Single by Jimmy Reed

Vee-Jay Records is a record label founded in the 1950s, specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. It was owned and operated by African Americans.

History[link]

Vee-Jay was founded in Gary, Indiana, in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a husband-and-wife team who used their initials for the label’s name.^[1] Vivian's brother, Calvin Carter, was the label's A&R man. Ewart Abner, formerly of Chance Records, joined the label in 1955, first as manager, then as vice president, and ultimately, as president.

Vee-Jay quickly became a major R&B label, with the first song recorded making it to the top ten on the national R&B charts.

Notable artists[link]

Major acts on the label in the 1950s included blues singers Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, and John Lee Hooker, and rhythm and blues vocal groups The Spaniels, The Dells, and El Dorados. The 1960s saw the label became a major soul label with Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, Dee Clark, and Betty Everett putting records on both the R&B and pop charts. Vee-Jay were also the first to nationally issue a record by The Pips (by a master purchase from the tiny Huttom label of Atlanta), who became Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1962, when they moved to Fury Records.

Vee-Jay had significant success with rock and roll acts, notably The Four Seasons (their first non-black act) and The Beatles (Vee-Jay acquired the rights to some of the early Beatles recordings in a licensing deal with EMI in which the main attraction at the time was another EMI performer, Frank Ifield). In the mid 1960s Vee-Jay signed former successful child singer Jimmy Boyd of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus fame; Boyd was then twenty-five years old. The company even ventured into folk music with Hoyt Axton and New Wine Singers. The label also picked up Little Richard (who re-recorded his Specialty Records hits) and recorded (1965) the Soul Classic, "I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me)", an R & B success, with Jimi Hendrix, Don Covay, Bernard Purdie, Ronny Miller, and Billy Preston (before he became successful on his own).

Vee-Jay's jazz line accounted for a small portion of the company's releases, but recorded such artists as Wynton Kelly, Lee Morgan, Eddie Harris, and Wayne Shorter.^[2] The A&R for the jazz releases was Sid McCoy. The company also had a major gospel line, recording such acts as the Staple Singers, the Argo Singers, Swan Silvertones, and Maceo Woods.^[2] Vee-Jay even released comedy on LP, with records by Dick Gregory, and Them Poems, Mason Williams' early nightclub act, recorded with a studio audience in 1964.

Success[link]

Vee-Jay's biggest successes occurred in 1962-1964, with the ascendancy of the Four Seasons and the distribution of early Beatles material ("Please Please Me" b/w "From Me to You"and "Do You Want to Know a Secret, b/w "Thank You Girl" via Vee-Jay^[1] and "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You" and "Twist and Shout" b/w "There's a Place" via its subsidiary Tollie Records), because EMI's autonomous United States company Capitol initially refused to release Beatles records. Vee-Jay's releases were at first unsuccessful, but quickly became huge hits once the British Invasion took off in early 1964, selling 2.6 million Beatles singles in a single month. Cash flow problems caused by Ewart Abner's tapping the company treasury to cover personal gambling debts led to the company's active demise; Vee-Jay had been forced to temporarily cease operations in the second half of 1963, leading to royalty disputes with the Four Seasons and EMI. The Four Seasons then left Vee-Jay for Philips Records, and EMI's Capitol Records picked up the U.S. rights for both the Beatles and Frank Ifield.

Other Vee-Jay subsidiary labels included Interphon (which yielded the Top 5 hit "Have I the Right?" by another British group, The Honeycombs), and Oldies 45 for reissues along with Tollie and Abner Records, which was an early subsidiary label formed in 1958. Vee-Jay also did distribution for Ted Jarrett's Champion Records, Rick Hall's Fame Records, the Memphis label Goldwax Records and a time, Johnny Vincent's Ace Records.

Vee-Jay moved back to Chicago in 1965 after a year in Los Angeles. Liens were placed on Vee-Jay assets still in Los Angeles after legal action by Pye Records due to non-payment of royalties.^[3]

As Vee-Jay International[link]

Vee-Jay Records filed for bankruptcy in August 1966.^[4] The assets were subsequently purchased by label executives Betty Chiapetta and Randy Wood, who changed its name to Vee-Jay International. From 1967 to 1972, Vee-Jay was limited to selling some of the inventory on hand when the company went under, and leasing or licensing the Vee Jay masters to Buddah Records, who came out with "The First Generation" series, and Springboard International, who issued dozens of albums featuring Vee Jay material on their subsidiary label, Upfront.

