Sweets Edison
Harry "Sweets" Edison (actually Debonair Harry Edison ; born October 10, 1915 in Columbus , Ohio ; † July 27, 1999 there ) was an American jazz trumpeter .
Life
Edison spent his childhood in Kentucky, where an uncle introduced him to music. In 1927 he moved back to Columbus, where he began playing the trumpet in local bands as a teenager. In 1933 he became a member of the Jeter Pillar Orchestra in Cleveland , then the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and in 1937 the band of Lucky Millinder , and then from 1937 to 1950 the Orchestra of Count Basie . There he was nicknamed Sweets by Lester Young because of his playing style and his relaxed manners. He performed as a soloist in the basie band (he can also be seen and heard in the 1944 film Jammin 'the Blues ). He also arranged and composed occasionally for the band.
After the band's temporary breakup in 1950, he played in his own groups, performed with Jazz at the Philharmonic and became a sought-after studio musician on the west coast (especially in Los Angeles ) (often working with arranger Nelson Riddle ) who was based on recordings by Frank Sinatra , Bing Crosby , Nat King Cole , Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday ( Music for Torching ) and many movie soundtracks. He also played with Benny Carter and recorded albums with Ben Webster . Occasionally he played again in the Count Basie Orchestra (1958) as well as with Quincy Jones , Louie Bellson , Buddy Rich and more often with the Shorty Rogers Giants . With Eddie Lockjaw Davis he played the album Jawbreakers in 1960 . In the 1960s he played for television shows (including three years in the Hollywood Palace Show ), accompanied appearances by Joe Williams and Sinatra. He can be heard in the soundtrack of the 1972 film Lady sings the blues, directed by Sidney J. Furie with Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. From 1973 worked as musical director for performances by the comedian Redd Foxx. In the 1970s he played with Benny Carter and Lionel Hampton . Until shortly before his death he also performed frequently in Europe and Japan. He died of prostate cancer in his Columbus home.
Edison was a swing trumpeter with a sometimes hard-gripping, sometimes ingratiating tone, who played melodic-rhythmically accented and limited to the “essentials” and often achieved a very personal sound with the use of mutes (harmon-mute).
Discographic notes
- Complete Sweets at The Haig ( Fresh Sound , 1953) with Benny Carter , Jimmy Rowles , Bob Lawson , Arnold Ross , Alvin Stoller
- Pres & Sweets (Verve 1955) with Lester Young , Oscar Peterson , Herb Ellis , Ray Brown , Buddy Rich ,
- Buddy and Sweets (1955) with Buddy Rich
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces Vol. 5 (Pablo, 1955)
- Complete Midnight and Riverside Sessions (Lonehill Jazz, 1955/56) with Benny Carter , Charlie Shavers , Urbie Green , Willie Smith , Coleman Hawkins , Peanuts Hucko , Plas Johnson , Earl Warren , Billy Butterfield , Milt Hinton , Osie Johnson
- Sweets ( Verve / Clef 1956) with Ben Webster , Jimmy Rowles , Barney Kessel
- Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You (Verve, 1957) with Ben Webster
- Blues for Basie (Verve 1957) with Ben Webster , Oscar Peterson , Barney Kessel , Ray Brown , Alvin Stoller ,
- Jawbreakers (OJC, 1962) with Eddie Lockjaw Davis
- Ben and "Sweets" (1962) with Ben Webster
- Oscar Peterson and Harry Edison (Pablo 1974)
- Just Friends (Black & Blues 1975) with Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Gerry Wiggins , Major Holley , Oliver Jackson
- Edison's Lights (Pablo - 1976) with Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Count Basie , John Heard
- Copenhagen 1976 (Storyville, 1976) with Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Kenny Drew , Hugo Rasmussen
- Simply Sweets (Pablo 1977) with Eddie Lockjaw Davis
- Meeting in Stockholm (Beaver 1985) with Claes Crona
- There'll Never Be Another You (Mustache 1986) with Hendrik Meurkens , Torsten Zwingenberger
- Oscar Peterson with Harry Edison and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (1986)
- For My Pals ( Pablo , 1986) with Tootie Heath
- Live at the Iridium (Telarc, 1997) with Clark Terry , Frank Wess , Junior Mance
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 4th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
- Wolf Kampmann (Ed.), With the assistance of Ekkehard Jost : Reclams Jazzlexikon . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010528-5 .
- Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 1: A – L (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16512). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16512-0 .
Web links
- Discography and biography ( memento of December 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), English
- Sweets Edison at Allmusic (English)
- Obituaries
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Edison, sweets |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Edison, Debonair Harry (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz trumpeter |
DATE OF BIRTH | October 10, 1915 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Columbus , Ohio |
DATE OF DEATH | July 27, 1999 |
Place of death | Columbus |