Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American
jazz pianist
Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the instru ...
and
bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...
. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".
The trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
(a member of Hines's
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
, along with
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
) wrote,
The piano is the basis of modern harmony. This little guy came out of Chicago, Earl Hines. He changed the style of the piano. You can find the roots of
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern ...
,
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...
, all the guys who came after that. If it hadn't been for Earl Hines blazing the path for the next generation to come, it's no telling where or how they would be playing now. There were individual variations but the style of … the modern piano came from Earl Hines.
The pianist Lennie Tristano said, "Earl Hines is the ''only'' one of us capable of creating real jazz and real swing when playing all alone." Horace Silver said, "He has a completely unique style. No one can get that sound, no other pianist".
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...
said, "When you talk about greatness, you talk about Art Tatum and Earl Hines".
Count Basie said that Hines was "the greatest piano player in the world".
Biography
Early life
Earl Hines was born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, 12 miles from the center of
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, in 1903. His father, Joseph Hines, played
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
and was the leader of the Eureka Brass Band in Pittsburgh, and his stepmother was a church organist. Hines intended to follow his father on cornet, but "blowing" hurt him behind the ears, whereas the piano did not. The young Hines took lessons in playing
classical piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
. By the age of eleven he was playing the organ in his
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
church. He had a "good ear and a good memory" and could replay songs after hearing them in theaters and park concerts: "I'd be playing songs from these shows months before the song copies came out. That astonished a lot of people and they'd ask where I heard these numbers and I'd tell them at the theatre where my parents had taken me." Later, Hines said that he was playing piano around Pittsburgh "before the word '
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
' was even invented".
Early career
With his father's approval, Hines left home at the age of 17 to take a job playing piano with Lois Deppe and His Symphonian Serenaders in the Liederhaus, a Pittsburgh nightclub. He got his board, two meals a day, and $15 a week.. Deppe, a well-known
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
concert artist who sang both classical and popular songs, also used the young Hines as his concert accompanist and took him on his concert trips to New York. In 1921 Hines and Deppe became the first African Americans to perform on radio. Hines's first recordings were accompanying Deppe – four sides recorded for
Gennett Records
Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and H ...
in 1923, still in the very early days of sound recording. Only two of these were issued, one of which was a Hines composition, "Congaine", "a keen snappy foxtrot", which also featured a solo by Hines. He entered the studio again with Deppe a month later to record spirituals and popular songs, including " Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" and "For the Last Time Call Me Sweetheart". He also accompanied Ethel Waters, describing his strategy as playing "under what the artist is doing" by listening "to the changes she made."
In 1925, after much family debate, Hines moved to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois, then the world's jazz capital, the home of Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver. Hines started in Elite No. 2 Club but soon joined
Carroll Dickerson
Carroll Dickerson (November 1, 1895 – October 9, 1957) was a Chicago and New York-based dixieland jazz violinist and bandleader, probably better known for his extensive work with Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or his more brief work tourin ...
's band, with whom he also toured on the Pantages Theatre Circuit to Los Angeles and back.
Hines met
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
in the poolroom of the Black Musicians' Union, local 208, on State and 39th in Chicago. Hines was 21, Armstrong 24. They played the union's piano together. Armstrong was astounded by Hines's avant-garde "trumpet-style" piano playing, often using dazzlingly fast
octaves
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
so that on none-too-perfect upright pianos (and with no amplification) "they could hear me out front".Richard Cook wrote in ''Jazz Encyclopedia'' that
Armstrong and Hines became good friends and shared a car. Armstrong joined Hines in
Carroll Dickerson
Carroll Dickerson (November 1, 1895 – October 9, 1957) was a Chicago and New York-based dixieland jazz violinist and bandleader, probably better known for his extensive work with Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or his more brief work tourin ...
's band at the
Sunset Cafe
The Sunset Cafe, also known as The Grand Terrace Cafe, was a jazz club in Chicago, Illinois operating during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the most important jazz clubs in America, especially during the period between 1917 and 1928 when ...
. In 1927, this became Armstrong's band under the musical direction of Hines. Later that year, Armstrong revamped his
Okeh Records
Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lillian Hardin Armstrong (née Hardin; February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in ...
, on the instrument.
Armstrong and Hines then recorded what are often regarded as some of the most important jazz records ever made.
In the days of 78s, recording engineers were unable to play back a take without rendering the wax master unusable for commercial release, so the band did not hear the final version of " West End Blues" until it was issued by Okeh a few weeks later. "Earl Hines, he was surprised when the record came out on the market, 'cause he brought it by my house, you know, we'd forgotten we'd recorded it", Armstrong recalled in 1956. But they liked what they heard. "When it first came out", Hines said, "Louis and I stayed by that recording practically an hour and a half or two hours and we just knocked each other out because we had no idea it was gonna turn out as good as it did."
