Cleveland Eaton

Cleveland Josephus Eaton II (August 31, 1939July 5, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accomplishments were playing with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording ''Plenty Good Eaton'' is considered a classic in the funk music genre. He was inducted into both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

Biography

Eaton began studying music at the age of five, and by the time he was fifteen, he had mastered the piano, trumpet, and saxophone. He began playing bass when a teacher allowed him to take one home, spending nearly every waking hour learning the instrument. This led him to become what many called one of the best and most versatile jazz bassists in the business. Eaton came from a music-loving family, including an elder sister who studied at both Fisk University and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He was a student of John T. "Fess" Whatley, one of the most influential and well-known educators in American jazz music during the 1920s and 1930s. who also mentored Sun Ra and Erskine Hawkins. Eaton played in a jazz group in college at Tennessee A & I State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in music.

After graduation, Eaton left Alabama for Chicago, Illinois in 1960. He played an early gig with the Ike Cole Trio and recorded with the Donald Byrd & Pepper Adams Quintet (which also included Herbie Hancock). "I knew Herbie Hancock, who was with Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams," Eaton explained in an interview in Oxford American, "and he got me a job with them for a year and a half. I played the first 'Watermelon Man,' in fact; it was scribbled on a piece of paper at a club in East St. Louis, called Joseph's Coffee House."
After working the Chicago jazz circuit, Eaton replaced bassist Eldee Young in the Ramsey Lewis Trio from 1964 to 1974. Eaton performed on 30 recordings with the trio, netting three Grammys and five Gold Records -- The In Crowd, Hang On Ramsey!