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Billy Eckstine. William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) [1] was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. [2]
Jul 7, 2014 · Along with his vocals, Eckstine played trumpet in the Hines orchestra, and he was interested in the new sound some of his bandmates were experimenting with in late night jam sessions.
- 3 min
- Tom Vitale
Aug 23, 2021 · Eckstine didn’t imitate Holiday’s mercurial rhythmic shifts and unusual inflections; his vocals sounded more like studied compositions, ornamented with his faultless vibrato, which industry figures called the widest in the business.
Mar 10, 1993 · His suave and sensuous sounds came to national attention in 1939 when he joined the big band of pianist Earl (Fatha) Hines. Those were the first great days, with hit after hit, mostly ballads:...
Nov 26, 2020 · To today’s ears, Eckstine’s singing sounds overly sugary except when he sang the blues, but in the 1940s he was very much in the vanguard of pop singing along with Bob Eberle, Tony Martin and Duke Ellington’s male singer of the time, Herb Jeffries.
Jul 8, 2022 · But chief among these baritones was “Mr. E” Billy Eckstine. Eckstine’s popularity as a vocalist and bandleader in the 1940s reverberated throughout popular music.
Dizzy Gillespie, in reflecting on the band in his 1979 autobiography To Be or Not to Bop places it in perspective: “There was no band that sounded like Billy Eckstine’s. Our attack was strong, and we were playing bebop, the modern style. No other band like this one existed in the world.”