The Sunset Cafe closed in 1927. Hines, Armstrong and the drummer
Zutty Singleton
Arthur James "Zutty" Singleton (May 14, 1898 – July 14, 1975) was an American jazz drummer.
Career
Singleton was born in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in New Orleans. According to his ''Jazz Profiles'' biography, his unusual ...
agreed that they would become the "Unholy Three" – they would "stick together and not play for anyone unless the three of us were hired". But as Louis Armstrong and His Stompers (with Hines as musical director), they ran into difficulties trying to establish their own venue, the Warwick Hall Club, which they rented for a year with the management help of Lil Hardin Armstrong. Hines went briefly to New York and returned to find that Armstrong and Singleton had rejoined the rival Dickerson band at the new Savoy Ballroom in his absence, leaving Hines feeling "warm". When Armstrong and Singleton later asked him to join them with Dickerson at the Savoy Ballroom, Hines said, "No, you guys left me in the rain and broke the little corporation we had".
Hines joined the clarinetist
Jimmie Noone
Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical ...
at the Apex, an after-hours speakeasy, playing from midnight to 6 a.m., seven nights a week. In 1928, he recorded 14 sides with Noone and again with Armstrong (for a total of 38 sides with Armstrong). His first piano solos were recorded late that year: eight for QRS Records in New York and then seven for
Okeh Records
Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...
in Chicago, all except two his own compositions.
Hines moved in with Kathryn Perry (with whom he had recorded "Sadie Green the Vamp of New Orleans"). Hines said of her, "She'd been at The Sunset too, in a dance act. She was a very charming, pretty girl. She had a good voice and played the violin. I had been divorced and she became my common-law wife. We lived in a big apartment and her parents stayed with us". Perry recorded several times with Hines, including " Body & Soul" in 1935. They stayed together until 1940, when Hines "divorced" her to marry Ann Jones Reed, but that marriage was soon "indefinitely postponed"..
Hines married singer 'Lady of Song' Janie Moses in 1947. They had two daughters, Janear (born 1950) and Tosca. Both daughters died before he did, Tosca in 1976 and Janear in 1981. Janie divorced him on June 14, 1979, and died in 2007.
Chicago years
On December 28, 1928 (his 25th birthday and six weeks before the
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago garage on the morning of February 14, ...
), Hines opened at Chicago's
Grand Terrace Cafe
The Sunset Cafe, also known as The Grand Terrace Cafe, was a jazz club in Chicago, Illinois operating during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the most important jazz clubs in America, especially during the period between 1917 and 1928 when ...
leading his own big band, a prestigious position in the jazz world at the time. "All America was dancing", Hines said, and for the next 12 years and through the worst of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
, Hines's band was the orchestra at the Grand Terrace. The Hines Orchestra – or "Organization", as Hines preferred it – had up to 28 musicians and did three shows a night at the Grand Terrace, four shows every Saturday and sometimes Sundays. According to
Stanley Dance
Stanley Frank Dance (15 September 1910, Braintree, Essex – 23 February 1999, Vista, California) was a British jazz writer, business manager, record producer, and historian of the Swing era. He was personally close to Duke Ellington over a lon ...
, "Earl Hines and The Grand Terrace were to Chicago what
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
and The Cotton Club were to New York – but fierier."
The Grand Terrace was controlled by the gangster
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
, so Hines became Capone's "Mr Piano Man". The Grand Terrace upright piano was soon replaced by a white $3,000 Bechstein grand. Talking about those days Hines later said:
From the Grand Terrace, Hines and his band broadcast on "open mikes" over many years, sometimes seven nights a week, coast-to-coast across America – Chicago being well placed to deal with live broadcasting across time zones in the United States. The Hines band became the most broadcast band in America. Among the listeners were a young Nat King Cole and Jay McShann in Kansas City, who said his "real education came from Earl Hines. When 'Fatha' went off the air, I went to bed." Hines's most significant "student" was Art Tatum.
The Hines band usually comprised 15–20 musicians on stage, occasionally up to 28. Among the band's many members were
Wallace Bishop
Wallace Bishop (February 17, 1906 – May 2, 1986) was an American swing jazz drummer.
Bishop was born in Chicago, Illinois. He started on drums as a teenager, studying under Jimmy Bertrand. His first professional gig was with Art Sims and ...
