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Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford

The Rebirth of Jazz on Beale Street at The Blue Note: A Tribute to Emerson Able

Jazz is the forgotten piece of the Memphis music puzzle. People who are familiar with Isaac Hayes, Al Green or Otis Redding have likely never …

Memphis Manassas High School Band in the Whitehaven Christmas Parade

#056 Manassas High School Band @ Whitehaven Christmas Parade (by John Shaw)

Memphis, and its marching band was originally founded by the well-known band leader Jimmie Lunceford. Another Manassas band director, Emerson Able, was recently honored with a star on Beale Street. The schools produced a number of great musicians, including trumpeter Booker Little, saxophonist Frank Strozier and pianist, singer and songwriter Isaac Hayes.

Memphis Manassas High School Band in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012

Manassas High School in North Memphis is the second-oldest Black high school in Memphis (it was originally a county school, as it was outside the city limits of Memphis). It has a long tradition of excellent music which began when Jimmie Lunceford was hired to be the band director of the school. Lunceford would go on to fame and fortune in the world of big band jazz, along with one of his former students, drummer Jimmy Crawford. Great Memphis musicians such as Emerson Able, Isaac Hayes and Howard Grimes attended Manassas High, and although the school has suffered from low enrollment in recent years, its football program was recently featured in a documentary called Undefeated. Here the Manassas High band marches in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12