In 1978, Vee Jay issued a Silver Anniversary catalog to commemorate the 25th birthday of the label. The catalog is an impressive slick-paper booklet with a silver cover. Inside are pictures of many of the artists, some history of the label, and photos of close to 200 different album covers with complete song titles listed.^[5]

As a disco label[link]

It revived under new management in 1982 as a disco and R&B label, but it closed down again in 1986.

Vee-Jay today[link]

Under the management of Michele Tayler, the company was reactivated in 1998 as The Vee-Jay Limited Partnership. Its main office is located in Redding, Connecticut.

Collectables Records has been remastering and reissuing Vee-Jay albums on audio CD since 2000. A compilation which contains a Best of Vee-Jay box set as well as individual "Best of the Vee-Jay Years" CDs is released by Shout! Factory.^[6]

See also[link]

• List of record labels
• Category:Vee-Jay Records albums
• Category:Vee-Jay Records artists

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Discography for Vee-Jay Records
• The Vee-Jay Story - Both Sides Now website

Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976)^[1] was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries. His lazy, slack-jawed singing, piercing harmonica and hypnotic guitar patterns were one of the blues' most easily identifiable sounds in the 1950s and 1960s,^[2] and had a significant impact on many rock and roll artists who followed, such as Elvis Presley, Billy Gibbons and the Rolling Stones.

Biography[link]

Reed was born in Dunleith, Mississippi in 1925, learning the harmonica and guitar from Eddie Taylor, a close friend. After spending several years busking and performing in the area, Reed moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1943 before being drafted into the US Navy during World War II. In 1945, Reed was discharged and moved back to Mississippi for a brief period, marrying his girlfriend, Mary "Mama" Reed, before moving to Gary, Indiana to work at an Armour & Co. meat packing plant. Mama Reed appears as an uncredited background singer on many of his songs, notably the major hits "Baby What You Want Me to Do", "Big Boss Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City".

By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician and joined the "Gary Kings" with John Brim, as well as playing on the street with Willie Joe Duncan. Reed failed to gain a recording contract with Chess Records, but signed with Vee-Jay Records through Brim's drummer, Albert King. At Vee-Jay, Reed began playing again with Eddie Taylor and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record. This was followed by a long string of hits.

Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; sometimes his wife had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while recording. In 1957, Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Reed and doctors assumed it was delirium tremens.^[3]

In spite of his numerous hits, Reed's personal problems prevented him from achieving the same level of fame as other popular blues artists of the time, though he had more hit songs than many others. When Vee-Jay Records closed down, Reed's manager signed a contract with the fledgling ABC-Bluesway label, but Reed was never able to score another hit.

In 1968 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival.^[2]

Jimmy Reed died in Oakland, California in 1976,^[1] of respiratory failure,^[4] eight days short of his 51st birthday. He is interred in the Lincoln Cemetery in Worth, Illinois.

In 1991 Reed was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Influence[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Rolling Stones have cited Reed as a major influence on their sound, and their early set lists included many of Reed's songs, including tracks like "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", "The Sun is Shining" (also played at the Stones' 1969 Altamont concert), "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Shame, Shame, Shame" ; the B-side of their February 1964 hit single "Not Fade Away" was a pastiche of "Shame, Shame, Shame" entitled "Little by Little". Their first album, released in April 1964, featured their cover of Reed's "Honest I Do".

The Yardbirds recorded an instrumental dedicated to him entitled "Like Jimmy Reed Again", which was released on the "definitive edition" of their album Having a Rave Up with The Yardbirds.

Van Morrison's group Them covered "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Baby, What You Want Me To Do", both of which can be found on The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison.

"Big Boss Man" was sung regularly by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan with the Grateful Dead during the 1960s and early 1970s and appears on their live album Skull and Roses. It was revived a few times by Jerry Garcia with the Dead during the 1980s. Bob Weir of the Dead also played it a few times with Kingfish in the mid 70s, and more recently with Ratdog. Phil Lesh also plays it with Phil & Friends. The Grateful Dead have also performed Baby What You Want Me to Do with Brent Mydland on vocals.

