Billy Eckstine

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Billy Eckstine, around 1947
Photo: William P. Gottlieb

Billy Eckstine (born July 8, 1914 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania as William Clarence Eckstein , † March 8, 1993 ibid) was an American jazz singer and band leader who also played trumpet , trombone and guitar . He also appeared briefly as Billy X. Stine . His nickname was Mr. B. With his band Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra , he exerted a great influence on the development of modern jazz , especially on the emerging bebop .

Live and act

Billy Eckstine grew up in Washington, DC , attended Howard University and worked as a choir singer in local theaters and later in various small clubs. His career began when he won a local singing competition with an imitation of Cab Calloway . Another early role model was Herb Jeffries ; he also later took over titles from the repertoire of Russ Colombo ("Prisoner of Love",) and Bing Crosby ("I Surrender Dear", 1947). He played briefly in the big band of Tommy Myles , but initially continued his education. After a year he left the university for good.

His appearances took him further west to Chicago , where Budd Johnson recommended him to Earl Hines in 1939 ; this hired him in his Grand Terrace Orchestra as a singer and trumpeter; he had success with "Stormy Monday" and "Jelly, Jelly", with which he made significant contributions to the development of the black baritone school - a combination of post-Crosby singing with the blues . He was also able to get Earl Hines to bring the young talents Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan into the band.

After working in the Hines band until 1943, he first tried his hand at solo singing and then, on the advice of Dizzy Gillespies , founded his own band, which existed from 1944 to 1947 and in which many young musicians from the Hines band played . The band's major musicians include saxophonists Gene Ammons , Dexter Gordon , Lucky Thompson , Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray , Budd Johnson , Leo Parker , trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis , Kenny Dorham , Fats Navarro , drummer Art Blakey and the Singers Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan. In October 1945 he had the first of 28 hits on the Billboard charts with “A Cottage for Sale” .

Eckstine later formed an octet, performed solo, then became a popular ballad singer and was successful with titles such as A Cottage for Sale and Prisoner of Love . He is considered the first African American singer to be successful not only in the rhythm & blues charts , but also with a wide audience. In 1947 he got a record deal with the newly founded MGM label and that same year had a hit with Everything I Have is Yours by Burton Lane and Harold Adamson . He composed the blues classics Jelly, Jelly and, together with Earl Hines, the Stormy Monday Blues (1942). His greatest successes include recordings of Caravan (1949), My Foolish Heart (1950), I Apologize , No One But You and Gigi . At the beginning of the 1950s, its popularity declined; his last hit was Passing Strangers in a duet with Sarah Vaughan in 1957. After that, Eckstine often changed record labels and performed mostly live.

Eckstine always returned briefly to his jazz roots and recorded, besides Vaughan, also with Count Basie and Quincy Jones . On the live album from 1960, No Cover, No Minimum , Eckstine played a few trumpet solos, Bobby Tucker was a pianist. He then recorded several albums for the Mercury and Roulette labels ; in the mid-1960s he played a few titles on the Motown label. Only a few records were made in the 1970s; his last was the Grammy nominated album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter in 1986.

Eckstine is honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

Selection discography

  • 1946 Gloomy Sunday (Vogue, 1946/47)
  • 1950 Billy Eckstine Sings (Savoy)
  • 1952 Tenderly (MGM)
  • 1954 Blues for Sale (EmArcy)
  • 1954 Favorites , I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart , Songs by Billy Eckstine (MGM), The Great Mr. B (King), The Love Songs of Mr. B (EmArcy)
  • 1955 I Surrender, Dear (EmArcy), Mister B with a Beat (MGM), Rendezvous (MGM), That Old Feeling (MGM)
  • 1958 Billy's Best! (Mercury), Billy Eckstine's Imagination (EmArcy), Imagination (EmArcy)
  • 1959 Basie and Eckstine, Inc. (Roulette), Billy and Sarah (Lion)
  • 1960 No Cover, No Minimum (Roulette), Once More With Feeling (Roulette)
  • 1961 At Basin St. East [live] (EmArcy), Billy Eckstine & Sarah Vaughan Sing Irving Berlin (Mercury)
  • 1961 Billy Eckstine and Quincy Jones (Mercury), Broadway, Bongos and Mr. B (Mercury)
  • 1962 Don't Worry 'bout Me (Mercury)
  • 1965 Prime of My Life (Motown)
  • 1966 My Way (Motown)
  • 1969 For Love of Ivy (Motown)
  • 1971 Feel the Warm (Enterprise), Moment (Capitol)
  • 1972 Senior Soul (Enterprise)
  • 1974 If She Walked into My Life (Enterprise)
  • 1978 Memento Brasiliero - (Portuguese)
  • 1984 I Am a Singer (Kimbo)
  • 1986 Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter (Verve)

literature

  • Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs - 100 Years of American Popular Music - The Stories of the Creators and Performers . New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005
  • Will Friedwald : Swinging Voices of America - A Compendium of Great Voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-WIERT, 1992. ISBN 3-85445-075-3

Remarks

  1. ↑ Cf. Friedwald, p. 187. At this point he quotes Eckstine's negative attitude towards the blues: “ I hate the blues (titles), they are commercial. You can't do anything with it ”. In Friedwald's opinion, however, Eckstine returned to the blues with his later albums, such as Basie-Eckstine Inc. (1959 on Roulette Records ).

Web links

Commons : Billy Eckstine  - collection of images
personal data
SURNAME Eckstine, Billy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eckstein, William Clarence (maiden name); Mr. B (stage name); Stine, Billy X. (stage name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz singer and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, USA
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1993
Place of death Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, USA