George E. Lee

{{other people||George Lee (disambiguation){{!}}George Lee}}

George Ewing Lee (April 28, 1896–October 2, 1958) was an American jazz bandleader.

Born in Boonville, Missouri, Lee was the older brother of pianist/singer Julia Lee. He played in a band while serving in the Army in 1917; following this, he sang in a vocal quartet, and in 1920, he formed an ensemble of his own. With his sister as one of the group's members, he was a regular player at Lyric Hall in Kansas City through much of the 1920s. In 1927, they recorded as an octet, with Jesse Stone on piano, for Meritt Records; among the tunes was "Down Home Syncopated Blues," the earliest recording of Julia Lee's voice. They recorded six tunes for Brunswick in 1929.{{cite web |title=George E. Lee and his Novelty Singing Orchestra|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/george-e-lee-and-his-novelty-singing-orchestra/|website=Red Hot Jazz Archive |date=30 November 2020 |access-date=30 November 2020 }}

In 1933, Lee's group was absorbed into the Bennie Moten Orchestra. In 1935, he struck out on his own again; he moved to Jackson, Michigan, in 1940, retired from music in 1941, and began managing a nightclub in Detroit in 1942. Later in the 1940s, he moved to San Diego, where he died on October 2, 1958.{{Cite web|url=http://pendergastkc.org/article/biography/george-e-lee|title=George E. Lee|website=The Pendergast Years|date=20 February 2018|access-date=2018-03-05}}