Harry "Sweets" Edison, TrumpeterBorn: October 10, 1915
Died: July 27, 1999
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Harry "Sweets" Edison was an American jazz trumpeter who gained his nickname "Sweets" (due to his tone) from Lester Young.
A trumpeter with a most distinctive style featuring bent-note effects and some trademark phrases and mute work, Harry "Sweets" Edison was associated with the Count Basie band from 1937 until it broke up in 1950. His rich and personal horn sound then found a home in the Hollywood studios.
He spent his early childhood in Kentucky, where he was introduced to music by an uncle. After moving back to Columbus at the age of 12, the young Edison began playing the trumpet with local bands.
In 1933, he became a member of the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra in Cleveland. Afterwards he played with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and Lucky Millinder. In 1937 he moved to New York and joined the Count Basie Orchestra. His colleagues included Buck Clayton, Lester Young, Buddy Tate, Freddie Green, Jo Jones, and other original members of that famous band. "Sweets" Edison came to prominence as a soloist with the Basie Band and as an occasional composer/arranger for the band. He also appeared in the 1944 film "Jammin' The Blues".
Harry "Sweets" Edison - Dirty Butt Blues (preview)
Edison spent 13 years with Basie until the band was temporarily disbanded in 1950. Edison thereafter pursued a varied career as leader of his own groups, traveling with Jazz at the Philharmonic and freelancing with other orchestras. In the early 1950s, he started working in the West Coast studios with Benny Carter, Nelson Riddle, Axel Stordahl and Lionel Newman; and also making important contributions to recordings by such artists as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.
He had several reunions with Count Basie in the 1960s and by the '70s was often teamed with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis; Edison also recorded an excellent duet album for Pablo with Oscar Peterson. One of the few swing trumpeters to be influenced by Dizzy Gillespie, Sweets led sessions through the years for
Pacific Jazz, Verve, Roulette, Riverside, Vee-Jay, Liberty, Sue, Black & Blue, Pablo, Storyville, and Candid among others.
Harry "Sweets" Edison - Willow Weep for Me
In the '70s, Edison participated in many tours withEddie "Lockjaw" Davis and (Benny) Carter, as well as appearing at festivals and concerts with Lionel Hampton and others.
His style, modeled after his hero Louis Armstrong,
became somewhat leaner in his later years but remained very original.
Harry "Sweets" Edison died July 27, 1999, at age 83.
He was twice the Los Angeles Jazz Society's Tribute Honoree - in 1983 and in 1992.
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Sources:
Audio track above, quoted from the album:
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