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Eddie Costa

Eddie Costa was an American jazz pianist and vibraphonist born in Atlas, Pennsylvania, now based in Pittsburgh. He recorded on vibraphones with pianist Bill Evans. One notable recording with Bill Evans was "Guys and Dolls Like Vibes", now reissued as "Bill Evans and Eddie Costa, Complete Quartet" on CD.

Costa emerged from an unlikely background into a heralded — if too brief — career in jazz. Born in a rural coal mining town, Costa studied piano with his brother Bill and developed a taste for the swing greats; later, exposure to Bud Powell turned him to bop. Self-taught on vibes, Costa became known as an excellent sight reader, which produced a lot of studio work. On piano, his trademark sound was the emphasis of the middle and lower registers while nearly ignoring the top two octaves.

In addition to recording as a sideman with Tal Farlow, Woody Herman, Johnny Smith, the Bob Brookmeyer-Clark Terry Quintet, and Bill Evans, Costa led his own trio and quintet dates. Sadly, most of Costa's recorded output remains unavailable on CD, with the notable exception of the VSOP reissue of his Quintet LP.

Eddie Costa died in an accident when his car careened off of a busy New York's Westside Highway on July 28, 1962, cutting short a very promising career. Like Clifford Brown, Eddie's another jazz man who left the stage at too young an age.


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Album Review

Eddie Costa: Guys and Dolls Love Jazz

Read "Guys and Dolls Love Jazz" reviewed by Craig Jolley


In retrospect it's hard to see how or why this record was made in the days before CD's as calling cards. Eddie Costa had little name recognition, and what fame he enjoyed was on piano, his primary instrument. The material--cute boy-meets-girl tunes written in subservience to 1950's-clever lyrics--does not lend itself to jazz interpretation. [A couple of the songs have since become standards after being overhauled by Miles Davis and Oscar Peterson.] Costa as a sometime studio musician probably had ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Eddie Costa Quintet

VSOP Records
1995

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In Their Own Sweet Way

Repertoire Records
1962

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Guys and Dolls Love...

Verve Music Group
1958

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Repertoire Records
0

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