday lives of the people as it deserves to be…Will you join in this ensemble for progressive change?

Visit:
http://www.jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com

See Also...

Factual Errors Present In Commercial Appeal Story Concerning Jimmie Lunceford's Brass Note Dedication
http://jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com/2009/08/factual-errors-present-in-commercial.html

Support The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Movement…Buy JLJF Products & Donate To Resurrect The Living Memory Of The True King Of Swing...
http://jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com/2009/12/support-jimmie-lunceford-jamboree.html

Support The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Movement…Buy JLJF Products & Donate To Resurrect The Living Memory Of The True King Of Swing...

"Jimmie Lunceford has the best of all bands. Duke [Ellington] is great, [Count] Basie is remarkable, but Lunceford tops them both."
-- Legendary Swing Band Leader Glenn Miller

“The music still sounds good, and it still inspires me, you know. I just think that band had everything. It was just one helluva band.”
- Jazz Great Horace Silver
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"Manassas had the first orchestra of any school in the city with Mr. Lunceford. He was a good disciplinarian, a good teacher, and the students just had a fit over him. Lunceford played sophisticated jazz. I used to practice with them."
-Beloved Memphis Educator & Manassas High Class of 1932 Kathryn Perry Thomas

To All Those Hep Cats & Swing Fans Out There…
The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Would Like You To Help Us Help You Pay Homage To The True King Of Swing & His Tremendous Legacy…



We @ The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival (JLJF) have been proactive these past 2 plus years in letting the Memphis community and beyond know about the achievements of the greatest jazz swing band orchestra leader that ever lived. Through award shows, symposiums, internet radio broadcasts/podcasts, wreath laying ceremonies, television programs, and even proclamations from U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen, The JLJF helped laid the foundation for the eventual and long overdue Jimmie Lunceford Brass Note On Beale Street…However, the struggle continues and the best is yet to come…

We need those out there interested in this great man, visionary and humanitarian’s legacy to help us secure the funds necessary to continue the work that was begun by Mr. Lunceford over 80 plus years ago…The JLJF needs funds and sponsorships to carry out events and programs dedicated to introducing new fans to the genius of Lunceford as well as giving diehard fans another reason to promote the timeless quality of the Luncefordean Sound!

Please Take Advantage Of The Following Opportunities To Show Solidarity:

• For More Information About The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Please Visit The Official Website:
http://www.jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com

• Buy The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Merchandise:
http://jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com/2008/12/buy-jimmie-lunceford-art-gear-to.html

• Donate To The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Via PayPal: Anything At All Is Better Than Nothing At All!

• If Snail Mail Is Your Thing Then Please Send Your Donations (monies, checks or money orders) to the following address:
Ronald Herd II/R2C2H2 Tha Artivist
P.O. Box 752062
Memphis,TN 38175


Thanks in advance and keep the music pulsating because rhythm is our business!
Jazznocracily yours,

Tha Artivist M.B.A.
Founder Of The JLJF
http://www.jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com

Able & Ready: A Conversion With Mr. Emerson Able, Jr., A Memphis Music Icon

Legendary Memphis Musician, Educator And 2007 Jimmy Lunceford Jamboree Festival Legacy Award Honoree Bro. Emerson Able And R2C2H2 Tha Artivist



Abel & Ready: A Conversion With Mr. Emerson Able, Jr., A Memphis Music Icon
View
Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNVmVE6arF0

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OBHWnjnkmM

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1ilzWnHu80


Who Is Emerson Able, Jr.?
Just want to provide a history note of legendary Memphis music educator and practitioner Mr. Emerson Able, 2007 Jimmie Lunceford Legacy™ Awardee. He comes from a family of entertainers: his grandmother was a piano player and great friend of blues great Alberta Hunter and one of his uncles was a tap dancer in the groundbreaking Hallelujah! The first talkie Hollywood movie with an all Black cast filmed in Memphis...

He was the high school band instructor of Isaac Hayes and eventually kicked him out of the band due to him not taking it seriously. When Isaac recorded at Staxx, he hired Mr. Able to compose his music along with playing tenor saxophone in his band. Mr. Able is also one of the greatest Band instructors in Manassas’ and Memphis City Schools’ history, a position pioneered and started by Mr. Jimmie Lunceford, Memphis City Schools’ first high school band instructor.

As a student at Manassas High School, Mr. Able used to perform in the Manassas Rhythm Bombers Band…On occasion the band received encouragement and instruction from the great Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra when they visited Memphis.

This is just a small contribution that Mr. Able has given to music be it Jazz, Blues, etc. He has thousands and thousands of legacies who have learned from him or been impacted.

I heard him play at the Jimmie Lunceford Wreath Laying Ceremony in June and what a sound he has!

Please take the time to listen. We must learn our history in order to grow from it. It doesn't make any sense to start from scratch when you can learn from others. To Learn More About Mr. Emerson Able and Jimmie Lunceford please visit http://www.jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com

Rhythm As Well As History Is Our Business: Tha Artivist Resurrects Jimmie Lunceford For A Record Audience Of 800!

*For Immediate Release*Special To W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival


A Match Made For Music Heaven: Jervette Ward Ellis as Blues Great Ma Rainey II & R2C2H2 Tha Artivist as Jazz Swing Great Jimmie Lunceford

Contact:
Jimmie.lunceford.jam@gmail.com

R2C2H2 Tha Artivist, the founder of the Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival and an integral part of the Jimmie Lunceford Renaissance currently taken root in the Memphis, TN, area, immersed himself into the role of a swinging lifetime….The versatile Artivist brought Jimmie Lunceford back to life for several generations of fans as well as for the uninitiated and unaware at the 4th Annual Elmwood Cemetery Costume Twilight Tour…According to Elmwood Cemetery, more than 800 people attended the 4th Annual Costume Twilight Tour which made it the largest turnout ever…The real Jimmie Lunceford, arguably jazz’s greatest swing band leader, has been buried at Elmwood Cemetery for 62 years after dying under mysterious circumstances while signing autographs at a record shop before a concert engagement on July 12, 1947, in Seaside, Oregon…

R2C2H2 Tha Artivst assisted by Memphis music great Emerson Able and a small band of dedicated others , has been involved in an almost Herculean effort the last two years to get Memphis’ first true high school music band director better recognized in ‘the city of good abode’ where he started music education in the Memphis public city schools back in the 1920s at Manassas High School…This school by coincidence has been featured heavily in jazz and American music history and lore, producing a plethora of all time great musicians as diverse as Isaac Hayes, Booker Little, George Coleman, Hank Crawford and Vera Little…

Aided with trumpet, a snappy hep cat suit, a winning smile, limitless enthusiasm and encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, Tha Artivist was able to entertain a steady and large appreciative audience for three consecutive hours…Many audience members commented on how exceptional Tha Artivist captured the essence of the man as well as the spirit of the times…This was Tha Artivist first time doing this popular tour and this was Jimmie Lunceford's life story first time being included on the tour which included life stories of several other noted and famous Memphians buried in the historic and aesthetically acclaimed cemetery founded in 1852…

Visit Elmwood Cemetery Online:
http://www.elmwoodcemetery.org

***

Learn More About Jimmie Lunceford & The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival...

Visit The Official Site:
http://www.jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com

Support The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival…Find Out How:
http://jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com/2008/12/buy-jimmie-lunceford-art-gear-to.html

Donate To The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Via PayPal: Anything At All Is Better Than Nothing At All!