Billy Eckstine

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Billy Eckstine (8 July 1914 – 8 March 1993), born William Clerance Eckstein in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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 straightahead 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).

One of the most distinctive of all ballad singers, Eckstine, affectionately known as Mr. B., was both a pivotal figure in the history of jazz (because of his commitment to bebop) and the first black singer to achieve lasting success in the pop mainstream. After winning a talent contest in 1930 by imitating Cab Calloway, Eckstine sang briefly with Tommy Myles’ band, before returning to college. On the recommendation of composer and tenor saxophonist Buddy Johnson he joined Earl Hines’ band in 1939 as singer and occasionally playing trumpet and in turn encouraged Hines to sign up Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan. Eckstine’s recordings with the band include ‘Stormy Monday Blues’ and his own ‘Jelly Jelly’. 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, 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.

After a few years of touring with road hardend be-boppers, in 1947 Eckstine became a solo peformer. 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 one of the first signings to the newly established MGM Records and had immediate hits with revivals of ‘Everything I Have Is Yours’ (1947), Richard Rodgers’ and Lorenz Hart’s ‘Blue Moon’ (1948), and Duke Ellington’s, Irving Mills and Juan Tizol’s ‘Caravan’ (1949). He had further success in 1950 with Victor Young’s theme song to ‘My Foolish Heart’ and a revival of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit, ‘I Apologize’. However, unlike Nat ‘King’ Cole who followed him into the pop charts, Eckstine’s singing, especially his exaggerated vibrato, sounded increasingly mannered and he was unable to sustain his recording success throughout the decade.

His best record of the fifties was the thrilling duet with Sarah Vaughan, ‘Passing Strangers’, a minor hit in 1957, but a perennial hit in the U.K. Even before folding his band, Eckstine had recorded solo to support it, scoring two million-sellers in 1945 with ‘Cottage for Sale’ and a revival of ‘Prisoner of Love’. Far more successful than his band recordings, though more mannered and pompously sung, these prefigured Eckstine’s future career. Where before black bands had played ballads, jazz and dance music, in the immediate post-war years they had to choose.

Lacking an interest in the blues and frustrated by the failure of his big band, Eckstine, at first reluctantly, turned to ballads. Henceforth his successes would be in the pop charts. He even created a fashion craze with the Mr. B "roll" collar, popular with hipsters and gangsters alike. 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 he regulary topped the Metronome and Downbeat Polls, as the Top Male Vocalist of the era.

The classic 1960 live in Las Vegas 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, and he appeared on Motown for a few standards albums during the mid-'60s. After recording very sparingly during the '70s, for Al Bell's, Stax/Enterprise imprint, Eckstine although still performing to adoring audiences throughout the world, made his last recording, the Grammy nominated (Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter) in 1986.

He also made numerous appearances on television variety shows including, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Nat King Cole Show, The Tonite Show, with Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, The Art Linkletter Show, The Joey Bishop Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Flip Wilson Show, Playboy After Dark, and he also performed as an actor on occasion including, Sanford and Son, and movies Skirts Ahoy, Let's Do It Again, and Jo Jo Dancer.

Eckstine was an American jazz singer and bandleader who also played trumpet, valve trombone, and guitar. He also performed briefly as Billy X. Stine. His nickname was Mr. B. Although best known as a singer, his openness to new music made him a strong influence on modern jazz, particularly bebop, as he gave employment to many of the musicians who founded the style.

After singing with the Earl Hines band from 1939 to 1943 he led his own band from 1944 to 1947. The band featured at various times a large number of rising jazz stars, including:

• Saxophones: Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Lucky Thompson, Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray, Budd Johnson, Leo Parker
• Trumpets: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro
• Drums: Art Blakey
• Singers: Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan

Eckstine later formed an octet, then went solo, becoming a popular ballad singer while remaining an important figure in jazz. His huge, distinctive baritone made him one of the first African American singers to have mainstream success. He was the composer of the blues classic "Jelly, Jelly" and also recorded the R&B top hit "Stormy Monday Blues" in 1942 (not to be confused with T-Bone Walker's 1947 "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)"). Most of his success as a singer came with ballads, including "Everything I have is Yours", "Blue Moon", "Caravan," "Prisoner of Love," "You Go to My Head," and "That Old Black Magic". His last hit was "Passing Strangers", a duet with Sarah Vaughan released in 1957.

Eckstine was a style leader and noted sharp dresser. He designed and patented a high roll collar that formed a B over a Windsor-knotted tie, which became known as a Mr. B. Collar. In addition to looking cool, the collar expanded and contracted without popping open, which allowed his neck to swell while playing his horns. The collars were worn by many a hipster in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In 1984, Eckstine recorded his final album, I Am A Singer, featuring beautiful ballads arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo.

[edit] Selected discography

• 1950 Billy Eckstine Sings (Savoy)
• 1952 Tenderly (MGM)
• 1954 Blues for Sale (EmArcy)
• 1954 Favorites (MGM)
• 1954 I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (MGM)
• 1954 Songs by Billy Eckstine (MGM)
• 1954 The Great Mr. B (King)
• 1954 The Love Songs of Mr. B (EmArcy)
• 1955 I Surrender, Dear (EmArcy)
• 1955 Mister B with a Beat (MGM)
• 1955 Rendezvous (MGM)
• 1955 That Old Feeling (MGM)
• 1958 Billy's Best! (Mercury)
• 1958 Billy Eckstine's Imagination (EmArcy)
• 1958 Imagination (EmArcy)
• 1959 Basie and Eckstine, Inc. (Roulette)
• 1959 Billy and Sarah (Lion)
• 1960 No Cover, No Minimum (Roulette)
• 1960 Once More With Feeling (Roulette)
• 1961 At Basin St. East [live] (EmArcy)
• 1961 Billy Eckstine & Sarah Vaughan Sing Irving Berlin (Mercury)
• 1961 Billy Eckstine and Quincy Jones (Mercury)
• 1961 Broadway, Bongos and Mr. B (Mercury)
• 1962 Don't Worry 'bout Me (Mercury)
• 1964 12 Great Movies (Mercury)
• 1964 Modern Sound of Mr. B (Mercury)
• 1965 Prime of My Life (Motown)
• 1966 My Way (Motown)
• 1969 For Love of Ivy (Motown)
• 1971 Feel the Warm (Enterprise)
• 1971 Moment (Capitol)
• 1972 Senior Soul (Enterprise)
• 1974 If She Walked into My Life (Enterprise)
• 1978 Momento Brasiliero - (Portugese)
• 1986 Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter (Verve)
• 1994 Everthing I Have Is Yours - Anthology (Verve)
• 1995 I Apologize (Polydor)
• 2002 How High the Moon (Past Perfect)
• 2002 Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra (Deluxe)
• 2002 Stardust (Polydor)
• 2003 The Motown Years (Motown)
• 2004 Love Songs (Savoy)
• 2006 Timeless (Savoy)

[edit] Samples

• Download sample of "In the Still of the Night", a popular version of a Cole Porter song

[edit] External links

• http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/996/Billy_Eckstine_a_voice_of_distinction