“Mr. Swing”  Harry “Sweets” Edison  Verve Records   I admit it.  I love Sweets!  Can’t get enough.  Illustration by David Stone Martin.  Here’s a classic Sweets Edison.  This and the Verve album “The Swinger”, both recorded during the same 1958 session has tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest joining Edison in the quintet’s frontline while pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Joe Benjamin, drummer Charlie Persip, and rhythm guitarist Freddie Greene make up the rhythm section. (You can get both LP’s on a single Verve CD.)  Edison (who died of prostate cancer on July 27, 1999, at 83 years of age) was one of the acknowledged masters of swing trumpet.  His trumpet was a recognizable voice in the Count Basie Orchestra from 1938 until it broke up in 1950.  During that period, he was featured on many records, appeared in the 1944 short “Jammin’ the Blues” and gained his nickname “Sweets” (due to his tone) from Lester Young.  In the 1950s, Edison toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, settled in Los Angeles, and was well-featured both as a studio musician (most noticeably on Frank Sinatra records) and on jazz dates. He had several reunions with Count Basie in the 1960s and by the ’70s was often teamed with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis; Edison also recorded an excellent duet album for Pablo with Oscar Peterson. One of the few swing trumpeters to be influenced by Dizzy Gillespie, Sweets led sessions through the years for Pacific Jazz, Verve, Roulette, Riverside, Vee-Jay, Liberty, Sue, Black Blue, Pablo, Storyville, and Candid among others. Although his playing faded during the 1980s and ’90s, Edison could still say more with one note than nearly anyone.

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