,
Alvin Burroughs
Alvin Burroughs (November 21, 1911 – August 1, 1950) was an American swing jazz drummer.
Burroughs played in Kansas City with Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1928–29Rye, Howard"Burroughs, Alvin".''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press ...
,
Scoops Carry
Scoops Carry (January 23, 1915 – August 4, 1970), born George Dorman and sometimes billed as Scoops Carey, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist.
Early life and education
Carry was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He mother wa ...
, Oliver Coleman, Bob Crowder, Thomas Crump, George Dixon, Julian Draper,
Streamline Ewing
John Richard "Streamline" Ewing (January 19, 1917 – February 1, 2002) was an American jazz trombonist.
Career
In 1934, Ewing began his career when he was seventeen. Four years later he was with Horace Henderson, then with Earl Hines live and on ...
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
, Leroy Harris, Woogy Harris,
Darnell Howard
Darnell Howard (July 25, 1895 in Chicago – September 2, 1966 in San Francisco) was an American jazz clarinetist and violinist.
Early life
Howard began playing violin at age seven, picking up clarinet and saxophone later in his youth.
Caree ...
Ray Nance
Ray Willis Nance (December 10, 1913 – January 28, 1976) was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
Early years
Nance was the leader of his ow ...
,
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
Cliff Smalls
Clifton Arnold (3 March 1918 – 2008), better known as Cliff Smalls, Feather, Leonard and Ira Gitler. ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' was an American jazz trombonist, pianist, conductor and arranger who worked in the jazz, soul and rhyt ...
Freddie Webster
Freddie Webster (June 8, 1916 – April 1, 1947) was a jazz trumpeter who, Dizzy Gillespie once said, "had the best sound on trumpet since the trumpet was invented--just alive and full of life." He is perhaps best known for being cited by Mil ...
Trummy Young
James "Trummy" Young (January 12, 1912 – September 10, 1984) was an American trombonist in the swing era. He established himself as a star during his 12 years performing with Louis Armstrong in Armstrong's All Stars. He had one hit with his v ...
.
Occasionally, Hines allowed another pianist sit in for him, the better to allow him to conduct the whole "Organization". Jess Stacy was one,
Nat "King" Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
Cliff Smalls
Clifton Arnold (3 March 1918 – 2008), better known as Cliff Smalls, Feather, Leonard and Ira Gitler. ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' was an American jazz trombonist, pianist, conductor and arranger who worked in the jazz, soul and rhyt ...
was his favorite.
Each summer, Hines toured with his whole band for three months, including through the South – the first black big band to do so. He explained, "
hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
we traveled by train through the South, they would send a porter back to our car to let us know when the dining room was cleared, and then we would all go in together. We couldn't eat when we wanted to. We had to eat when they were ready for us."
In ''
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
's America'', Harvey G Cohen writes:
The birth of bebop
In 1942, Hines provided the saxophonist
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
with his big break, although Parker was subsequently fired soon after for his "time-keeping" – by which Hines meant his inability to show up on time – despite Parker resorting to sleeping under the band stage in his attempts to be punctual..
Dizzie Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
joined the same year.
The
Grand Terrace Cafe
The Sunset Cafe, also known as The Grand Terrace Cafe, was a jazz club in Chicago, Illinois operating during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the most important jazz clubs in America, especially during the period between 1917 and 1928 when ...
had closed suddenly in December 1940; its manager, Ed Fox, disappeared. The 37-year-old Hines, always famously good to work for, took his band on the road full-time for the next eight years, resisting renewed offers from
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
to join his band as piano player.
Hines's band encountered trouble when several of its members were drafted into the armed forces in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Six were drafted in 1943 alone. As a result, on August 19, 1943, Hines had to cancel the rest of his Southern tour.. He went to New York and hired a "draft-proof" 12-piece all-woman group, which lasted two months. Next, Hines expanded it into a 28-piece band (17 men, 11 women), including strings and
French horn
The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...
. Despite these wartime difficulties, Hines took his bands on tour from coast to coast, but was still able to take time out from his own band to front the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1944 when Ellington fell ill.
It was during this time (and especially during the recording ban during the
1942–44 musicians' strike
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe co ...
) that late-night jam sessions with members of Hines's band sowed the seeds for the emerging new style in jazz, bebop. Ellington later said that "the seeds of bop were in Earl Hines's piano style". Charlie Parker's biographer Ross Russell wrote:
As early as 1940, saxophone player and arranger Budd Johnson had "re-written the book" for Hines's band in a more modern style. Johnson and
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...