Elvis Presley recorded several of Reed's songs, scoring a 1967 hit with "Big Boss Man" and recording several performances of "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" for his 1968 Comeback TV Special. (However, Presley's 1964 hit, "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby" is a different song than that recorded by Reed.) The song "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" was also covered by Wishbone Ash on their 1972 live album, Live Dates. "Baby What You Want Me to Do" was also frequently performed by Etta James and Hot Tuna. Johnny and Edgar Winter performed the song live in 1975 and included it on Johnny and Edgar Winter Together.

Reed's recordings of "Big Boss Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City" were both voted onto the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Noted Austin, Texas musicians, Omar Kent Dykes and Jimmie Vaughan released an album entitled On the Jimmy Reed Highway as a tribute to Reed.^[5]

Bill Cosby covered 4 of Reed's songs – "Bright Lights, Big City", "Big Boss Man", "Hush Hush" and "Aw Shucks, Hush Your Mouth" – on his 1967 album Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings.

Steve Miller Band covered 5 of Reed's songs – "You're So Fine" on his 1968 album Sailor; "I Wanna Be Loved (But By Only You)", "Big Boss Man", "Caress Me Baby" and "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby" on his 1986 album Living in the 20th Century.

Neil Young historically plays Reed's music to his audience before his shows.

British punk pioneer Billy Childish and his band Thee Headcoats released an EP of Reed covers entitled The Jimmy Reed Experience on Get Hip Records in 1997.

Discography[link]

Charting singles[link]

^[6]

Selected albums[link]

See also[link]

• List of blues musicians
• List of people from Mississippi
• Soul blues
• Blues harp
• List of people with epilepsy

References[link]

External links[link]

• 1980 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
• Webpage with detailed biography and photographs
• Jimmy Reed at Find a Grave

Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli in 2010, with Linda November and Artie Schroeck
Background information
Birth name	Francis Stephen Castelluccio
Born	(1934-05-03) May 3, 1934 (age 78)
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Rock, Pop
Occupations	Vocalist
Years active	1953–present
Associated acts	The Four Seasons also known as The 4 Seasons The 4 Seasons featuring the "sound" of Frankie Valli The Wonder Who?

Frankie Valli (born May 3, 1934) is an American popular singer, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is well known for his unusually powerful falsetto voice.

Valli scored 29 Top 40 hits with The Four Seasons, one Top 40 hit under The Four Seasons' alias 'The Wonder Who?', and nine Top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of The Four Seasons, Valli's number one hits included "Sherry" (1962), "Big Girls Don't Cry" (1962), "Walk Like a Man" (1963), "Rag Doll" (1964) and "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" (1975). Valli's recording of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" reached number two in 1967. "You're Ready Now", a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in Great Britain as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number eleven on the British pop charts in December 1970. As a solo artist, Valli scored number one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" (1974) and "Grease" (1978).

Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio — the original members of The Four Seasons — were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990^[1] and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.^[2]

Early life[link]

Valli was born Francis Stephen Castelluccio in the First Ward of Newark, New Jersey. His father, Anthony Castelluccio, was a barber; His mother, Mary Rinaldi, was a homemaker.^[3][4] He was inspired to take up a singing career at the age of seven after his mother took him to see the young Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater in New York City.^[5] His early mentor was Texas singer Jean Valley, from whom he obtained his last name, although it took him some time to settle on the spelling "Valli".^[4] Until he could support himself with music, he worked as a barber.^[5]

As with many other celebrities, Valli's birth year has been called into question. Valli never addressed the issue himself, until the 2007 posting at the Official Frankie Valli Site, sponsored by his current record label, Universal Records. Much of the previous official publicity surrounding his career had used 1937 as the birth year. It is hard to tell when and why this occurred, but inference can be made that by chopping a few years off his age, he would seem more commercially viable to a younger audience. Other sources, such as the Bear Family Records release, entitled 'The Four Lovers' (BCD 15424), as well as a 1965 "mug shot", available through The Smoking Gun, all identify his year of birth as 1934.

