Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
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Biography
Known for his prematurely bald head and scratchy, wheezing vocals, Eddie âCleanheadâ Vinson refused to be confined to either the jazz or the blues world. Vinson was born in Houston, Texas, on December 18, 1917, and got his professional start playing alto saxophone in the late 1930s in Milton Larkinâs orchestra. After a quick stint with blues singer Big Bill Broonzy, Vinson added vocals to his repertoire, which came in handy when he joined the Cootie Williams Orchestra and sang lead on the songs âSomebodyâs Got to Goâ and âCherry Redâ, which were popular during World War II.
He launched his own band in 1945, and landed hits with âOld Maid Boogieâ and âKidney Stone Bluesâ for Mercury Records. A subsequent stint with King Records was less successful, but served as a stepping stone for his gradual transition to jazz, which began in the early 1950s, when his band included a young John Coltrane. He delivered his first LP as a leader in 1957, Clean Headâs Back in Town, which featured a number of his own songs as well as versions of tunes by George and Ira Gershwin, Louis Jordan, and Big Joe Turner. He also composed a pair of songs later recorded by Miles Davis: âTune Upâ and âFourâ. He easily pivoted between big band blues and jazz through the rest of his career, and he was featured on recordings alongside the likes of T-Bone Walker, Cannonball Adderley, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Etta James. He recorded and performed until his death from a heart attack on July 2, 1988.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- I Took The Front Door In (I Took The Back Door Out)
- Teach Me Tonight by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- Stuffy by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- Only Women Bleed by Etta James
- Queen Bee (Blues)
- Non-Alcoholic
- Back at the Chicken Shack
- The Clean Machine
- Tenderly
- Somebody's Got To Go
- Person to Person
- I Need You Tonight
- Broadway by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- Everything Happens To Me by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- This One's For Jaws by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- I'm Gonna Wind Your Clock
- Satin Doll by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- C Jam Blues
- What's New by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- Now's the Time
- Slooow Drag by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- Laura
- He's Got The Whole World In His Hand by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson
- Kindney Stew