, Hines's vocalist between 1939 and 1943, have been credited with helping to bring modern players into the Hines band in the transition between
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
and bebop. Apart from Parker and Gillespie, other Hines 'modernists' included
Gene Ammons
Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and ...
, Gail Brockman,
Scoops Carry
Scoops Carry (January 23, 1915 – August 4, 1970), born George Dorman and sometimes billed as Scoops Carey, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist.
Early life and education
Carry was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He mother wa ...
Cliff Smalls
Clifton Arnold (3 March 1918 – 2008), better known as Cliff Smalls, Feather, Leonard and Ira Gitler. ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' was an American jazz trombonist, pianist, conductor and arranger who worked in the jazz, soul and rhyt ...
,
Shadow Wilson
Rossiere "Shadow" Wilson (September 25, 1919 – July 11, 1959) was an American jazz drummer.
Much of Wilson's early work was with swing jazz orchestras. He played with
Frankie Fairfax's Campus Club Orchestra in 1936, with Lucky Millinder in ...
and
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer.
Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...
, who replaced Eckstine as the band singer in 1943 and stayed for a year.
Dizzy Gillespie said of the music the band evolved:
The links to bebop remained close. Parker's discographer, among others, has argued that " Yardbird Suite", which Parker recorded with
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
in March 1946, was in fact based on Hines's "Rosetta", which nightly served as the Hines band theme-tune.
Dizzy Gillespie described the Hines band, saying, "We had a beautiful, beautiful band with Earl Hines. He's a master and you learn a lot from him, self-discipline and organization."
In July 1946, Hines suffered serious head injuries in a car crash near Houston which, despite an operation, affected his eyesight for the rest of his life. Back on the road again four months later, he continued to lead his big band for two more years. In 1947, Hines bought the biggest nightclub in Chicago, The El Grotto, but with the declining popularity of big-band music, it soon foundered and Hines lost $30,000 ($ today).
Rediscovery
In early 1948, Hines joined up again with Armstrong in the " Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars" "small-band". It was not without its strains for Hines. A year later, Armstrong became the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of ''Time'' magazine (on February 21, 1949). Armstrong was by then on his way to becoming an American icon, leaving Hines to feel he was being used only as a sideman in comparison to his old friend. Discussing the difficulties, mainly over billing, Armstrong stated, "Hines and his ego, ego, ego ..." Three years later and to Armstrong's annoyance, Hines left the All Stars in 1951.
Next, back as leader again, Hines took his own small combos around the United States. He started with a markedly more modern lineup than the aging All Stars: Bennie Green,
Art Blakey
Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s.
Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...
Etta Jones
Etta Jones (November 25, 1928 – October 16, 2001) was an American jazz singer. Her best-known recordings are "Don't Go to Strangers" and "Save Your Love for Me". She worked with Buddy Johnson, Oliver Nelson, Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Gene A ...
. In 1954, he toured his then seven-piece group nationwide with the
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...
. In 1958 he broadcast on the
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...
but by the start of the jazz-lean 1960s, the aging Hines settled "home" in
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, California, with his wife and two young daughters, opened a tobacconist's, and came close to giving up the profession.
In 1964,
Stanley Dance
Stanley Frank Dance (15 September 1910, Braintree, Essex – 23 February 1999, Vista, California) was a British jazz writer, business manager, record producer, and historian of the Swing era. He was personally close to Duke Ellington over a lon ...
, Hines's determined friend and unofficial manager, convinced Hines to perform a series of recitals at the Little Theatre in New York. They were the first piano recitals Hines had ever given; they caused a sensation, leading Hines to be "suddenly rediscovered". "What is there left to hear after you've heard Earl Hines?", asked John Wilson of ''The New York Times''. Hines then won the 1966 International Critics Poll for ''
DownBeat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' magazine's Hall of Fame. ''DownBeat'' also elected him the world's "No. 1 Jazz Pianist" in 1966 (and did so again five more times). ''Jazz Journal'' awarded his LPs of the year first and second in its overall poll and first, second and third in its piano category. ''Jazz'' voted him "Jazzman of the Year" and picked him for its number 1 and number 2 places in the category Piano Recordings. Hines was invited to appear on TV shows hosted by
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
and
Mike Douglas
Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920 – August 11, 2006),Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, borAugust 11, 1920Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North ...
.
From then until his death twenty years later, Hines recorded endlessly, both solo and with contemporaries like
Cat Anderson
William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson (September 12, 1916 – April 29, 1981) was an American jazz trumpeter known for his long period as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra and for his wide range, especially his ability to play in the altissimo ...
,
Harold Ashby
Harold Ashby (March 27, 1925, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States – June 13, 2003, in New York City) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He worked with Duke Ellington's band, replacing Jimmy Hamilton in 1968. In 1959, he recorded backing ...
,
Barney Bigard
Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard (March 3, 1906 – June 27, 1980) was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone.
Biography
Bigard was born in New Orleans to Creole parents, Ale ...
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
Wallace Davenport
Wallace Foster Davenport (30 June 1925 – 18 March 2004) was an American jazz trumpeter. Davenport has been one of the few traditional jazz musicians of the 1930s who later branched out into swing and bop styles, as well as backing gospel an ...
Vic Dickenson
Victor Dickenson (August 6, 1906 – November 16, 1984) was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines.
Life and care ...
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
(duets in 1966),
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...
,
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
,
Paul Gonsalves
Paul Gonsalves ( – ) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue ...
Sonny Greer
William Alexander "Sonny" Greer (December 13, c. 1895 – March 23, 1982) was an American jazz drummer and vocalist, best known for his work with Duke Ellington.
Biography
Greer was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, United States, and play ...
,
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...
Milt Hinton
Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer.
Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...
Peanuts Hucko
Michael Andrew "Peanuts" Hucko (April 7, 1918 – June 19, 2003) was an American big band musician. His primary instrument was the clarinet, but he sometimes played saxophone.
Early life and education
He was born in Syracuse, New York, United St ...
Ellis Larkins
Ellis Larkins (May 15, 1923 – September 30, 2002) was an American jazz pianist born in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his two recordings with Ella Fitzgerald: the albums ''Ella Sings Gershwin'' (1950) and '' Songs in a Mellow Mood'' (1954). He ...
,
Shelly Manne
Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...
,
Ray Nance
Ray Willis Nance (December 10, 1913 – January 28, 1976) was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
Early years
Nance was the leader of his ow ...
,
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
(duets in 1968),
Russell Procope
Russell Keith Procope (August 11, 1908 – January 21, 1981) was an American clarinetist and alto saxophonist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Before Ellington
Procope was born in New York City, United States, and grew up in S ...
Maxine Sullivan
Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States, was an American jazz vocalist and performer.
As a vocalist, Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just be ...
,
Buddy Tate
George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913 – February 10, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.
Biography
Tate was born in Sherman, Texas, United States, and first played the alto saxophone. According to the website All Ab ...
,
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 19 ...
,
Clark Terry
Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator.
He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...
,
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer.
Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...
,
Joe Venuti
Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist.
Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie La ...
,
Earle Warren
Earle Warren (born Earl Ronald Warren; July 1, 1914 – June 4, 1994) was an American saxophonist. He was part of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1937.
Early life
Warren was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 1, 1914. "He played piano, banjo, and ...
Alvin Batiste
Alvin Batiste (November 7, 1932 – May 6, 2007) was an American avant-garde jazz clarinetist born, who was in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He taught at his own jazz institute at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Hi ...
Art Blakey
Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s.
Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...
Etta Jones
Etta Jones (November 25, 1928 – October 16, 2001) was an American jazz singer. Her best-known recordings are "Don't Go to Strangers" and "Save Your Love for Me". She worked with Buddy Johnson, Oliver Nelson, Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Gene A ...
, the
Ink Spots
The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely a ...
,
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...
Vi Redd
Elvira "Vi" Redd (born September 20, 1928) is an American jazz alto saxophone player, vocalist and educator. She has been active since the early 1950s and is known primarily for playing in the blues style. She is highly regarded as an accomplis ...
,
Betty Roché
Mary Elizabeth Roché (January 9, 1918 – February 16, 1999) was an American blues singer. Though she had a sporadic career, she became best known for her version of " Take the "A" Train" with its composer Duke Ellington, and, according to A ...
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...
, and
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...
(on the song "Ditty Wah Ditty").
But the most highly regarded recordings of this period are his solo performances, "a whole orchestra by himself". Whitney Balliett wrote of his solo recordings and performances of this time:
Hines recorded solo tributes to Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Ellington,
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
and
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
in the 1970s, sometimes on the 1904 12-legged Steinway given to him in 1969 by Scott Newhall, the managing editor of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
''. In 1974, when he was in his seventies, Hines recorded sixteen LPs. "A spate of solo recording meant that, in his old age, Hines was being comprehensively documented at last, and he rose to the challenge with consistent inspirational force". From his 1964 "comeback" until his death, Hines recorded over 100 LPs all over the world. Within the industry, he became legendary for going into a studio and coming out an hour and a half later having recorded an unplanned solo LP. Retakes were almost unheard of except when Hines wanted to try a tune again in some other way, often completely different.
