Eaton began studying music at the age of five, and by the time he was 15, 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.[5][6] 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.[7][8] Eaton played in a jazz group in college at Tennessee A & I State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in music.
Eaton made his debut as a leader on Half and Half on Gamble Records in 1973. Two years later he recorded the jazz-funk classic Plenty Good Eaton, often sampled by contemporary artists. After signing to Ovation, he issued Instant Hip, a pioneering exercise in free funk fusion and Afro-futurist disco.[1] In 1974, he began performing and touring with his group Cleve Eaton and Co. In September, 1978 Eaton released a disco-themed track on Gull Records GULS63 called "Bama Boogie Woogie" which reached number 35 in the BBC Top 75 chart in the UK and proved very popular on the UK club scene at the time.[10]
As Eaton relays it in a 1997 interview, he was teaching, playing clubs, and writing his own music in 1979 when Count Basie called, asking if he could fill in for a bass player who was ill. He was told that his services with the Count Basie Orchestra would be needed for about two weeks. “After the two weeks,” Eaton recalls, “he took me aside and said he was cutting the other guy loose, and did I want the job?” And so Eaton’s two-week road trip ultimately stretched to 17 years.[11] The jazz piano legend would refer to Eaton as "The Count’s Bassist." He performed on Basie's final albums and continued playing with the orchestra into the '90s, which netted him ten albums.[1]
After spending years on the road as a musician and arranger with a list of artists who form a virtual Who's Who of jazz, Eaton returned to Birmingham, Alabama, to join UAB's music department in 1996.[11] In 2004 he formed the group Cleve Eaton and the Alabama All Stars.[2]
Eaton died on July 5, 2020, in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 80, and had been hospitalized during the last four months of his life.[10] He was survived by his wife, Myra Eaton, two sons, Lothair Eaton and Andre Eaton; and a daughter, Keena Eaton Kelley. Eaton was predeceased by a son, Cleveland Eaton III, and a daughter, Margralita Eaton.[12] Eaton was also survived by stepchildren from his marriage to Myra Eaton: stepdaughters Tania Adams and Kwani Dickerson Carson, and stepson Kole Anderson.
