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. 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. 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. 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. 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. In 2004 he formed the group Cleve Eaton and the Alabama All Stars. Eaton lent his talents to over 100 albums, and composed about three times as many songs. He played on notable recording sessions with Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons,John Klemmer, Ike Cole, Bunky Green, The Dells, Bobby Rush, Minnie Riperton, Jerry Butler and Rotary Connection, George Benson, Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald. He also performed with Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Mimi Hines, Sammy Davis Jr., Julie London, Bobby Troup, Brook Benton, Lou Rawls, Nipsey Russell, Morgana King, Gloria Lynne, Herbie Hancock, Magic City Jazz Orchestra, The Platters, Temptations, and The Miracles. Personal life Eaton died on July 5, 2020, in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 80, and had been hospitalized during the last four months of his life. He