James Melvin “Jimmie” Lunceford, a jazz bandleader and saxophonist born just outside Fulton on June 6, 1902, rose from teaching at Manassas High School in Memphis and forming the Chickasaw Syncopators in 1927 to lead by the mid-1930s one of the country’s most popular orchestras, known for the slogan “Rhythm is Our Business,” a distinctive two-beat rhythm, high-note trumpeters, glee club singers, and highly choreographed stage performances. Many regarded his swing orchestra as the finest in the land, and Benny Goodman considered it superior to those led by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Lunceford’s paternal grandparents, Daniel and Gracy Lunceford, arrived in Itawamba County as slaves in the 1840s shortly after the removal of the Chickasaw Indians, later owning a 320-acre farm by the 1880s, while his parents, James and Ida, owned a 70-acre farm in the Evergreen community when he was born, though some local residents recalled Palmetto as his birthplace. As an infant he moved with his family to Oklahoma and later to Denver, where he studied under Wilberforce Whiteman, father of Paul Whiteman. In 1922 he entered Fisk University in Nashville, studying sociology and music, excelling in sports, and playing in a campus dance band. Beginning work at Manassas in 1927 as a language instructor and athletic coach, he founded, equipped, and trained the school’s first band, and his work in Memphis public school music programs ultimately helped produce many blues, jazz, and soul recording artists; he was very likely the first formal jazz educator. The Chickasaw Syncopators recorded in 1927 and 1930 before leaving Memphis to tour, and after Lunceford resumed recording in 1933, his revamped orchestra with arrangements by Melvin “Sy” Oliver replaced Cab Calloway at Harlem’s Cotton Club in 1934. Though based in New York, the “Harlem Express” toured relentlessly across the South, recording songs including Blues in the Groove, Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan), and Uptown Blues; despite strong record sales, critics held that the band’s vibrant live performances were never effectively captured on wax. Lunceford died in Seaside, Oregon, on July 12, 1947, after eating at a café whose owner objected to serving African Americans, prompting suggestions that he and other ill band members had been intentionally poisoned; thousands attended his memorial service in Memphis, and he was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.