Music career[link]

1950s – 1960s[link]

Valli began his professional singing career in 1951 with the Variety Trio (Nickie DeVito, Tommy DeVito and Nick Macioci). Valli's desire to sing in public was initially granted when, having heard Valli sing, the group offered him a guest spot when the group performed. In late 1952, the Variety Trio disbanded and Valli, along with Tommy DeVito, became part of the house band at The Strand in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For his part, Valli played bass and sang. He cut his first single, "My Mother's Eyes," in 1953 as "Frankie Valley," a name he adopted from "Texas" Jean Valley, a favorite female singer. Around this time, Valli and Tommy DeVito left the house band at The Strand and formed The Variatones with Hank Majewski, Frank Cattone and Billy Thompson. In 1956, as part of an audition backing a female singer, the group impressed New York record man Peter Paul, who had them auditioning at RCA Victor a week later. Renamed The Four Lovers, the group recorded several singles and one album's worth of tracks. They had a minor hit with "You're the Apple of My Eye" in 1956. Nickie DeVito and Hank Majewski left in 1958 to be replaced by Nick Macioci (now Nick Massi) and Hugh Garrity. Massi was in and out of the group, and, occasionally Charles Calello joined on accordion. The group continued to perform until 1959, when Bob Gaudio became a member. After a few more changes, the group was renamed "The 4 Seasons" in 1960.^[6][7][8][9]

As the lead singer of The Four Seasons, he had a string of hits beginning with the number one hit "Sherry" in 1962. As a footnote to this period of Frankie's career with The Four Seasons, the group's bassist and vocal arranger Nick Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charlie Calello, the group's instrumental arranger, and, then shortly thereafter, Charlie was replaced by Joseph LaBracio, who went by the pseudonym Joe Long.

During the 1960s, Gaudio and his then songwriting partner, producer Bob Crewe (born Stanley Robert Crewe on November 12, 1931), worked with Valli to craft solo recordings with varying degrees of success. This concept of a major recording artist performing solo in opposition to his or her own group performances was new to the rock/pop world and may have given tacit approval to other groups and members of other groups to pursue such a path. The potential to dominate the charts with group and solo recordings was great, and Valli, Gaudio and Crewe occasionally rose to the occasion with both great performances and commercial hits. Valli was the original artist to record the Gaudio-Crewe composition "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", a performance that was copied nearly note for note when recorded by The Walker Brothers, an American group based in England. The Walker Brothers version was a huge success. Valli continued to record solo performances and finally reached major success with the release of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Though it only reached number two in the charts, the song itself was widely recorded by many other artists.

Valli's debut solo album was a gathering together of various single releases and a few new recordings. Prior to the release of Valli's second solo album, a single was released in July 1967 with the A-side "I Make A Fool Of Myself," a record that reached number 18. 'Timeless,' Valli's second solo album release was more coherent and Valli took more time in recording it. 'Timeless' contains one Top 40 hit, "To Give (The Reason I Live)."

Finally, Valli ended the '60s with a string of recordings that were included in the Valli/Four Seasons album 'Half & Half' or released as various singles. The only hit to emerge at this time was the recording of "The Girl I'll Never Know (Angels Never Fly This Low)," reaching number 52.

1970s to the present[link]

"You're Ready Now", a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in Great Britain as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number eleven on the British pop charts in December 1970.

In 1975, Valli's single "My Eyes Adored You" hit number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. In the same year, he also had a number 6 Billboard hit with the disco-laden "Swearin' To God", while a further UK Chart success came with "Fallen Angel" written by Guy Fletcher & Doug Flett and produced by Bob Gaudio; Valli was in the UK charts with this at the same time as The Four Seasons enjoyed a UK hit with "Silver Star" on which Valli did not appear.

In 1976, Valli covered the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

In 1978, Valli sang the theme song for the film version of the stage play, Grease, a song written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, which became a number 1 hit. He had two further chart successes the following year, "Save Me, Save Me" in November 1978, which entered the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and "Fancy Dancer" in January 1979, which entered the pop charts.^[4]

Valli suffered from otosclerosis in the 1970s, forcing him to "sing from memory" in the latter part of the decade. Surgery restored most of his hearing by 1980.^[10]

In 1992, a new Four Seasons album was released entitled Hope and Glory.

