Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big band, then as the first romantic Black male in popular music. An influence looming large in the cultural development of soul and R&B singers from Sam Cooke to Prince, Eckstine was able to play it straight on his pop hits "Prisoner of Love," "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Washington, D.C., Eckstine began singing at the age of seven and entered many amateur talent shows. He had also planned on a football career, though after breaking his collar bone, he made music his focus. After working his way west to Chicago during the late '30s, Eckstine was hired by Earl Hines to join his Grand Terrace Orchestra in 1939. Though white bands of the era featured males singing straight-ahead romantic ballads, Black bands were forced to stick to novelty or blues vocal numbers until the advent of Eckstine and Herb Jeffries (from Duke Ellington's Orchestra).
Though several of Eckstine's first hits with Hines were novelties like "Jelly, Jelly" and "The Jitney Man," he also recorded several straight-ahead songs, including the hit "Stormy Monday." By 1943, he gained a trio of stellar bandmates -- Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan. After forming his own big band that year, he hired all three and gradually recruited still more modernist figures and future stars: Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, and Art Blakey, as well as arrangers Tadd Dameron and Gil Fuller. The Billy Eckstine Orchestra was the first bop big-band group, and its leader reflected bop innovations by stretching his vocal harmonics into his normal ballads. Despite the group's modernist slant, Eckstine hit the charts often during the mid-'40s, with Top Ten entries including "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love." On the group's frequent European and American tours, Eckstine also played trumpet, valve trombone, and guitar.
Though he was forced to give up the band in 1947 (Gillespie formed his own bop big band that same year), Eckstine made the transition to string-filled balladry with ease. He recorded more than a dozen hits during the late '40s, including "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." He was also quite popular in Britain, hitting the Top Ten there twice during the '50s -- "No One But You" and "Gigi" -- as well as several duet entries with Sarah Vaughan. Eckstine returned to his jazz roots occasionally as well, recording with Vaughan, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones for separate LPs, and the 1960 live LP No Cover, No Minimum featured him taking a few trumpet solos as well. He recorded several albums for Mercury and Roulette during the early '60s (his son Ed was the president of Mercury), and he appeared on Motown for a few standards albums during the mid-'60s. After recording very sparingly during the '70s, Eckstine made his last recording (Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter) in 1986. He died of a heart attack in 1993.
© John Bush /TiVo
-
No Cover No Minimum
Jazz - Editado por Parlophone UK el 30 ago. 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Once More With Feeling (2003 Remaster)
Jazz - Editado por Parlophone UK el 1 ene. 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Now Singing in 12 Great Movies
Jazz - Editado por Verve el 1 ene. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
At Basin Street East
Jazz vocal - Editado por Verve Reissues el 21 mar. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Everything I Have Is Yours / The Best Of The MGM Years
Jazz - Editado por Verve el 7 mar. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billy Eckstine Sings With Benny Carter
Jazz - Editado por Verve Reissues el 1 ene. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Sing The Best Of Irving Berlin
Jazz - Editado por Verve Reissues el 1 ene. 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Savoy Sessions: Mister B. And The Band
Jazz - Editado por Savoy el 1 ene. 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Classics of Mr. B (Remastered)
Jazz - Editado por Master Tape Records el 10 oct. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verve Jazz Masters 22: Billy Eckstine
Jazz - Editado por Verve el 1 ene. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sing to Me Like a 50's Gentleman
Sammy Davis, Jr., Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Billy Eckstine
Crooners - Editado por Music Manager el 6 ago. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billy Eckstine's Imagination
Jazz - Editado por Verve Reissues el 27 dic. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Basie/Eckstine Inc (1994 Remaster)
The Count Basie Orchestra, Billy Eckstine
Jazz - Editado por Parlophone UK el 1 ene. 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Legendary Big Band
Jazz - Editado por Savoy el 10 sept. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Timeless: Billy Eckstine
Jazz - Editado por Savoy el 16 jul. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
At Basin Street East
Varios - Editado por Vinyle Numérique el 21 mar. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stormy / Feel The Warm
Lounge - Editado por FANTASY RECORDS el 1 ene. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Irving Berlin Songbook
Jazz vocal - Editado por Vinyle Numérique el 9 sept. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
If She Walked Into My Life
Jazz - Editado por Craft Recordings el 1 ene. 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo