Edwin Leon Chamblee (February 24, 1920 – May 1, 1999), known as Eddie "Long Gone" Chamblee, was an American

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and

alto saxophonist The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

, and occasional vocalist, who played

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and R&B.

Life and career

He was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, United States, and grew up in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, where he began learning the saxophone at the age of 12. After leaving

Wendell Phillips High School Wendell Phillips Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Phillips is part of the Chicago Public Schools district and is managed by the Acad ...

, he studied law at

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

, playing in clubs in the evenings and at weekends. He played in

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

bands between 1941 and 1946. After leaving the army, he joined Miracle Records. He played on

Sonny Thompson Sonny Thompson (probably August 23, 1916 – August 11, 1989), born Alfonso Thompson or Hezzie Tompson, was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B bandleader and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography There is some uncertainty over Thomps ...

's hit record " Long Gone" in 1948, and on its follow-up, "

Late Freight "Late Freight" is a 1948 instrumental by the Sonny Thompson Quintet featuring Eddie Chamblee Edwin Leon Chamblee (February 24, 1920 – May 1, 1999), known as Eddie "Long Gone" Chamblee, was an American tenor and alto saxophonist, and occasional ...

", credited to the Sonny Thompson Quintet featuring Eddie Chamblee. Biography
''AllAboutJazz.com''. Accessed 18 November 2012 Biography by Ron Wynn
''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

''. Accessed 18 November 2012 Both records reached no. 1 on the national ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. Two follow-up records, "Blue Dreams" and "Back Street", also made the R&B chart in 1949. From 1947, he led his own band in Chicago clubs, as well as continuing to record with Thompson and on other sessions in Chicago, including The Four Blazes' no. 1 R&B hit "Mary Jo" in 1952. In 1955 he joined

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

's band for two years, touring in Europe, before returning to lead his own group in Chicago. He accompanied both

Amos Milburn Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn excel ...

and

Lowell Fulson Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most imp ...

on some of their recordings, and then worked as accompanist to

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

on many of her successful recordings in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The two performed vocal duets in a style similar to that later adopted by Washington with

Brook Benton Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), better known as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960 ...

, and were briefly married; he was her fifth husband. Chamblee also recorded for the Mercury and

EmArcy EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Clifford Brown ...

labels, and with his own group in the early 1960s for the

Roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

and

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

labels. In the 1970s, he rejoined Hampton for tours of Europe, where he also played with

Milt Buckner Milton Brent Buckner (July 10, 1915 – July 27, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and organist, who in the early 1950s popularized the Hammond organ.Arwulf ArwulfMilt Buckner biography All Music. He pioneered the parallel chords styleFeathe ...

, and he recorded for the French Black & Blue label. He also performed with the

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Orchestra in 1982, and from the 1980s until his death with the

Harlem Blues and Jazz Band The Harlem Blues and Jazz Band is a jazz ensemble active since the 1970s. The band was initiated by Al Vollmer in 1973, noting that a significant pool of jazz musicians who had played in the 1920s and 1930s lived in New York City and had retired ...

, as well as in clubs in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He died in New York in 1999, at the age of 79 from natural causes.

Discography

* ''Chamblee Music'' (

, 1957) * ''Doodlin' '' (EmArcy, 1958) * ''

The Rocking Tenor Sax of Eddie Chamblee ''The Rocking Tenor Sax of Eddie Chamblee'' is an album by saxophonist Eddie Chamblee which was recorded in 1963 and released on the Prestige label.Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

, 1964) * ''Twenty Years After'' ( Black & Blue, 1976) With

* ''Lionel Hampton Big Band'' (

Clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a Musical notation, musical symbol used to indicate which Musical note, notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical staff (music), stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to ...

, 1955) With

Dodo Greene Dodo Greene, (born Dorthea Hawkins; January 18, 1924 - July 21, 2006) was an American jazz vocalist who performed in clubs and venues in Buffalo, and along the East Coast and Chicago, before releasing two albums in the 1960s, and touring internati ...

* ''

My Hour of Need ''My Hour of Need'' is an album by jazz vocalist Dodo Greene featuring performances accompanied by the Ike Quebec Quintet recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

, 1962

996 Year 996 ( CMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * February - Chotoku Incident: Fujiwara no Korechika and Takaie shoot an arrow at Retired Em ...

With

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

* '' Legend of the Blues Vol. 1'' (

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

, 1967) * '' The Legacy of the Blues Vol. 7'' (

Sonet Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diode ...

, 1973) With

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''Roll ...

* ''T-Bone Blues'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, 1955) With

* '' After Hours with Miss "D"'' (EmArcy, 1954) * '' Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller'' (EmArcy, 1957) * ''Dinah Washington - The Queen!'' ( Mercury, 1957) * '' Dinah Sings Bessie Smith'' (EmArcy, 1957) * ''Back to the Blues'' (

, 1962)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamblee, Eddie 1920 births 1999 deaths American male saxophonists American rhythm and blues musicians Musicians from Atlanta 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians Harlem Blues and Jazz Band members Black & Blue Records artists United Records artists