In 2005, the Broadway musical Jersey Boys opened on the "Great White Way". Besides performances of many of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons hit recordings, the musical features a biographical narrative, told as four separate points of view by each of the members of The Four Seasons (Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio). The musical dramatizes several real-life incidents from Valli's life, including his estrangement from his daughter Francine, who died in 1980. The show was widely acclaimed, financially successful, and won six Tony awards. The musical has touring companies around the world, as well as a version at The Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas.

In October 2007, Valli released Romancing the 60s, an album containing covers of his favorite songs from the 1960s, two of which he had previously recorded. Those songs were "Sunny" and "Any Day Now".^[5]

In October 2010, a duet version of "The Biggest Part of Me" by Frankie Valli and Juice Newton was released on Newton's album Duets: Friends & Memories.

Acting career[link]

Valli made several appearances in Seasons 5 and 6 of the HBO series The Sopranos as mobster Rusty Millio.

Philanthropic activities[link]

Valli has been a supporter of heritage-related causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2006, he received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala. In 2008, NIAF presented a scholarship in his name to an Italian American music student during the Foundation's East Coast Gala.

Discography[link]

Singles:

Studio Albums[link]

For albums recorded as part of The Four Seasons, see Discography of The Four Seasons

Many of Valli's solo recordings, recorded before 1975 were recorded with the participation of one or more of The Four Seasons.

Compilations and Misc. Four Seasons Albums with Frankie Valli "Solo" Songs[link]

• 04/1970: Half & Half - Philips PHS 600-341 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; five tracks by The 4 Seasons)
• 05/1972: Chameleon - MoWest MW108L (two tracks by Frankie Valli; seven tracks by The Four Seasons)
• 12/1975: Valli Gold - Private Stock PS 2001
• 04/1978: Frankie Valli Hits - Private Stock PS 7012
• 12/1979: Very Best Of Frankie Valli - MCA 3198
• 08/1980: Superstar Series Volume 4 - Motown M5-104V1 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; four tracks by The Four Seasons)
• xx/1988: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 25th Anniversary Collection - Rhino Records Inc RNRD 72998-2 (twelve tracks by Frankie Valli; forty-two tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
• xx/1990: Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons volume 2 rarities - Rhino Records Inc R2 70924 (two tracks by Frankie Valli; sixteen tracks by The Four Seasons)
• xx/1994: FRANKIE VALLI SOLO TIMELESS 2LPs ON 1 CD + BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 538
• xx/1996: THE 4 SEASONS FRANKIE VALLI HALF & HALF PLUS 6 BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 635 (eight tracks by Frankie Valli; eight tracks by The Four Seasons)
• 07/1996: FRANKIE VALLI GREATEST HITS - Curb Records D2-77714
• 05/2001: IN SEASON THE FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS ANTHOLOGY - Rhino/Warner Special Products R2 74266 OPCD-5508 (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirty-seven tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
• 06/2007: ...Jersey Beat... The Music Of FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS - Rhino R2 74852 3 CDs + 1 DVD (thirteen tracks by Frankie Valli; sixty-three tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?) (DVD contains two solo performances by Frankie Valli and ten group performances by The Four Seasons)
• 04/2008: The Four Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo - Timeless - collector's choice Music CCM-927
• 04/2008: Closeup - Valli - collector's choice Music CCM-928 (this CD contains a longer version of "Swearin' To God" than the original album release of 02/1975. This version clocks in at 10:35. Also, the tracks "Can't Get You Off My Mind" and "Easily" have been edited down from their original album lengths.)
• 04/2008: Our Day Will Come - Lady Put the Light Out - collector's choice Music CCM-929
• 04/2008: Frankie Valli Is the Word - Heaven Above Me - collector's choice Music CCM-930
• 05/2008: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: The Motown Years - Hip-O Select.com Motown A Universal Music Company B0010777-02 2 CDs (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirteen tracks by The Four Seasons)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Biography at Starpulse.com
• Frankie Valli interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).[1]

