While most leaders were initially star sidemen in other orchestras, learning the trade and eventually forming their own groups, Lunceford was never a sideman or a featured soloist, singer, or arranger-composer. In fact, he was a physical education and language teacher. The band that he led in the 1930s and ’40s was in some ways as unusual as his beginnings. While his group was a top-notch swing orchestra, his soloists were secondary in importance to the arrangements, and the main emphasis was on presentation, showmanship, flawless musicianship, and putting on an entertaining show.

from Syncopated Times