Like Taylor Hicks, Cleve Eaton is an artist who began his musical career early. He was playing his mother’s piano at the age of 5. By the time he was 15, he had taken up the saxophone, trumpet, tuba and string bass.
His talent was nurtured in an intensely musical family. He played in a jazz ensemble at Tennessee A&I State University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music. He moved to Chicago and landed tours with the major jazz bands of Larry Novak, Ramsey Lewis and a 17-year stint with the legendary Count Basie when he was dubbed the “Count’s Bassist.”
And like Taylor Hicks, he found the road to be a “devil in disguise” or “no bed of roses.”
“Music is a business like any other,” he says, “and being on the road is no bed of roses. We’d finish recording an album in the studio and get right back on the bus, heading out for another tour. I went for years without a vacation.
“One time, I played 10 different countries in 10 days. Catching those 5 a.m. flights, having to exchange your currency every time you turn around—those parts of being on the road, I don’t miss at all.”
His ten years with the Ramsey Lewis Trio brought 4 gold singles including “Hang on Sloopy,” and “Wade in the Water.” He has played on recordings on almost all genres with the greatest musical stars of our time: jazz with John Klemmer and Bunky Green, R&B with the Dells and Bobby Rush, Pop with Minnie Riperton, Jerry Butler and Rotary Connection, Big Band with Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstein, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and many more.
In 1974, Mr. Eaton began touring with his own group, Cleve Eaton and Co. which became Cleve Eaton and the Alabama All-Stars in 2004.
In the late 1990s he spent a time teaching music at the University of Alabama as creator and conductor of the UAB Jazz Ensemble.
He is an Alabama native, born in Fairfield, a suburb of Birmingham. He has been honored
with induction into the Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham, the Playboy Jazz Poll, Canada's Cultural Enhancement Award and the Achievement Award at the Count Basie Tribute Concert. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2008, the same year that Taylor Hicks was given that organization’s America’s Music Award.
Cleve Eaton on the red carpet at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Awards Gala in 2008.
Cleve Eaton and the Jazz All-Stars entertain at Ore Drink and Dine in Birmingham for Sunday Brunch from 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
When Ore Drink and Dine was The Open Door Café, Cleve Eaton often played a gig there. So did a young, relatively unknown musician, Taylor Hicks, whose friend owned the Open Door.
With a long history at the location, it is no wonder that American Idol Taylor Hicks came back to The Open Door, bought it with partners, and opened Ore.
And Mr. Eaton still entertains there.
Ore Drink and Dine was honored recently by Birmingham Magazine as Birmingham’s Best New Restaurant. Ore’s retro chic industrial décor and Southern eclectic menu celebrates the history of the Magic City. It has received rave reviews for fine cuisine and drink, relaxed atmosphere, and live music.
Check out one of Birmingham’s Best restaurants and one of its legendary musicians!
Follow ORE on Twitter @ORE4747
http://twitter.com/#!/ORE4747
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Sources:
http://www.alamhof.org/cleveeaton.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Eaton
http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=49269
If you have been to Ore, feel free to give us more information or pictures on Twitter!
Taylor Hicks and Executive Chef Joey Dickerson at Ore Drink and Dine.
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