Harry "Sweets" Edison was born on October 10, 1915, and died on July 27, 1999. He was an American jazz trumpeter who played with the Count Basie Orchestra. His most well-known work was as a Hollywood studio musician. He used a muted trumpet to help singers, especially Frank Sinatra.

Biography

Edison was born in Columbus, Ohio, United States. He lived in Louisville, Kentucky during his early childhood, where his uncle taught him about music. When he was twelve years old, he moved back to Columbus. There, he began playing the trumpet with local music groups.

In 1933, Edison joined the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra in Cleveland. Later, he played with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and Lucky Millinder. In 1937, he moved to New York and became a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. His fellow musicians included Buck Clayton, Lester Young (who gave him the nickname "Sweets"), Buddy Tate, Freddie Green, Jo Jones, and other original members of that famous band. In 1956, Edison talked with DownBeat magazine’s Don Freeman about how he got his nickname:

"Sweets" Edison became well-known for playing solo performances with the Basie Band and for writing music for the group. He also appeared in the 1944 film Jammin' the Blues.

Edison worked with Basie for thirteen years until the band was temporarily stopped in 1950. After that, he led his own music groups, performed with Jazz at the Philharmonic, and played with other orchestras. In the early 1950s, he moved to the West Coast and became a highly requested studio musician. He helped record music for artists like Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billy Daniels, Margaret Whiting, Bing Crosby, and Ella Fitzgerald. In 1956, he recorded the first of three albums with Ben Webster. He worked closely with arranger Nelson Riddle, who gave Edison a microphone that was separate from the rest of the trumpet section. Edison used a Harmon mute to play his solos and obbligatos. As Will Friedwald wrote in his 2018 book Sinatra! The Song is You, "Edison was especially skilled at expressing a lot with only a few notes, and most of his parts on Sinatra records consisted of just a few well-placed notes."

According to the Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies, Edison continued to work with many orchestras on television shows, including Hollywood Palace and The Leslie Uggams Show, and in specials with Frank Sinatra. He was prominently featured in the soundtrack and soundtrack album of the film Lady Sings the Blues. From 1973, Edison served as Musical Director for Redd Foxx during theater performances, concerts, and in Las Vegas. He performed often in Europe and Japan until shortly before his death. He was the first Tribute Honoree of the Los Angeles Jazz Society.

Edison died from prostate cancer at his home in Columbus, Ohio, at the age of 83.

Discography

• Buddy and Sweets (Norgran, 1955) with Buddy Rich
• Pres and Sweets (Norgran, 1955) with Lester Young
• Sweets (Clef, 1956)
• Gee, Baby Ain't I Good to You (Verve, 1957) with Ben Webster
• Jazz Giants '58 (Verve, 1958) with Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan
• Going for Myself (Verve, 1958) with Lester Young
• The Swinger (Verve, 1958)
• Mr. Swing (Verve, 1958 [1960])
• Harry Edison Swings Buck Clayton (Verve, 1958) with Buck Clayton
• Sweetenings (Roulette, 1958)
• Patented by Edison (Roulette, 1960)
• Together (Roulette, 1961) with Joe Williams
• Jawbreakers (Riverside, 1962) with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
• Wanted to Do One Together (Columbia, 1962) with Ben Webster
• "Sweets" for the Sweet (Sue, 1964)
• Sweets for the Sweet Taste of Love (Vee-Jay, 1964)
• When Lights Are Low (Liberty, 1966)
• The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (Pablo, 1974) with Big Joe Turner, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and Clark Terry
• Oscar Peterson and Harry Edison (Pablo, 1974) with Oscar Peterson
• Oscar Peterson and the Trumpet Kings – Jousts (Pablo, 1974) with Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and Clark Terry
• Edison's Lights (Pablo, 1976)
• Simply Sweets (Pablo, 1978) with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
• Just Friends (Pablo, 1978 [1980]) with John Haley Sims
• Meeting in Stockholm (Beaver Records, 1985) with Claes Crona
• Oscar Peterson + Harry Edison + Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (Pablo, 1986) with Oscar Peterson and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
• For My Pals (Pablo, 1988)

With Duke Ellington with Johnny Hodges
With Frank Sinatra and Count Basie