Eddie Bert: 'Musician of the Year'

Today is Eddie Bert's centenary. The trombonist was born May 16, 1922 and died in 2012. Eddie was an extraordinary musician, a solid swinger and a great guy. And if we're looking at East Coast and West Coast doppelgängers, then Eddie can be compared with Frank Rosolino in Los Angeles for his powerful and hungry improvisational lines, a seasoned approach and touches of wit. One of Eddie's most remarkable leadership albums was Eddie Bert: Musician of the Year, recorded for Savoy in 1955. [Photo above of Eddie Bert in the 1940s]

Joining Eddie on the album is Hank Jones (p), Wendell Marshall (b) and Kenny Clarke (d). What makes this album special is that there are really five musicians on the date. Joining Eddie was, well, Eddie. As he told me in a JazzWax interview in 2007, just months after I started this blog:

In 1955, I won Metronome magazine's Musician of the Year. Savoy’s head of A&R, Ozzie Cadena, called and asked if I wanted to do a date with two trombones. "Who’s the other trombone?" I asked. He said, "You. We’re going to overdub you." So I taught myself how to overdub and showed Rudy Van Gelder how I'd do it—playing the straight line first and then recording a second track over it that harmonized with the straight line. When the album came out, Jimmy Cleveland took a blindfold test and said it was J.J. and Kai at their best. That was funny.

Eddie started recording with Red Norvo in 1942 before moving on to Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Horace Henderson, Sam Donahue, Herbie Fields and Stan Kenton, in 1947. Not a bad five-year break-in experience. Eddie is on the first recording of Kenton's Interlude (1947), which Pete Rugolo scored for just the trombones and rhythm section. Benny Goodman's Capitol bebop band was next in 1948 and 1949. Eddie also was part of Gene Roland's Band That Never Was, a massive New York rehearsal orchestra between 1948 and '50 with Charlie Parker that was taped. Next came Artie Shaw in 1950 and Chico O'Farrill's Second Afro Cuban Jazz Suite and other Latin sessions for Verve in 1951, including Dance One, Bright One, Flamingo and Last One. [Photo above, from left, drummer Shelly Manne; trombonists Eddie Bert, Harry Forbes, Milt Bernhart, Harry Betts, Bart Varsalona; and trumpeter Conte Candoli in Stan Kenton's band in the fall of 1947]

Eddie began playing in small groups in 1952, as the 10-inch LP replaced the 78 and created new opportunities for musicians as ensemble leaders. These included Eddie's record dates with the Bill Harris Herd, Gil Melle's New Faces—New Sounds and Eddie's first leadership session in March 1952. There are no bad Eddie Bert recordings. [Photo above of Eddie Bert with Charlie Parker at one of Gene Roland's "Band That Never Was" rehearsals]

On Musician of the Year, Eddie's overdubbing is remarkable and paved new ground. Overdubbing became possible only with the emergence of magnetic tape in recording studios. Not easy to accomplish back then and no clear way to create the right harmony, since so little overdubbing had been done except, perhaps, for pop recordings by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Here's the entire album, featuring two Eddies with the Hank Jones Trio...

Here's Eddie with Eddie Safranski and the Poll Cats playing Sa-frantic in an early Atlantic date in 1947. On the session: Ray Wetzel (tp), Eddie Bert (tb), Art Pepper (as), Bob Cooper (ts), Pete Rugolo (p,arr), Eddie Safranski (b) and Shelly Manne (d)...

Here's Eddie in Stan Kenton's trombone section on Interlude in 1947...

Here's Eddie's trombone solo on June Christy's famed recording of How High the Moon with Stan Kenton in 1947...

Here's Eddie soloing on Benny Goodman's Undercurrent Blues in 1949...

Here's Chico O'Farrill's Last One in 1951. Talk about a knockout East Coast band: Al Porcino and Roy Eldridge (tp); Eddie Bert, Bill Harris, Ollie Wilson, Bart Varsalona (tb); Lenny Hambro and Charlie Kennedy (as); Flip Phillips (ts); Pete Mondello (ts,bar); Ralph Burns (p); Billy Bauer (g); Ray Brown (b) and Jo Jones (d), with Chico O'Farrill (arr,cond)...

Here's Eddie soloing on Hoot, a Ben Webster combo date from 1953 arranged by Johnny Richards...

Here's Eddie on Bobby Scott's Aunt Sarah in 1954, produced by Creed Taylor...

Here's Eddie playing and singing He Ain't Got Rhythm in 1954...

Here's Eddie with Coleman Hawkins on a mid-tempo rendition of Out of Nowhere in 1954. Eddie's solo follows the Hawk's. The personnel: Emmett Berry (tp), Eddie Bert (tb), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Billy Taylor (p), Milt Hinton (b) and Jo Jones (d)...

And here's Eddie's solo following Cecil Payne on a nifty Kenny Clarke-Ernie Wilkins date in 1955 before recording his Musician of the Year album. The band: Eddie Bert (tb), Ernie Wilkins (as,ts,arr), George Barrow (ts,bar), Cecil Payne (bar), Hank Jones (p), Wendell Marshall (b) and Kenny Clarke (d)...

Obviously, this is just the start of Eddie's fabulous discography, since he would play and record for many decades after.

To read my multipart interview with Eddie Bert in 2007, start here. There are four parts. To read the second, third and fourth parts, scroll above the red date for the link. This was one of my earliest interviews, when I just ran the subject in on a long narrative rather than a Q&A. It's also before I figured out how to embed images.