Billy Eckstine

Icons, really?

Yeah, like Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, Count Basie.

Ann Patchett actually calls this book a tour de force.

And she points out a highly specific structural choice Randall made.

This World Series beginning today will be old stuff to fellas like Stengel, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron, Tony Kubek, Elston Howard, Whitey Ford, Art Ditmar, Bob Turley, and Bobby Shantz.

Sung by Pittsburgh's own Billy Eckstine-

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we're just getting set-

And the University of Pittsburgh band

... for our national anthem.

It will be sung by Billy Eckstine, a Pittsburgh native, and the University of Pittsburgh band.

[band playing] Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? [crowd cheering]

That was my girl.

Nancy Wilson, Dakota Staten, Billy Eckstine.

I was listening to all of them through my mother's music.

She had a very eclectic collection.

That cut was recorded July 7th, 1958, in Paris.

And this lovely lady was a featured singer in the bands of Earl "Fatha" Hines and Bill Eckstine.

She could also play the piano.

And right now we're going to give you music from my main man, Roy Hargrove.

Gardner being a very prominent pianist.

Refined under the tutelage of swing pioneer Mr. Chick Webb, Blakey spent the 1940s anchoring the elite big bands of Fletcher Henderson and Billy Eckstein.

Following a late 1940s trip to Africa, he adopted the Islamic name Abdullah ibn Buhaynah.

In 1955, he co-founded his definitive vessel known as the Jazz Messengers, alongside pianist Horace Silver, taking sole ownership the next year.

And thank you, God, for that and this fellowship.

Uh, you know, we tell our story in a general way what it used to be like, and, uh, and one of the days was one of those perfect days when I, a- as I said, I arrived, uh, yesterday, and I came early because I sponsored Skiver and know Billy for, for a lot of years, starting out in Los Angeles.

And this was a perfect day, uh, to, to be in your lovely city and this state.

I've been here before through the years.

And we went, we made one last run over to New York, uh, to this great jazz club with an opening up.

It was called Birdland.

And Billy Eckstine was gonna be the opening star that night.

And I remember we piled in the limos and, you know, we drove over there, and the next morning we came back.

Dolly Dawn and Her Dawn Patrol Boys, Brian Lawrence and His Lansdowne Orchestra, Roy Smeck and His Serenaders.

Plus, it was recorded later s- by actual luminaries like, uh, Bing Crosby, Billy Eckstine, uh, Billy Eckstine, sorry, Tony Bennett, Dinah Washington, Kay Starr, Joe Williams, Fats Domino, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Harptones.

Uh, anyway, I hope you enjoyed our version.

I now have a song written specifically for a movie Paramount Pictures did in 1938 The movie was called Give Me a Sailor, and it starred Bob Hope, Jim Whiting, Martha Raye, and Betty Grable.

know.

Cleo Lane, Nancy Wilson, Billy Eckstein, Cher, Shirley Bassey, Dionne Warwick, Brooke Benton, Kyle Jader, Armie McRae, Michael McDonald.

Hugo

Montenegro.

It was a pivot from a melodic mindset to an all-about-time perspective that would define the hard bop style.

While the big bands of Fletcher Henderson and Billy Eckstein were still pulling in crowds, Blakey was already experimenting on the floor with syncopated snare rolls that echoed gospel call and response.

The late 1940s saw a cultural collision.

the bebop movement was pushing harmonic complexity, while the rhythm and blues scene in Harlem was delivering raw emotional punch.