From 1964 on, Hines often toured Europe, especially France. He toured South America in 1968. He performed in Asia, Australia, Japan and, in 1966, the Soviet Union, in tours funded by the U.S. State Department. During his six-week tour of the Soviet Union, in which he performed 35 concerts, the 10,000-seat Kyiv Sports Palace was sold out. As a result, the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
cancelled his
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
concerts as being "too culturally dangerous".
Final years
Arguably still playing as well as he ever had, Hines displayed individualistic quirks (including grunts) in these performances. He sometimes sang as he played, especially his own "They Didn't Believe I Could Do It ... Neither Did I". In 1975, Hines was the subject of an hour-long television documentary film made by
ATV
ATV may refer to:
Broadcasting
* Amateur television
*Analog television
Television stations and companies
* Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra
* ATV (Armenia)
* ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate
* ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne
* ATV (Austria)
* AT ...
(for Britain's commercial
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
channel), out-of-hours at the
Blues Alley
Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Musicians who have performed at Blues Alley include John Abercrombie, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Tony Bennett, Rory Block, Ruby Braff, Gar ...
nightclub in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
. The ''
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'' described it as "the greatest jazz film ever made". In the film, Hines said, "The way I like to play is that ... I'm an explorer, if I might use that expression, I'm looking for something all the time ... almost like I'm trying to talk." In 1979, Hines was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. He played solo at Duke Ellington's funeral, played solo twice at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, for the
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
and for the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. Of this acclaim, Hines said, "Usually they give people credit when they're dead. I got my flowers while I was living".
Hines's last show took place in San Francisco a few days before he died of a heart attack in Oakland. As he had wished, his Steinway was auctioned for the benefit of gifted low-income music students, still bearing its silver plaque:
:presented by jazz lovers from all over the world. this piano is the only one of its kind in the world and expresses the great genius of a man who has never played a melancholy note in his lifetime on a planet that has often succumbed to despair.
Hines was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
.
Style
''The Oxford Companion to Jazz'' describes Hines as "the most important pianist in the transition from
stride
Stride or STRIDE may refer to:
Computing
* STRIDE (security), spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, elevation of privilege
* Stride (software), a successor to the cloud-based HipChat, a corporate cloud-based ...
to
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
" and continues:
Hines himself described meeting Armstrong:
Hines continued:
In their book ''Jazz'' (2009), Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux wrote of Hines's style of the time:
In his book ''Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism'', Thomas Brothers described Hines's style:
Rhythmically, Hines was very good at taking his melodic lines further and further way from the fixed foundation, creating a radical sense of detachment for a few beats or measures, only to land back in time with great aplomb when finished with his foray. The left hand sometimes joins in the action...What is especially distinctive about Hines are the startling effects he creates by harmonically enhancing these rhythmic departures. Like Armstrong, he thought of chords creatively and with great precision. But he was a step ahead of his colleague in his willingness to experiment. He became fond of radical dislocations, sudden turns of directions with dim and nonexistent connection to the ground harmony.
Pianist Teddy Wilson wrote of Hines's style:
Oliver Jackson was Hines's frequent drummer (as well as a drummer for
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
,
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
,
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...
,
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
, Teddy Wilson and many others. He described Hines's style as follows:
''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' gives the following description of Hines's 1965 style:
Later still, then in his seventies and after a host of recent solo recordings, Hines himself said:
Discography
* ''Earl Hines'' (Columbia, 1951)
* ''Fats Waller Songs'' (Brunswick, 1952)
* ''Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five with Earl Hines'' (Odeon, 1954)
* ''Fatha Plays Fats'' (Fantasy, 1956)
* ''Solo'' (America, 1956)
* ''Oh, "Father"!'' (Epic, 1956)
* ''The Incomparable Earl "Fatha" Hines'' (Tops, 1957)
* ''The Earl Hines Trio'' (Epic, 1958)
* ''Earl Hines'' (Philips, 1958)
* ''Earl's Pearls'' (MGM, 1960)
* ''A Monday Date'' (Riverside, 1961)
* ''Earl "Fatha" Hines'' (Capitol, 1963)
* ''Spontaneous Explorations'' (Contact, 1964)
* ''Up to Date with Earl Hines'' (RCA Victor, 1965)
* ''Paris Session'' (Columbia, 1965)
* ''The Real Earl Hines Recorded Live! in Concert'' (Focus, 1965)
* ''
Once Upon a Time
"Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in the ...
'' (Impulse!, 1966)
* ''
Stride Right
''Stride Right'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges and pianist/organist Earl "Fatha" Hines featuring performances recorded in 1966 and released on the Verve label.
