Sweets Edison interview by Monk Rowe - 9/3/1995 - Los Angeles, CA 

I met this man and he was not only one of the best trumpet players ever but also a very decent person.

Thank You! 💖 This man had the greatest "human balance, mature-minded, the place between Ego and Soul that all should aspire to achieve, not simply a humility, although that is required to gain the perspective" Truly a "goodness in him", thus "Sweets" was the perfect nickname for Harry. Truly an original... ☮ eternally "Sweets"

I can't get enough of these interviews! This is one of the better ones, as one would expect when dealing with the great Sweets Edison.

Great to hear from Sweets, who was there for so much of the history of the music!

This video is absolutely priceless. What foresight to record these legends unedited. It is a goldmine. Sweets had a tone all his own and his use of repeating phrases is absolutely distinctive. So interesting to hear about him making $9 a night, one night stands, racism, no charts. Still he had so much fun, he should have paid Count. Edison is one of my heroes and this is a treasure.

Thanks for creating this archive. His style is also very lyrical, on chord and always progresive

Black jazz musicians were the major Innovators and caught hell in the U.S while treated royally in Japan and Europe. If Jazz and Blues is watered down they are paid ok in the U.S 2017! 100 per gig has been around since the 60's and still the standard while many make less in NYC 2017 per gig. Ridiculous how this Black Music is still disrespected unless "other's" play it. Great video and still relevant!

Beautifully conducted interview, Monk. Your gracious demeanor throughout shows that you knew very well to whom it was you were speaking. - JAZZ ROYALTY! It is the great jazz musicians from this generation that most intrigue me. Between 1930 and 1940 they brought jazz into the modern era, and created the vernacular that later jazz stylists only elaborated on. And Sweets genuine humility is a lesson for us all! Sweets was such a great artist and stylist, and supreme trumpeter. He was not, however, either a singer or comic performer. But these two records made with Count Basie for RCA Victor in 1947 uniquely place him in that context. The first begins with a little skit where Basie runs into Sweets on the street. Sweets wants a haircut, and Basie leads him to Esquire Barber Shop where Sweets sings Take A Little Off The Top. - I think this record is a lot of fun. And it represents a kind of vaudeville entertainment that just could not be produced today. And secondly we have Sweets featured on the Basie record on Open The Door Richard. - This had been a black vaudeville routine going back to the 1920s. Comedian Dusty Fletcher made it famous at the Apollo Theater. Both Jack McVea and Louis Jordan recorded it around 1945. But I think this version with Sweets and Basie is best. - Sweets was just so damned likable! To my knowledge, these are the only records Sweets ever made like this. And for that matter, these types of novelty performance are quite rare for Basie in general, making these particularly fun and interesting. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8JH5rSRpeE8.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M9SQNLKZX2o.html

What a great musician . How humble and knowledgeable is he . I love this man .

What an absolute treasure of an interview. Thank you so much for posting. Sweets Edison speaking is as delightful as his playing.

Thanks for share!

Thank you for posting this!

Thanks very much for sharing this and all the other interviews!

Monk thank you. These jazz interviews are very informative. They are also a great source of American History.

Wow! I remember Duke Ellington saying he wrote pieces for each specific instrumentalist: he wrote arrangements just for his specific players. Wow! Now that is family. To the max!!

How great to come across this interview. When I came to Hollywood in the '70s, I met Sweets and he took me under his wing. One day he heard me singing in a club...and he took me to around to hear Ella in clubs and he took me to the studio where he was playing on "Love for Sale". Quite exciting when Ella came in, she recorded it in one take! He took me to a Carol King session when he did some overdubs and we were the only 3 people in the studio aside from the engineer. As we were leaving, Joni Mitchell came in to record. Apparently, they both loved that particular piano. He was so generous in teaching me about jazz and certainly lived up to his name "Sweets".XOAnnie

Great video ! Thanks for sharing ! M

Great! Here is a quote from wikipedia about his nickname: Elvin Jones explained the origin of Edison's nickname: "Sweets had so many lady friends, he was such a handsome man. He had all these girls all over him all the time, that's why they called him Sweets."

great artist.... excellent interview thank you

As always, Monk knows when to go into listening mode and let the subject talk. The result was a wonderful time capsule! This is the second time I've listened. Monk's series of interviews are as much a treasure as those he's listening to?

Great interview. Enjoyed it so

Wonderful Interview! Wonderful man! Thank you.

I still remember Count Basie's orchestra from the Jerry Lewis movie CINDERELLA. Wow. Count Basie and fam/orchestra were AMAZING!.

What stands out to me about Sweets is that in every interview I have seen with him, he is more interested in talking about the other musicians than about himself. He is recognized as one of the greatest jazz musicians of his time, but you would never know that to listen to him speak.

He's so humble.. he's amaznig!

Sweet was a "sweetheart " , and a great stylist of trumpet :):)

38:40 "...and Jo Jones was so busy inventing a lot of things back then on the drums, sometimes it didn't even swing!" the future foretold

This interview is truly a historical "oil painting." Sweets was 80 at the time of this interview. He looked great, and was a real jewel of a person...a real gentleman. It so sad to think that less than 4 years later, he would pass away! Monk has a real knack for getting the most from his guests by Monk's natural ease and warmth. I'd like to know from Monk if Sweets did in fact, get his Honary Doctorate from Hamilton.

His sweet muted tone was the reason he was "Sweets"

Certainly one of THE greatest records we have by the Count Basie Orchestra comes at the very end of its Decca Records period, 1939. The head to Jive At Five is credited to none other than our man, Harry’Sweets’ Edison. And the arrangement was likely a head. In any case, this record features one of Lester Young’s greatest recorded solos, as he shares a chorus here with Sweets. Lester’s opening ten or eleven note phrase is one of the most iconic and often quoted moments in all of jazz. Dicky Wells’ trombone, and Jack Washington’s baritone at also very importantly featured here. And to my knowledge, this is the first classic jazz record to have a fade out at the end. - Again, the year is 1939. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EA5CK4O65oo.html

The Black Jazz men were so HIGH-SPIRITED. They really were especially Louis Armstrong who was actually a Hebrew-Israelite who followed Torah. So, the black folk were God oriented. Totally.

30:06 $9 in 1938 is roughly about $189 today, not bad.

Harry Sweets Edison is right bout Billie Holiday being a voluptuous gorgeous young woman because she had BREASTS and HIPS and good skin and nice head of hair. She was shapely. This was before drug abuse. RIP BILLIE HOLIDAY AND HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON. You are missed:/

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Well, I guess in terms of great jazz musicians, it really doesn’t get any higher than this. Sweets was as great as they come in terms of inventiveness and originality as a jazz instrumentalist. But this is not news, I suppose. Here’s one of my favorite Sweets performances, with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges, recorded in the mid 1950’s. Sweets’ first plays such a relaxed and interesting muted solo, and then comes back open for one of the greatest few out choruses in jazz history. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XXFhwpSEKhc.html