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Harry "Sweets" Edison

Harry "Sweets" Edison is an NEA Jazz Master

Harry "Sweets" Edison is one of the few players in the history of jazz trumpet who could be instantly identified after only a few notes; along with Bobby Hackett, he was acknowledged as one of the few master trumpet accompanists.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky to live with his uncle. It was his uncle who first exposed Edison to music, first teaching him to play a pump organ. Edison later found an old cornet in the house and taught himself scales. He cited early exposure to recordings of Louis Armstrong backing up Bessie Smith as important influences on his playing.

When he was eleven Edison almost died from typhoid fever. A year later his mother took him back to Columbus, Ohio, and bought a new horn for Edison, at considerable expense. He soon joined a local band led by Earl Hood. In 1933 he joined the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra and moved with the band to St. Louis, where he worked for two years. Tab Smith, A visiting alto player, heard him, and recommended Edison to Lucky Millinder, who led a top rank band in New York. Edison joined Millinder, whose band included trumpet giant Charlie Shavers, pianist Billy Kyle and the tenor saxophonist Don Byas.

After stints with the Millinder band, Edison was hired in 1937 to replace Bobby Moore in Count Basie's band. It was with Basie's band that Edison reportedly earned the nickname "Sweets" from Lester Young. (Together with the outstanding trumpet soloist Buck Clayton, Edison recorded more than 50 of Basie's records from this period.) It was also during this period that Edison became friends with Billie Holiday, then the bands vocalist. Basie broke the band up for a spell in 1950.

In 1952, Edison moved to California, where he established himself as a stalwart studio musician and first call trumpet soloist for the influential arranger Nelson Riddle. He would record with Sinatra for six years, and fill similar roles on recordings Bing Crosby, Billy Daniels, Nat Cole, Margaret Whiting, Jerry Lewis and Ella Fitzgerald, and played on many film soundtracks. (His commercial work and the studio pension system provided him $800 a week for the rest of his life, giving him a great deal of prosperity later in life.)

During this time, Edison also led his own band in Los Angeles, and toured with Norman Granz's all-star Jazz at the Philharmonic unit. During the Fifties he recorded frequently with Shorty Rogers' Giants. He played in the bands led by Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson, plus frequent guest appearances with the Basie band.

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Liner Notes

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Video / DVD

Harry Edison: The Swinger

Harry Edison: The Swinger

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Trumpeter Harry “Sweets" Edison is perhaps best known for providing chrome-tinged obbligatos behind jazz-pop singers. His muted trumpet can be heard playing tightly wound touches on the albums of singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. When they paused between verses, arrangers had Edison fill the space. At times, he mirrored the vocalist's phrasing before disappearing back into the band. But Edison was much more than a colorist or sideman. He recorded a wealth of leadership albums that provide ...

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Video / DVD

Another Cause for Celebration: Harry "Sweets" Edison

Another Cause for Celebration: Harry "Sweets" Edison

Source: Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson

While October 10th is rightly honored for the birth of Thelonious Monk, I want to celebrate another jazz musician who shares his birthdate, trumpeter Harry “Sweets" Edison. Edison was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1915, and spent part of his childhood in Kentucky, where an uncle introduced him to music. As a teenager, he played trumpet in local bands in Columbus. “Sweets" joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937 and stayed for 13 years. One can hear the Basie influence ...

John DePaola
trumpet
Filippo Bianchini
saxophone, tenor
Lex French
trumpet

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Live At Fabrik Vol. 1

Jazzline Classics
2023

buy

Going For Myself...

RST Records
2012

buy

Like Basie

Mighty Quinn Productions
2006

buy

Sweets

Verve Music Group
2005

buy

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