v t e The Four Seasons Frankie Valli Tommy DeVito Bob Gaudio Nick Massi Charles Calello Joe Long Albums Sherry & 11 Others (1962) The 4 Seasons Greetings (1962) Big Girls Don't Cry and Twelve others (1963) The 4 Seasons Sing Ain't That a Shame and 11 Others (1963) Golden Hits of the 4 Seasons (1963) Chameleon (1972) Who Loves You (1975) The Very Best of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (2002) Singles "Sherry" "Big Girls Don't Cry" "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" "Walk Like A Man" "Ain't That a Shame" "Candy Girl" "New Mexican Rose" "Dawn (Go Away)" "Stay" "Ronnie" "Rag Doll" "Alone (Why Must I Be Alone)" "Save It for Me" "Sincerely" "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" "Big Man in Town" "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" "Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)" "Since I Don't Have You" "Girl Come Running" "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" "Let's Hang On!" "Don't Think Twice" "Working My Way Back to You" "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me)" "On the Good Ship Lollipop" "I've Got You Under My Skin" "The Proud One" "Tell It to the Rain" "Beggin'" "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" "C'mon Marianne" "Lonesome Road" "Watch the Flowers Grow" "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" "You've Got Your Troubles (I've Got Mine)" "My Eyes Adored You" "Our Day Will Come" "Who Loves You" "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" "Silver Star" "Grease" Related topics Discography Members Albums Songs The Four Lovers The Wonder Who? Bob Crewe Jersey Boys Ces soirées-là Book:The Four Seasons

Eddie Harris (October 20, 1934 – November 5, 1996)^[1] was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ. His best-known compositions are "Freedom Jazz Dance", recorded and popularized by Miles Davis in the 1960s ^[1] and "Listen Here".

Biography[link]

Harris was born and grew up in Chicago. His father was originally from Cuba, and his mother from New Orleans. Like other successful Chicago musicians, such as Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Clifford Jordan, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Julian Priester, and Bo Diddley (among others), young Eddie Harris studied music under Walter Dyett at DuSable High School. He later studied music at Roosevelt University, by which time he was proficient on piano, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. While in college, he performed professionally with Gene Ammons.

After college, he was drafted into the United States Army and while serving in Europe, he was accepted into the 7th Army Band, which also included Don Ellis, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton.

Leaving military service, he worked in New York City before returning to Chicago where he signed a contract with Vee Jay Records. His first album for Vee Jay, Exodus to Jazz included his own jazz arrangement of Ernest Gold's theme from the movie Exodus. A shortened version of this track, which featured his masterful playing in the upper register of the tenor saxophone, was heavily played on radio and became the first jazz record ever to be certified gold.^[2]

The single climbed into the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached #16 in the U.S. R&B chart. Some jazz critics,^[who?] however, regarded commercial success as a sign that a jazz artist had sold out and Harris soon stopped playing "Exodus" in concert. He moved to Columbia Records in 1964 and then to Atlantic Records the following year where he re-established himself. In 1965, Atlantic released The In Sound, a bop album which won back many of his detractors.

Over the next few years, he began to perform on electric piano and the electric Varitone saxophone,^[1] and to perform a mixture of jazz and funk which sold well in both the jazz and rhythm and blues markets. In 1967, his album The Electrifying Eddie Harris reached second place on the R&B charts. The album's lead track, "Listen Here" was issued as a single, climbing to #11 R&B and #45 on the Hot 100. Harris released several different versions of his composition over the years, including both studio and live concert recordings.

In 1969, he performed with Les McCann at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Although the musicians had been unable to rehearse, their session was so impressive that a recording of it was released by Atlantic as Swiss Movement. This became one of the best-selling jazz albums ever, also reaching second place on the R&B charts.^[3]

Harris also came up with the idea of the reed trumpet, playing one for the first time at The Newport Jazz Festival of 1970 to mostly negative critical feedback. From 1970 to 1975, he experimented with new instruments of his own invention (the reed trumpet was a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece, the saxobone was a saxophone with a trombone mouthpiece, and the guitorgan was a combination of guitar and organ), with singing the blues, with jazz-rock (he recorded an album with Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck, Albert Lee, Ric Grech, Zoot Money, Ian Paice and other rockers). He also started singing and to perform comic R&B numbers like "That is Why You're Overweight" and "Eddie Who?".

