Eddie Heywood

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Eddie Heywood performing at the Three Deuces , New York, circa May 1946.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Edward "Eddie" Heywood junior (born December 4, 1915 in Atlanta , Georgia , † January 2, 1989 in North Miami ) was an American jazz pianist and composer of swing , who was very popular with his sextet in the 1940s.

Live and act

His father Eddie Heywood senior was the pianist of a vaudeville band in the 1920s and taught him from 1923. He occasionally played in his father's band in Atlanta, accompanying Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith in the late 1920s . Heywood then played in New Orleans, 1932 with Wayman Carver and with Clarence Love from 1934 to 1937 in Kansas City. In 1938 he moved to New York , where he played in clubs in Harlem. In 1939/40 he was with Benny Carter . As a resident pianist in the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village and leader of a trio, he accompanied the singers. In 1943 he recorded with Coleman Hawkins (" The Man I Love ") and founded (under the influence of John Hammond ) his own sextet with Doc Cheatham , Vic Dickenson and Lem Davis , which played in the Café Society in Greenwich from 1943 ("The biggest little band in the land "). In 1944 they had their only hit (# 16) in the Billboard Top 30 with “Begin the Beguine” . In the same year he accompanied Billie Holiday ( The Complete Commodore Recordings ) with his band . Until 1947 they were very successful and played a. a. with Bing Crosby and in two films ("The Dark Corner", "Junior Prom").

From 1947 to 1950 he was unable to work as a musician because his hands were partially paralyzed. In 1951 he again had his own trio. He increasingly played light music and composed. In 1956 he had a hit with his composition "Canadian Sunset", played by the Hugo Winterhalter orchestra . Other hits from his pen were "Land of Dreams" and "Soft Summer Breeze". With the income from "Canadian Sunset" he settled in Martha's Vineyard and composed there a. a. the tone poem "Portrait of Martha's Vineyard". In the 1960s he was again handicapped by paralysis, this time due to Parkinson's disease , but continued to play from 1971 until the early 1980s. In 1974 he was at the Newport Jazz Festival .

Heywood has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

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personal data
SURNAME Heywood, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heywood, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlanta , Georgia, USA
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1989
Place of death North Miami , Florida, USA