Sarah Vaughan plays the piano as Duke Ellington and Billy Eckstine look on, circa 1950. The Newark, NJ-born Ms. Vaughan studied piano as a child and went on to win first prize at the Apollo Theater’s famous Amateur Night competition. Billy Eckstine was in the audience that night and before long, Ms. Vaughan would sing with Mr. Eckstine in his band. Her recording of “The Duke Ellington Songbook, Vol. 1 and 2,” is still unmatched for its beauty and brilliance. Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns.
Billy Eckstine adjusting his tie while his wife June applies lipstick at a dressing table in their Manhattan apartment on April 11, 1950. The photo was taken by Martha Holmes, one of the first female staff photographers at LIFE magazine.
Billy Eckstine and Lena Horne captured by the iconic photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris at the Loendi Club in Pittsburgh, October 1944. Photo: Carnegie Museum of Art.
what can i say about mr. b a.k.a. billy eckstine? i wanted to include his rendition of the standard “everything i have is yours” in this clip but frankly, it was too much work. you can hear a snippet of it here but really only a full-length version of his work will do.
his style, his sex appeal, and his vibrato remain unparalleled (well, his frequent singing partner sarah vaughan could hold her own in the vibrato category but you get where i’m going with this). it seems to me that the only males of the jazz world we celebrate are the instrumentalists, composers, and arrangers but the singers were pretty amazing too.
if i’ve whet your appetite head over to wnyc.org and listen to a segment of the show “soundcheck” entitled: “60 years before Obama there was Mr. B.”
summary: Once more popular than Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, singer Billy Eckstine stole the show with sex appeal, sophistication and black machismo - all in an era of segregation. Music critic David Hajdu joins us to share Eckstine’s tragic story, which appears in his new book, Heroes and Villains: Essays on Music, Movies, Comics and Culture.
Billy Eckstine: with his wife June and getting a hug from a fan.
VBG Men: Nat “King” Cole and Billy Eckstine performing “Little Rosetta” on the last Nat “King” Cole Show on December 17, 1957.
