Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
An advanced stylist on alto saxophone who vacillated throughout his career between jump blues and jazz, bald-pated Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (he lost his hair early on after a botched bout with a lye-based hair-straightener) also possessed a playfully distinctive vocal delivery that stood him in good stead with blues fans.
Vinson first picked up a horn while attending high school in Houston. During the late '30s, he was a member of an incredible horn section in Milton Larkins's orchestra, sitting next to Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet. After exiting Larkins' employ in 1941, Vinson picked up a few vocal tricks while on tour with bluesman Big Bill Broonzy. Vinson joined the Cootie Williams Orchestra from 1942 to 1945. His vocals on trumpeter Williams' renditions of "Cherry Red" and "Somebody's Got to Go" were in large part responsible for their wartime hit status.
Vinson struck out on his own in 1945, forming his own large band, signing with Mercury, and enjoying a double-sided smash in 1947 with his romping R&B chart-topper "Old Maid Boogie" and the song that would prove his signature number, "Kidney Stew Blues" (both songs featured Vinson's instantly identifiable vocals). A 1949-1952 stint at King Records produced only one hit, the amusing sequel "Somebody Done Stole My Cherry Red," along with the classic blues "Person to Person" (later revived by another King artist, Little Willie John).
Vinson's jazz leanings were probably heightened during 1952-1953, when his band included a young John Coltrane. Somewhere along about here, Vinson wrote two Miles Davis classics, "Tune Up" and "Four." Vinson steadfastly kept one foot in the blues camp and the other in jazz, waxing jumping R&B for Mercury (in 1954) and Bethlehem (1957), jazz for Riverside in 1961 (with Cannonball Adderley), and blues for Blues Time and ABC-BluesWay. A 1969 set for Black & Blue, cut in France with pianist Jay McShann and tenor saxophonist Hal Singer, beautifully recounted Vinson's blues shouting heyday (it's available on Delmark as Old Kidney Stew Is Fine). A much later set for Muse teamed him with the sympathetic little big-band approach of Rhode Island-based Roomful of Blues. Vinson toured the States and Europe frequently prior to his 1988 death of a heart attack.
© Bill Dahl /TiVo
Artistes similaires
-
Blues In The Night, Vol. 1: The Early Show (Live)
Etta James, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Blues - Paru chez Fantasy Records le 1 janv. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues In The Night Vol. 2: The Late Show
Etta James, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Jazz - Paru chez Fantasy Records le 1 janv. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kidney Stew (The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions)
Jazz - Paru chez Disques Black & Blue le 1 janv. 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues In The Night, Vol. 1: The Early Show (Live At Marla's Memory Lane Supper Club, Los Angeles, CA / May 30-31, 1986)
Etta James, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Blues - Paru chez Fantasy le 1 janv. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Meat's Too High - Blues, Boogie & Bebop
Jazz - Paru chez JSP Records le 1 janv. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oscar Peterson + Harry Edison + Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Oscar Peterson, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Jazz - Paru chez Pablo le 1 janv. 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kidney Stew Is Fine
Blues - Paru chez Delmark Records le 1 janv. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cleanhead's Back in Town
Blues - Paru chez Bethlehem Records le 1 sept. 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
You Can't Make Love Alone
Jazz - Paru chez Gulf Coast Records le 21 août 1971
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Original Cleanhead
Blues - Paru chez ACE RECORDS le 1 janv. 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Rare Blues Grooves
Brown McGhee, Jay McShann, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez LRC Ltd. - Groove Merchant Records le 1 janv. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Redux (Live at the Keystone Korner)
Be Bop - Paru chez Savant le 17 juin 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Midnight Creeper
Funk - Paru chez Good Time Records le 20 août 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Greatest Hits
Be Bop - Paru chez Master Classics Records le 1 janv. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Just a Dream (Timeless Blues)
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Dinah Washington, Professor Longhair
Blues - Paru chez Redlobstar le 30 sept. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo