{{Short description|American jazz musician (1926–1984)}} {{other uses}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Don Elliott | image = Don Elliott advertisement.jpg | caption = Elliott in a 1958 advertisement | birth_name = Don Helfman<ref name="middle">{{cite web|last1=Pirtle|first1=Scooter|title=Don Elliott: He Was a Gentlemen, too|url=http://www.middlehornleader.com/Don%20Elliott.htm|website=Middle Horn Leader|access-date=27 August 2017|date=1994}}</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|10|21}} | birth_place = Somerville, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|06|05|1926|10|21}} | death_place = Weston, Connecticut, U.S. | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instruments = Trumpet, vibraphone, mellophone }}
'''Don Elliott''' '''Helfman''' (October 21, 1926 – June 5, 1984), known as '''Don Elliott''', was an American jazz trumpeter, vibraphonist, vocalist, and mellophone player.<ref name="don">{{cite web|title=Don Elliott, 57, Jazz Singer, Vibraphonist and Composer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/06/obituaries/don-elliot-57-jazz-singer-vibraphonist-and-composer.html|website=The New York Times|access-date=27 August 2017|date=6 July 1984}}</ref> Elliott recorded over 60 albums and 5,000 advertising jingles throughout his career.
==Career== Elliott played mellophone in his high school band and played trumpet for an army band. After studying at the University of Miami he added vibraphone to his instruments. He recorded with Terry Gibbs and Buddy Rich before forming his own band. From 1953 to 1960, he won the ''DownBeat'' Readers' Poll several times for "miscellaneous instrument-mellophone."<ref name="Wynn">{{cite web|last1=Wynn|first1=Ron|title=Don Elliott|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-elliott-mn0000150073/biography|website=AllMusic|access-date=27 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.downbeat.com/artists/artist_main.asp?sect%3Darchives%26sub%3Dstories%26subid%3D759%26aid%3D713%26photo%3D%26aname%3DDown+Beat+Readers+Poll |title=Down Beat Magazine |access-date=2007-02-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311044233/http://www.downbeat.com/artists/artist_main.asp?sect=archives&sub=stories&subid=759&aid=713&photo=&aname=Down+Beat+Readers+Poll |archive-date=2007-03-11 }}[http://www.downbeat.com/artists/artist_main.asp?sect=archives&sub=stories&subid=766&aid=713&photo=&aname=Down+Beat+Readers+Poll Down Beat Readers Polls] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311044248/http://www.downbeat.com/artists/artist_main.asp?sect=archives&sub=stories&subid=766&aid=713&photo=&aname=Down+Beat+Readers+Poll |date=March 11, 2007 }}</ref>
Known as the "Human Instrument", Elliott performed jazz as a vocalist, trombonist, flugelhornist, and percussionist. He pioneered the art of multitrack recording, composed prize-winning advertising jingles, prepared film scores, and built a thriving production company. He scored several Broadway productions, including James Thurber's ''The Beast in Me'' and ''A Thurber Carnival'', as well as Frank D. Gilroy's ''The Only Game in Town''.<ref name="IBDBDE">{{cite web|title=Don Elliott|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/don-elliott-11633|website=IBDb|access-date = 2008-05-10}}</ref> He also provided one of the voices for the novelty jazz duo the Nutty Squirrels.
Elliott was a longtime associate of Quincy Jones, contributing vocals to Jones's scores for the films ''The Pawnbroker'' (1962), ''Walk, Don't Run'' (1966), ''In the Heat of the Night'' (1967), ''$'' (1971), ''The Hot Rock'' (1972) and ''The Getaway'' (1972).<ref name="FeatherGitler2007">{{cite book|author1=Leonard Feather|author-link=Leonard Feather|author2=Ira Gitler|author2-link=Ira Gitler|title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEHGs88c-aAC|date=1 April 2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988640-1|page=450}}</ref> Elliot also composed the score to the short film ''Que Puerto Rico'' (1963) directedby Tibor Hirsch and ''The Happy Hooker'' starring Lynn Redgrave.
Elliott owned and operated one of the first multitrack recording studios in New York City and in Weston, Connecticut, where he died of cancer in 1984. He was married to actress Doris Wiss (1929-2015).
==Discography== ===As leader or co-leader=== * ''Doubles in Brass'' (Vanguard, 1954) * ''The Don Elliott Quintet'' (RCA Victor, 1954) * ''Mellophone'' (Bethlehem, 1955) * ''Don Elliott Sings'' (Bethlehem, 1955) * ''Counterpoint for Six Valves'' (Riverside, 1955) – with Rusty Dedrick (also released as ''Double Trumpet Doings'') * ''Vibrations'' (Savoy, 1956) – with Cal Tjader * ''The Voice of Marty Bell - The Quartet of Don Elliott'' (Riverside, 1956) * ''The Bob Corwin Quartet featuring the Trumpet of Don Elliott'' (Riverside, 1956) * ''A Musical Offering'' (ABC, 1956) * ''Don Elliott at the Modern Jazz Room'' (ABC, 1956) *''Eddie Costa, Mat Mathews & Don Elliott at Newport'' (Verve, 1957) * ''The Voices of Don Elliott'' (ABC, 1957) * ''Music for the Sensational Sixties'' (Design, 1957) * ''Jamaica Jazz'' (ABC-Paramount, 1958) * ''The Mello Sound'' (Decca, 1958) *''The Nutty Squirrels'' (Hanover, 1959) with Alexander "Sascha" Burland * ''Mr. Versatile'' * ''Love is a Necessary Evil'' (Columbia, 1962) * ''Rejuvenation'' (Columbia, 1975)
===As sideman=== * 1954 ''Skin Deep'', Louie Bellson * 1954 ''Joe Puma Quintet'', Joe Puma * 1955 ''Songs by Sylvia Syms'', Sylvia Syms * 1956 ''The Swingin' Miss "D"'', Dinah Washington * 1956 ''Sylvia Syms Sings'', Sylvia Syms * 1956 ''Desmond: Here I AM'', Paul Desmond * 1956 ''Featuring Don Elliott'', Paul Desmond * 1956 ''Special Delivery'', Janet Brace * 1956 ''Braff!'', Ruby Braff * 1957 ''Swingin' with Terry Gibbs Orchestra & Quartet'', Terry Gibbs * 1957 ''My Fair Lady Loves Jazz'' Billy Taylor * 1957 ''Hi-Fi Suite'', Leonard Feather * 1958 ''Sing Me a Swing Song'', Bobby Short * 1958 ''Connee Boswell Sings Irving Berlin'', Connee Boswell * 1958 ''Legrand Jazz'', Michel Legrand * 1959 ''Amor!: The Fabulous Guitar of Luiz Bonfa'', Luiz Bonfá * 1959 ''Porgy & Bess'', Mundell Lowe * 1959 ''The Ivory Hunters'', Bob Brookmeyer/Bill Evans * 1961 ''Like Tweet'', Joe Puma * 1963 ''The Boss of the Blues'', Charles Brown * 1964 ''The Many Faces of Art Farmer'', Art Farmer * 1964 ''Golden Boy'', Quincy Jones * 1965 ''Ballads My Way'', Charles Brown * 1967 ''In the Heat of the Night OST'', Quincy Jones * 1972 ''The Hot Rock OST'', Quincy Jones * 1973 ''There Goes Rhymin' Simon'', Paul Simon * 1976 ''I Heard That!'', Quincy Jones * 1977 ''One of a Kind'', Dave Grusin * 1996 ''Verve Jazz Masters 57'', George Shearing * 2001 ''Tenderly: An Informal Session'', Bill Evans<ref name="AM credits">{{cite web|title=Don Elliott {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-elliott-mn0000150073/credits|website=AllMusic|access-date=27 August 2017}}</ref> – recorded 1956 & 1957
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{discogs artist|Don Elliott}} * {{imdb name|0254431}}
{{Don Elliott}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Don}} Category:1926 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Musicians from Somerville, New Jersey Category:People from Weston, Connecticut Category:Singers from New Jersey Category:American jazz singers Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:American male trumpeters Category:American jazz vibraphonists Category:Cool jazz singers Category:Cool jazz trumpeters Category:Deaths from cancer in Connecticut Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American trumpeters Category:Jazz musicians from Connecticut Category:20th-century American male singers Category:American male jazz musicians