'' with Johnny Hodges (Verve, 1966)
* ''Here Comes Earl "Fatha" Hines'' (Contact, 1966)
* ''Dinah'' (RCA Victor, 1966)
* ''The Great Earl Hines'' (Polydor, 1966)
* ''Blues in Thirds'' (Fontana, 1966)
* ''Jazz Meanz Hines!'' (Fontana, 1967)
* '' Swing's Our Thing'' with Johnny Hodges (Verve, 1968)
* ''Blues & Things'' with Jimmy Rushing (Master Jazz, 1968)
* ''The Incomparable Earl "Fatha" Hines'' (Fantasy, 1968)
* ''"Fatha" Blows Best (Decca, 1968)
* ''Earl Hines at Home'' (Delmark, 1969)
* ''Earl Fatha Hines'' (Everest, 1970)
* ''The Quintessential Recording Session'' (Halycon, 1970)
* ''Fatha & His Flock on Tour'' (MPS, 1970)
* ''Live at the Overseas Press Club'' with Maxine Sullivan (
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
, 1970)
* ''All Star Jazz Session'' (Springboard, 1970)
* ''Tea for Two'' (Black Lion, 1971)
* '' Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington'' (Master Jazz, 1971)
* ''Hines Does Hoagy'' (Audiophile, 1971)
* ''My Tribute to Louis'' (Audiophile, 1971)
* ''Comes in Handy'' (Audiophile, 1971)
* ''Hines Plays Hines'' (Swaggie, 1972)
* ''Earl Hines'' (GNP Crescendo, 1972)
* ''The Mighty Fatha'' (Flying Dutchman, 1973)
* ''Tour de Force'' (Black Lion, 1972)
* ''Quintessential Continued'' (Chiaroscuro, 1973)
* ''Earl Hines Plays George Gershwin'' (1973)
* ''
Earl Hines at Sundown
''Earl Hines at Sundown'' is an album by pianist Earl Hines recorded in France in 1974 for the Black & Blue Records, Black & Blue label.Earl Hines Plays Cole Porter'' (Swaggie, 1974)
* '' Hines '74'' (Black & Blue, 1974)
* ''Quintessential '74'' (Chiaroscuro, 1974)
* ''Another Monday Date'' (Prestige, 1974)
* ''Earl Hines in New Orleans Vol. 1'' (Up, 1975)
* ''Tour de Force Encore'' (Black Lion, 1975)
* ''Earl Hines in New Orleans Vol. 2'' (1975)
* ''
Duet!
''Duet!'' is a duo album by pianists Earl Hines and Jaki Byard recorded in 1972 and released on the German MPS label.Jaki Byard
* ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...
'' (Black Lion, 1975)
* ''At the Village Vanguard'' with Roy Eldridge (Xanadu, 1975)
* ''Fireworks'' (RCA, 1975)
* ''Earl Hines at Club Hangover Vol. 5'' (Storyville, 1976)
* ''Hot Sonatas'' with Joe Venuti (Chiaroscuro, 1976)
* ''Live at Buffalo'' (Improv, 1976)
* ''Earl Hines at Saralee's'' (Fairmont, 1976)
* ''Earl Hines in New Orleans'' (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
* ''Lionel Hampton Presents Earl Hines'' (Who's Who in Jazz, 1977)
* ''The Giants'' with Stephane Grappelli (Black Lion, 1977)
* ''An Evening with Earl Hines'' (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
* ''Live at the New School'' (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
* ''Solo Walk in Tokyo'' (Biography, 1977)
* ''Swingin' Away'' (Black Lion, 1977)
* ''Jazz Is His Old Lady...and My Old Man'' with
Marva Josie
Marva Josie (born Marva Josie Spurling, December 9, 1939) is an American jazz singer who was the longtime vocalist for Earl Hines.
In 1976 they both played at the White House for President Gerald Ford and later for President Jimmy Carter.
Josie ...
