Don Elliott
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Don Elliott (1926-1984) was an American jazz musician born in Somerville, New Jersey. His album Calypso Jazz is considered by some jazz enthusiasts to be one of the definitive calypso jazz albums. Elliott recorded over 60 albums and 5,000 advertising jingles throughout his career.
Known as the "Human Instrument", Don Elliott performed jazz as a vocal musician, vibraphonist, trombonist, trumpeter, flugelhornist and percussionist. He pioneered the art of multi-track recording, composed countless prize-winning advertising jingles, prepared music scores for motion pictures, and built a thriving production company. Elliott scored several Broadway productions, including James Thurber's "The Beast in Me" and "Thurber's Carnival". He also provided one of the voices for the novelty jazz duo the Nutty Squirrels.
Elliott lent his vocal talents to such motion picture soundtracks as; "The Getaway" w/ Steve McQueen, "Dollars" w/ Warren Beaty, "Hot Rocks" w/ Robert Redford and "The Happy Hooker" w/ Vanessa Redgrave.
Elliott owned and operated one of the very first multitrack recording studios in New York City and in Weston, CT where he died of cancer on July 5, 1984.
