Billy Eckstine, Singer, 1914, Pittsburgh, Pa
While Eckstine is known as a singer and bandleader, he actually began his musical career as a trumpet player. Music was not his first choice as a career, it was football. A broken collar bone convinced him to switch to music as a career. As a singer he worked his way to Chicago in 1939, where he went to work in Earl Hine's band. He remained with Hines until 1943 where he again took up the trumpet in addition to singing. From 1944 to 1947 Billy led an unsuccessful but now highly acclaimed bop big band. In 1949-50 Billy turned to a career as a solo singer, becoming the country's most popular vocalist. This gained him a lucrative 5-year contract with MGM. Billy accentuated his good looks with an extremely sharp wardrobe. The wide shirt collars he favored came to be known as "Mr. B. collars". Duke Ellington remembered a competition that developed between Eckstine and himself. Although his popularity faded from the early 50's, he continued to fill major night-clubs in this country and in Europe for several decades. Eckstine's achievements were inconsistant: On the one hand he supported young avant-garde jazz musicians, on the other he sang conservative popular ballads. He was instrumental in bringing Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan into Hine's band. While with Hines he recorded a blues hit,"Jelly,Jelly", in 1940. He also introduced new songs (such as "Skylark") over network radio. For his own band, Billy hired many exceptional young musicians who were destined to become famous jazz stars. However, the bands experimental bop sounds were never really stressed, and most of it's recordings were romantic ballads featuring Eckstine's strong, baritone. In the 1950s Billy developed his nightclub routine, in which he sang lovely ballads, did impersonations, performed soft-shoe dances and also played trumpet.
Ken Hanna, Trumpet, 1921, Baltimore, Md
While studying music at the Peabody Conservatory, Ken played the trombone and also wrote arrangements for local bands in the Baltimore area. Later, he did a great deal of work for Stan Kenton's orchestra, beginning in the early '40s. After military service, Ken again worked for Kenton in the late 40's as an arranger and also as a trumpeter. Hanna also wrote charts for Charlie Barnet during the late 40's, and worked as a freelance arranger in Los Angeles. In the mid 50's he became a record distributor. During the 1970s he worked for Kenton for the last time. He wrote arrangements, led workshops, and conducted the orchestra during Kenton's illness in 1972. Ken Hanna died in 1982.