(Catalyst, 1977)
* ''Earl Meets Harry'' (Black and Blue, 1978)
* ''One for My Baby'' (Black Lion, 1978)
* '' The Dirty Old Men'' (Black and Blue, 1978)
* ''Earl Fatha Hines and His All Stars'' (GNP Crescendo, 1978)
* ''We Love You Fats'' with Teresa Brewer (Doctor Jazz, 1978)
* ''Partners in Jazz'' with Jaki Byard (MPS, 1978)
* ''Linger Awhile'' (Bluebird, 1979)
* ''The Indispensable Earl Hines Vol. 1 and 2'' (RCA, 1979)
* ''The Indispensable Earl Hines Vol. 3 and 4'' (RCA, 1981)
* ''Deep Forest'' (Black Lion, 1982)
* ''The Legendary Little Theater Concert of 1964 Vols. 1 & 2'' (Muse, 1983)
* ''Texas Ruby Red'' (Black Lion, 1983)
* ''Fatha'' (Quicksilver, 1983)
* ''Live and in Living Jazz'' (Quicksilver, 1983)
* ''Earl Hines and His Esquire All Stars Featuring Dicky Wells'' (Storyville, 1985)
* ''Varieties!'' (Xanadu, 1985)
* ''Earl's Backroom and Cozy's Caravan'' (Felsted, 1986)
* ''Live at the Village Vanguard'' (Columbia, 1988)
* '' Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington'' (1988)
* ''Reunion in Brussels'' (Red Baron, 1992)
* ''Earl Hines and the Duke's Men'' (Delmark, 1994)
* ''Live Aalborg Denmark 1965'' (Storyville, 1994)
* ''Grand Reunion'' (Verve, 1995)
* '' Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington Volume Two'' (1997)
* ''Classic Earl Hines Sessions 1928-1943'' (Mosaic Records, 2012)
Notes
Footnotes
Citations
References
* .
* .
* Basie, Count; Murray, Albert (2002), ''Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie'', Da Capo Press, , .
* Berliner, Paul F. (1994), ''Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation'', Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
*
* Deffaa, Chip (1992), ''18 Portraits in Jazz'', Lanham: Scarecrow Press, .
* Dempsey, Peter (2001) "Earl Hines" ''Naxos Jazz Legends'', Retrieved July 23, 2006.
* .
* ''Downbeat'' (2009), ''The Great Jazz Interviews'', Frank Alkyer and Ed Enright, eds., Hal Leonard Books, .
* .
*
Feather, Leonard
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
(1960), ''The Encyclopedia of Jazz'', Horizon Press, .
*
* .
* .
* Harrison, Max; Fox, Charles; Thacker, Eric (1984), ''The Essential Jazz Records'', Vol. 1, Da Capo Press, .
"Earl Hines" ''World Book Encyclopedia''. Retrieved July 23, 2006.
''The Red Hot Jazz Archive''. Retrieved July 23, 2006.
* .
* Komara, Edward M (1998), ''The Dial Recordings of Charlie Parker: A Discography'', Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, .
*
* Palmer, Robert (1981), "Pop Jazz: Fatha Hines Stom ng and Chomping On at 75", ''New York Times'', August 28, 1981, retrieved fro ''New York Times'' July 30, 2006, .
* Ratliff, Ben (2002), ''The New York Times Essential Library: Jazz'', New York: Times Books, .
* ''The Rough Guide to Jazz'' (2004), 3rd ed., "Earl Hines", pp. 262–263, Rough Guides, .
* .
* Schuller, Gunther (1991), ''The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945'', Oxford University Press, pp. 263–292, .
* Simon, George T. (1974), ''The Big Bands'', Macmillan.
*
* Taylor, Jeffrey (2002), "Earl Hines and 'Rosetta'", ''Current Musicology'', special issue, ''A Commemorative Festschrift in Honor of Mark Tucker'' (Spring 2001–Spring 2002), pp. 71–73.
* Taylor, Jeffrey (2002), "Life with Fatha", ''I.S.A.M. Newsletter'' 30 (Fall 2000).
* Taylor, Jeffrey (1998), "Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and 'Weather Bird'", ''Musical Quarterly'' 82 (Spring 1998).
* .
* .
External links
* Video Earl "Fatha" Hines
One-hour TV documentary, produced and directed by Charlie Nairn. Filmed at
Blues Alley
Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Musicians who have performed at Blues Alley include John Abercrombie, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Tony Bennett, Rory Block, Ruby Braff, Gar ...
jazz club in Washington, D.C. for UK ATV Television in 1975. Original 16mm film, plus out-takes of additional tunes, archived in
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
Library a BFI.org Also a ITVStudios.com DVD copies available from the University of California-Berkeley's Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library (which holds The Earl Hines Collection/Archive). Also at the Chicago Jazz Archive, the
Hogan Jazz Archive
The Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, and is one of the special collections of the Tulane University library. The archive specializes in Dixieland Jazz, gospel, blues, rhyt ...
of Tulane University and at the
Louis Armstrong House
The Louis Armstrong House is a historic house museum at 34-56 107th Street in the Corona neighborhood of Queens in New York City. and It was the home of Louis Armstrong and his wife Lucille Wilson from 1943 until his death in 1971. Luc ...
Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...