Music
Eddie Jefferson
1918–1979 · jazz singer, lyricist
Pioneer of vocalese, the art of setting lyrics to jazz solos, who was shot and killed outside Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit in 1979.
- Born
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 60- Detroit years
- 1979
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Eddie Jefferson is credited as an innovator of vocalese, writing words to recorded jazz solos and singing them note for note. His lyric to James Moody's saxophone solo on "I'm in the Mood for Love" became "Moody's Mood for Love," a 1952 hit for King Pleasure, and his versions of Charlie Parker's "Parker's Mood," Miles Davis's "So What" and Horace Silver's "Filthy McNasty" became classics of the style. He worked often with Moody in the 1950s and 1960s and in the 1970s enjoyed a late revival with alto saxophonist Richie Cole. In May 1979 the Jefferson–Cole band opened a Detroit engagement at Baker's Keyboard Lounge on Livernois Avenue. Leaving the club with Cole at about 1:35 a.m. on May 9, Jefferson was shot and killed on the sidewalk. Police arrested a dancer he had once fired from a job; the man was charged with murder but acquitted at trial. The Manhattan Transfer honored Jefferson that year in their vocalese version of "Body and Soul."
Highlights
- Wrote the lyric for "Moody's Mood for Love" (1952 hit for King Pleasure)
- Vocalese versions of "Parker's Mood", "So What" and "Filthy McNasty"
- Toured with Richie Cole in the 1970s
- Killed outside Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, May 1979
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1979
Baker's Keyboard Lounge
Where the Jefferson–Cole band opened its Detroit engagement in May 1979; Jefferson was shot outside the club on May 9.