Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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ECKSTINE, Billy

(b 8 July '14, Pittsburgh PA; d there 8 March '93) Singer; also played trumpet, valve trombone, guitar. Singer/emcee in clubs, then sang with Earl Hines band '39--43: with tenor sax/arr. Budd Johnson infl. Hines to hire people like Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan. Went solo, then with Johnson led a big band '44--7 that was ahead of its time: those passing through incl. Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Fats Navarro, Lucky Thompson, Lena Horne as well as Parker and Vaughan; arr. by Johnson, Tadd Dameron, others. This was a superb and inflential band, transitional from swing to bop: e.g., 'Good Jelly Blues' starts with a figure later used by Charlie Parker in his intro to 'All The Things You Are', while in the second chorus the reeds play the tune later called 'High On An Open Mike'; on 'Blowing The Blues Away' there's an exciting chase between Ammons and Gordon; on that track and others Gillespie is heard at a transition between his time with Cab Calloway and his imminent maturity. They were a bunch of brilliant young people having the time of their lives, but not enough people were listening; there were few commercial recordings because of union disputes and big bands were going out of business (see Big Band Era). Compilations incl. Mr. B. And Band on Savoy, also Together '45 on Spotlight (Armed Forces network broadcasts). Eckstine briefly led an octet, then took his big, warm voice and jazz-infl. ballad style to market and had hits on MGM '49--52 incl. top tens 'My Foolish Heart', 'I Apologize', 'I Wanna Be Loved'. He became a much-loved American institution, playing clubs in Nevada, tours of Europe, Australia annually, Asia often, entertaining US troops. Gigs with bands incl. Maynard Ferguson, Duke Ellington '66. Reissues from various Polygram labels have incl. Imagination and Jazz 'Round Midnight, also At Basin Street with Quincy Jones; No Cover, No Minimum came from Roulette. A two-disc compilation on Verve Everything I Have Is Yours '85 incl. '47--57 tracks: MGM hits, tracks with Sarah, others with Metronome All-Stars, some with the excellent Bobby Tucker on piano, his mus. dir. for many years: it generated a profile of Mr B. on a CBS News programme and reminded everybody just how good he was. Billy Eckstine Sings With Benny Carter '87 on Emarcy with guest Helen Merrill was nominated for a Grammy '88.