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Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson

From the days in the mid-1930s when he was a teenaged singer and saxophonist in the Houston band of Chester Boone, Cleanhead had his own way with the blues. He was good enough as a young man to tour with blues artists Big Bill Broonzy and Lil Green and then to join trumpeter Cootie Williams’s band. In the Forties he infused his alto with bebop and led his own big band and a sextet that included John Coltrane, who was influenced by Vinson’s expansive style. His “Cherry Red” with Williams made him popular for a while, but it wasn’t until Cannonball Adderley created new exposure for Vinson in the early Sixties that he began to be noticed again by large numbers of people. Through the Seventies and Eighties he made several albums that were critical and commercial successes. Vinson was born on 8 December 1917, Houston, Texas. Taking up the alto saxophone as a child, his proficiency at the instrument attracted local bandleaders even while young Vinson was still at school, and he began touring with Chester Boone's territory band during school holidays. Upon his graduation in 1935, Vinson joined the band full-time, remaining when the outfit was taken over by Milton Larkins the following year. During his five-year tenure with the legendary Larkins band he met T-Bone Walker, Arnett Cobb, and Illinois Jacquet, who all played with Larkins in the late 30s. More importantly the band's touring schedule brought Vinson into contact with Big Bill Broonzy, who taught him how to shout the blues, and Jay "Hootie" McShann's Orchestra whose innovative young alto player, Charlie Parker, was "kidnapped" by Vinson for several days in 1941 in order to study his technique. After being discovered by Cootie Williams in late 1941, Vinson joined the trumpeter's new orchestra in New York City and made his recording debut for OKeh Records in April 1942, singing a solid blues vocal on "When My Baby Left Me,” with the Williams orchestra. Vinson also recorded for Hit Records (1944), Capitol Records, (’45)before leaving to form his own big band in late 1945 and recording for Mercury Records. At Mercury he recorded small-group bop and blasting band instrumentals, but his main output was the fine body of suggestive jump-blues sung in his unique wheezy Texas style. Hits such as "Juice Head Baby," "Kidney Stew Blues," and "Old Maid Boogie," were the exceptions, however, as most of Vinson's no-holds-barred songs, including "Some Women Do," "Oil Man Blues," and "Ever- Ready Blues", were simply too raunchy for airplay.

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Album Review

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: Kidney Stew Is Fine

Read "Kidney Stew Is Fine" reviewed by Nic Jones


Although he started out exclusively as an alto saxophonist in the ranks of Milt Larkins' band back in the late 1930s, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson was both an accomplished horn player and a blues shouter, more in the manner of Jimmy Witherspoon than Big Joe Turner.

This date was recorded in France right at the end of the 1960s and originally appeared in LP form on the Black & Blue label. It's the only occasion when the talents of Vinson, pianist ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Kidney Stew Is Fine

Delmark Records
2007

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Cleanhead's Back In...

Repertoire Records
2001

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Cleanhead and...

Unknown label
1990

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Midnight Creeper

Repertoire Records
1989

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The Real "Mr....

Repertoire Records
1989

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Cleanhead & Cannonball

Repertoire Records
1988

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