The Clemson Jungaleers Alumni Group

The Clemson Jungaleers Dance Orchestra was a student-owned independent dance band operating on the Clemson College (now Clemson University) campus from 1922 to about 1964. A Jungaleers Alumni Group was formed in about 1989, and began annual reunions. Members of other independent big bands, the Blue Notes and Brigadeers Orchestras, and the Clemson Jazz Ensenble were then invited to join. Reunions continued until 2014; at the last reunion, the Orchestra played for the Clemson Alumni Dance.

History

Dr. Robert A. Bannister, Class of 1939, published a loose-bound book on the history of The Jungaleers Dance Orchestra in 1988. His work is wonderfully complete, and it supplied much of the information we have about the Jungaleers history.

The Jungaleers had its roots in jazz. As early as 1919 a group called the "Tiger Jazz 6" was operating from the Clemson campus. That group became the "Jungle Seven", and then became the Jungaleers in 1922-1923. During the very early years, it undoubtedly consisted of various combos, but with the rise of the Swing era in the early 1930s, the Jungaleers became a big band and remained so throughout the rest of its existence. The peak of the band's popularity was in the 1930s, when it played all over South Carolina and into Georgia and North Carolina, and members even played on cruise ships to and from Europe. In the 1940s, it was interrupted only briefly by World War 2, and resumed immediately afterward. But by the mid-1950s, the Rock-and-Roll era diminished the audience for the band, which gradually faded away as a big band by 1963.

The Jungaleers name was used by a combo in 1964, and no further reference to it is known.

The Brigadeers combined with the Jungaleers in 1948, and kept the Jungaleers name. However, the Blue Notes Orchestra continued as a competitor to the Jungaleers until about 1960, when it disbanded. Several members of the Blue Notes Orchestra joined the Jungaleers Alumni Group and attended reunions.

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Reunions

In about 1987 (memory does not provide an exact date) a group of former Jungaleers got together for a jam session at Big Jims restaurant in Sumter, SC. More people attended the following year, and a big band was started in about 1989, using music from Fred Nimmers' (1954) Swingtime Orchestra. The reunions were moved to Clemson in 1993,and were held there until 2014. The band began playing for the annual Alumni reunions in 1995 and continued to play for them until 2014.

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Music

The Jungaleers reunions used Fred Nimmers' book for several years, and then formed a book of its own, as shown below. The book is currently held by Ryan Kouvolo as the last President of the Jungaleers Alumni Group.

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The Jungaleers Endowment Fund

The Jungaleers Alumni Group endowment fund is managed by the Clemson Alumni Association. It provides scholarship money to student musicans and promotes music of the big band era.

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Members

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The Rogues Gallery

The pictures shown below were taken at reunions. Pictures of many people who attended are not currently available, but will be added as they are obtained.