HARRY 'SWEETS' EDISON

Candid recording(s):

Biography:

Known in the jazz world as “Sweets,” for both his disposition and his playing ability, Harry Edison was a consummate big band section trumpeter. Additionally he was a skilled soloist who enhanced any date with the good fortune to have him onboard.

A self-taught musician, his earliest gig came in high school with the Earl Hood band. From 1933-1945 he played in the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra, a prominent territory band of the time. After moving to New York in 1937, he spent six months with Lucky Millinder’s band, until joining Count Basie later that year. It was with Basie that he truly began to distinguish himself, not only as a good team player in the trumpet section, but also as a distinctive soloist. Rarely a bandleader under his own name, he spent the bulk of his career working with singers and with big bands on the road and in the recording studio. Among these affiliations were: Buddy Rich; Josephine Baker; Benny Carter; Nelson Riddle Orchestra backing Frank Sinatra recording sessions; Pearly Bailey, Louie Bellson, Joe Williams, Illinois Jacquet; Woody Herman; and numerous others.

After leaving the Basie band he rejoined the Count on many subsequent occasions for the rest of his career. He worked as musical director for such artists as Redd Foxx, and Joe Williams, and collaborated with other soloists, such as his affiliations with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Oscar Peterson. Valued for his superb sense of dynamics, he carved out a beautiful trumpet style that was the sole of simplicity and good taste, so much so that artists such as Sinatra insisted that he be on their recording sessions. He also found a home in film and television soundtrack work.