In 1975, however, he alienated much of his audience with his album The Reason Why I'm Talking S--t, which consisted mainly of stand-up comedy. Interest in subsequent albums declined. He was a member of Horace Silver's Quintet in the early 1980s, and continued to record regularly well into the 1990s, sometimes in Europe where he enjoyed a loyal following, but his experimentation ended and he mainly recorded hard bop. He had moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, and was responsible for much of the music on the hit TV series, The Bill Cosby Show.

Harris died in hospital in Los Angeles from bone cancer and kidney disease, at the age of 62.^[4]

References in pop culture[link]

Harris was name-checked in the Beastie Boys song "So What'cha Want," with the lyrics stating: "Plug me in just like I was Eddie Harris."

Discography[link]

Albums

• 1961: Exodus to Jazz (Vee-Jay)
• 1961: Mighty Like a Rose (Vee-Jay)
• 1961: Jazz for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (Vee-Jay)
• 1962: A Study in Jazz (Vee-Jay)
• 1962: Eddie Harris Goes to the Movies (Vee-Jay)
• 1963: Bossa Nova (Vee-Jay)
• 1963: Half and Half (Vee-Jay)
• 1964: For Bird and Bags (Exodus) - also released as Sculpture (Buddah)
• 1964: Cool Sax, Warm Heart (Columbia)
• 1964: Here Comes the Judge (Columbia)
• 1965: Cool Sax from Hollywood to Broadway (Columbia)
• 1965: The In Sound (Atlantic)
• 1966: Mean Greens (Atlantic)
• 1967: The Tender Storm (Atlantic)
• 1968: The Electrifying Eddie Harris (Atlantic)
• 1968: Plug Me In (Atlantic)
• 1968: Pourquoi L'Amérique - soundtrack (AZ)
• 1968: Silver Cycles (Atlantic)
• 1969: High Voltage (Atlantic)
• 1969: Swiss Movement (Atlantic) - with Les McCann
• 1969: Free Speech (Atlantic)
• 1970: Come on Down! (Atlantic)
• 1970: Live at Newport (Atlantic)
• 1970: Smokin' 1970 Janus Records
• 1971: Second Movement (Atlantic) - with Les McCann
• 1972: Love...From A Horn 1972 Harmony
• 1971: Instant Death (Atlantic)
• 1972: Eddie Harris Sings the Blues (Atlantic)
• 1966-73: Excursions (Atlantic)
• 1974: E.H. in the U.K. (Atlantic)
• 1974: Is It In (Atlantic)
• 1974: I Need Some Money (Atlantic)
• 1975: Bad Luck Is All I Have (Atlantic)
• 1975: That Is Why You're Overweight (Atlantic)
• 1975: The Reason Why I'm Talking S--t 1976 (Atlantic)
• 1976: How Can You Live Like That? (Atlantic)
• 1978: I'm Tired of Driving RCA
• 1979: Playin' With Myself RCA
• Sounds Incredible 1981 AFE Records
• The Versatile Eddie Harris 1981 (Recorded 1976) (Atlantic)
• The Real Electrifying Eddie Harris 1982 Ubiquity Records
• Eddie Who? 1986 Timeless Records
• People Get Funny 1987 Timeless Records
• Live in Berlin 1989 Timeless Records
• Live at the Moonwalker 1990 Moonwalker Label (Suisa)
• A Tale of Two Cities 1991 Virgin Japan
• There Was a Time - Echo of Harlem 1991 Enja
• For You For Me For Everyone 1992 Steeplechase
• Yeah You Right 1993 Lakeside
• Listen Here 1993 Enja
• Vexatious Progressions 1994 Flying Heart Records
• The Battle of the Tenors 1994 with Wendell Harrison
• 1995: Dancing by a Rainbow (Enja)
• All The Way-Live (Recorded 1981) 1996 Milestone Records with Jimmy Smith
• The Last Concert CD 1997; with WDR Big Band

Compilations

• The Best of Eddie Harris 1970 (Atlantic)
• Black Sax 1975 GNP Crescendo Records
• Exodus: The Best of the Vee-Jay Years 2005 Charly Records

References[link]

External links[link]

• Allmusic
• MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music
• Eddie Harris Official Web Site
• Eddie Harris Illustrated Discography