“Eddie James,” really Edward James Flickinger, formed a big band after returning from service with the Army Air Forces during World War Two. His “Velvet Rhythm Orchestra” played the big rooms in Chicago and around the Midwest. For a time, big band music was Pop music. Ed had an MBA from University of Chicago, but made more money as a bandleader than he could in business in the years right after the war. He was educated, he was debonair, he was well-traveled, and the MC of every party he attended. Devoted to his wife Mary, they had fun wherever they went. He was a Renaissance man. We named our publishing company after him. He would have loved it.
